DENHAM, Dixon (1786-1828)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0402 DD
Held at	: Royal Geographical Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Collections/Collections.htm ›
Full title	: DENHAM, Dixon (1786-1828)
Date(s)	: 1815-1827
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 3 boxes and some oversized files stored separately.
Name of creator(s)	: Denham | Dixon | 1786-1828 | explorer in Africa | Major

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1786; educated, Merchant Taylors' School, 1793-; briefly articled to a London solicitor; joined the army as a volunteer, 1811 and served in the Peninsula and in Belgium; instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1818; led the expedition to trace the course of the Niger, 1822-1825; fellow of the Royal Society; appointment to reorganize the Liberated African department, Sierra Leone, 1827-1828; died, 1828.

Publications: Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa (1826)

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Journals, notebooks, papers and letters of Maj Dixon Denham, 1815-1827, chiefly relating to the Denham / Clapperton / Oudney expedition from Tripoli to Bornu 1821-1825; also including diaries kept during the Waterloo campaign and subsequent travels around Europe; papers relating to Ensign Tootle and to the Sahara expedition of 1822-1824.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, also some items in Arabic

System of arrangement:

34 files, many with sub-files, items have been brought together from disparate sources over time and have not undergone any arrangement beyond the internal structure of the files.

Conditions governing access:

Open by appointment only, subject to completion of application form. Non-Fellows require a letter of reference.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying at Archivist's discretion, and subject to completion of 'application for copies' form. No reproduction or publication without permission of the RGS-IBG Archivist.

Finding aids:

The RGS archives: a handlist / compiled by Christine Kelly. London: RGS, 1977.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Bulk of collection donated to the RGS by Maj. C. H. Denham in 1889.

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Prepared by Huw Thomas, Archives Assistant using existing finding aids, DNB entry. Revised by Sarah Drewery.
Sources: Oxford DNB.

Rules or conventions:
ISAD(G) ed.2, name authority NRA.

Date(s) of descriptions:
15th June 2000; Nov 2008.