Dixon Denham

Dixon Denham (1 January 1786 – 9 June 1828) was a British soldier, explorer of West Central Africa, and ultimately Governor of Sierra Leone.

Early life

Dixon Denham was born at Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, London on New Year's Day, 1786, the son of James Denham, a haberdasher, and his wife Eleanor, née Symonds.Fyfe, C.: Denham, Dixon, in Harrison, B. (ed.) (2004). ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Vol. 15. Oxford University Press. The youngest of their three sons, Denham was educated at Merchant Taylors' School from 1794 to 1800; on leaving he was articled to a solicitor, but joined the army in 1811.Cunningham, G. G. (1837). ''Lives of eminent and illustrious Englishmen''. Vol. VII, 1837. Fullarton, Glasgow.

Military career

Initially in the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers, and later the 54th Foot, Denham served in the campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France, and Belgium, receiving the Waterloo Medal. Endnotes:
*See ''Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822–1824'' (London, 1826), the greater part of which is written by Denham
*''The Story of Africa'', vol. i. chap. xiii. (London, 1892), by Dr Robert Brown Denham was considered a brave soldier, who had carried his wounded commander out of the line of fire at the Battle of Toulouse, and had become a close acquaintance of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he regularly corresponded. At the end of hostilities, Lieutenant Denham served at Cambray and with the occupation of Paris. Placed on half pay in 1818, he travelled for a time in France and Italy.Chichester, H. M. (1885), in Leslie Stephen, ed. ''Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900''. Vol. 14, Denham, Dixon. Smith, Elder & Co., London. In 1819, Denham entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a student, intending to become a staff officer in the Senior Department of the Royal Military College.Army Lists, 1819-1821 He attracted the favourable attention of the Commandant of the College, Sir Howard Douglas, but became very bored; 'he was the kind of man who must have adventure or he rots', wrote a friend. Alas, he was also domineering, insecure, jealous, and possessed of a mean streak.Kryza, F. T. (2007). ''The Race for Timbuktu''. Harper Collins, New York. .

The Bornu Mission

Denham had met the explorer Captain George Lyon on the latter's return to London from Africa, and became determined to join the British government's second mission to establish trade links with the west African states. Perhaps because of his influential acquaintances, Denham's wish was granted and, now promoted to Major, he was despatched by Lord Bathurst in the autumn of 1821 to join the other members of the mission, Dr Walter Oudney and Lt. Hugh Clapperton, arriving at Tripoli aboard the schooner ''Express'' on 19 November.

Denham brought with him instructions from the Colonial Office indicating that Oudney should remain at Bornu as Vice-Consul, while Denham and Clapperton were to 'explore the Country to the Southward and Eastward of Bornu, principally with a view to tracing the course of the Niger and ascertaining its Embouchure'. For reasons unknown, Denham was detained in Tripoli, and the mission proceeded to Murzuk, in Fezzan, without him on 23 February 1822. Denham eventually left Tripoli on 5 March with an escort of 210 mounted Arab tribesmen, reaching Murzuk only to find his two compatriots in a wretched condition, Clapperton ill of an ague, and Oudney with a severe cold. Moreover, he discovered that the local bey had forbidden their departure from the Fezzan while he was absent on a slave-raiding expedition, a restriction enforced by the removal of the mission's camels. Denham soon returned to Tripoli, to seek further funds, and to persuade the bashaw, Yusuf Karamanli, to provide the essential escort to protect the mission on its journey south to Bornu. He arrived back in Tripoli on 13 June 1822, his departure from the mission unlamented. He had already made himself unpopular, leading Clapperton to write to Sir John Barrow: 'His absence will be no loss to the Mission, and a saving to his country, for Major Denham could not read his sextant, knew not a star in the heavens, and could not take the altitude of the sun'.

Denham was to find the bashaw as obdurate as Murzuk's bey. Outraged, he decided to return to London to report the situation to Lord Bathurst and also seek promotion, so that he could return as commanding officer of the expedition. Boarding a ship bound for Marseilles, he warned the bashaw's lieutenants of his government's displeasure when it learned of the bashaw's 'duplicity'. Duly alarmed, the bashaw wrote to him, proposing that the 300man escort of a wealthy merchant about to depart for Bornu could, for a fee of 10,000 dollars to be shared with him, be persuaded to protect the mission as well. Denham received the letter while in quarantine in Marseilles. Still very angry, he sent an ill-judged letter to Bathurst complaining of Oudney's incompetence. The missal was not well received in London, and Denham found a letter awaiting him on his return to Tripoli, rebuking him for his lack of diplomacy, although acknowledging the frustrations he had endured. News of Denham's conduct left his compatriots at Murzuk dumbfounded. Oudney wrote a bitter letter of complaint about Denham to Hanmer Warrington, the British Consul in Tripoli, comparing Denham to a snake hidden in the grass. In an unfortunate breach of confidence, Warrington showed the letter to Denham, thereby souring relations within the mission party still further.

By the end of September 1822, Denham was on his way back to Murzuk with the merchant and the promised escort. Recognising that matters had been aggravated by the absence of any official instruction regarding leadership of the expedition, the Colonial Office wrote that Clapperton should become Oudney's aide, not Denham's. The mission, now comprising four Britons (including Hillman, the carpenter), five servants, and four camel drivers, eventually left Murzuk for Bornu on 19 November 1822. Clapperton and Oudney were in poor health, having succumbed to fevers, and all were overwrought as they made their way due south across the Sahara, the route littered with the skeletal remains of slaves that had perished of thirst. The mission reached the northern shore of Lake Chad on 4 February 1823, the Britons becoming the first white men to see the lake; the party continued westward, reaching Kuka in the Bornu Empire