John Hanning Speke Memorial

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Memorial to John Hanning Speke. Located to the North of the centre of Kensington Gardens.

Plaque reads:
John Hanning Speke-Explorer
(1826-1864)

Speke was the first European, While on an expedition with Richard Burton to
East Africa in 1858, to discover Lake Victoria. On a subsequent journey
with James Grant in 1862, he confirmed its Northern outlet as the source
of the Nile.

This memorial was sponsored by Sir Roderick Murchison, President of the
Royal Geographical Society. The cost was met by public subscription.

It was designed by Phillip Hardwick, R.A. It is constructed from red granite
and was quarried and made in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The memorial was erected in 1866. Speke had died two years earlier, Killed
in a shooting accident by his own gun immediately before a debate with
Burton about the source of the Nile.

This plaque was erected in 1995 by
The friends of Hyde Park and
Kesnington Gardens.

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