Jephson, A J Mounteney

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0102 MS 275953
Held at	: School of Oriental and African Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.soas.ac.uk/Archives/home.html ›
Full title	: Jephson, A J Mounteney
Date(s)	: (1887-1889) [1960s]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Jephson | Arthur Jermy Mounteney | 1858-1908 | explorer

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Arthur Jermy Mounteney Jephson: born in Brentwood, Essex, 1858; educated at Tonbridge School, 1869-1874; a cadet with the Merchant Navy, serving on HMS Worcester, 1874-1876; joined the Antrim regiment of the Royal Irish Rifles, 1880; resigned his commission, 1884; accompanied H M Stanley's expedition to relieve Emin Pasha in Central Africa, 1887-1889; Medallist, Royal Geographical Society and Royal Brussels Geographical Society, 1890; following his return from Africa, suffered ill health, and his attempts to return to Africa were frustrated; Queen's Messenger, 1895-1901; King's Messenger from 1901; died, 1908. Publications include: Emin Pasha and the rebellion at the equator: a story of nine month's experiences in the last of the Soudan provinces ... with the revision and co-operation of Henry M Stanley (1890); Stories told in an African forest (1893).

Emin Pasha: born in Germany, 1840; originally named Eduard Schnitzer; a physician and explorer; served under General Charles Gordon in Sudan as a district medical officer, 1876-1878; succeeded Gordon as governor of Equatoria, the southernmost province of the Egyptian Sudan, 1878; isolated from the outside world by the Mahdist uprising, 1885; European explorers including H M Stanley were sent to rescue him, 1887; eventually agreed to accompany Stanley to Mombasa, 1889; murdered while engaged in exploration for Germany in the Lake Tanganyika region, 1892.

Sir Henry Morton Stanley: born in Denbigh, Wales, 1841; originally named John Rowlands; Anglo-American journalist and empire builder; took the name of his adoptive father in New Orleans; became a naturalized US citizen; fought in the American Civil War; became a journalist; commissioned to go to Africa to find the explorer David Livingstone, whom he located on Lake Tanganyika, 1871; returned to England with news of his discovery; led a second expedition to further Livingstone's explorations, 1874-1877; followed the Congo River from its source to the sea; accepted the invitation of Leopold II of Belgium to head another expedition, and helped to organize the future Independent State of the Congo, 1879-1884; at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885), instrumental in obtaining American support for Leopold's Congo venture; his last African journey was to find Emin Pasha, 1887-1889; again became a British subject, 1892; sat in Parliament, 1895-1900; Knight, 1899; died, 1904. Publications include: In Darkest Africa (1890), giving his account of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Photocopies of journals, 1887-1889, of A J Mounteney Jephson, comprising Books One to Four, giving a detailed description of activities of H M Stanley's expedition to relieve Emin Pasha, including the journey via Zanzibar, and the hardships faced. Book Three includes copies of some of Stanley's correspondence. Book Four, covering April to [October] 1889, is less detailed than Books One to Three, and less accurately dated. With typescript transcriptions of the journals [1960s] for Dorothy Middleton's published edition.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The material comprises four files of photocopies and four files of transcriptions.

Conditions governing access:

Unrestricted.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

Database.

Archival Information

Archival history:

The journals were discovered in 1955 by a descendant of the author.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated in 1972.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The School of Oriental and African Studies also holds Jephson's letters to Sir William Mackinnon, 1890-1892 (Ref: PP MS 1).

Nottingham University Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections, hold A J M Jephson's letters to Lady Middleton, 1890-1904 (Ref: Mi). Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections, holds the Sudan Archive (Ref: SAD), including papers, 1888-1891, relating to A J M Jephson, comprising a microfilm copy of of letters from Stanley to troops under the command of Emin Pasha and from the amir 'Umar Salih to Emin, and copy of Emin Pasha's will.

Publication note:

About two-thirds of the text was published as The diary of A J Mounteney Jephson: Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1887-1889, ed Dorothy Middleton, with Maurice Denham Jephson (published by Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, Extra Series, no xl, 1969).

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; Who Was Who; The diary of A J Mounteney Jephson: Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1887-1889, ed Dorothy Middleton, with Maurice Denham Jephson (1969); National Register of Archives; Archives Hub; British Library OPAC; for biographical details of Emin Pasha and H M Stanley: http://www.encyclopedia.com

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Jul 2002