Joseph Thomas Last (1849, Tuddenham- 1933, Shortlands) was an English

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. In 1872 Last was ordained at the Church Missionary College. From 1874 to 1876 he was in East Africa at the mission at Kisulutini. He briefly returned to Britain and then in 1877 he was appointed to the Usagara Mission at Mpwapwa. In 1880 he founded a new station at Mamboya in the Nguru mountains. After seven years in East Africa he returned to Britain in December 1884. Later he was associated with

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

and the

Imperial British East Africa Company The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British Empire. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888 and granted a royal charter by ...

. He visited

Portuguese East Africa Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

in 1885, explored the Namuli Mountains and discovered the caves at Mangapwani in Zanzibar. Last made important collections of African

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

and

Mollusca Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

Works

partial list *''Notes on Western Madagascar and the Antinosi Country'' *A Visit to the Masai People Living beyond the Borders of Nguru Country.''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society'' 5 (9): 517-543, 568 (map), 1883. *''Grammar of the Kamba Language, Eastern Equatorial Africa'' (1885) *On the Society's Expedition to the Namuli Hills, East Africa ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society'' 1887.

References

*Bernard Verdcourt, 1980 J.T. Last - 1849-1933 - Collectors in East Africa - 2 ''The Conchologists' Newsletter'', No. 74, pp. 248–249. {{DEFAULTSORT:Last, Joseph Thomas English entomologists British conchologists 1849 births 1933 deaths