Speke Monument

This red granite obelisk stands silent witness to one of exploration's most tragic mysteries. Near the junction of Lancaster Walk and Budges Walk in Kensington Gardens, the Speke Monument honors John Hanning Speke, the British explorer who solved the ancient riddle of where the Nile begins. Speke was an army officer turned adventurer who made three brutal expeditions to Africa. In 1858, while his companion Richard Burton lay sick in camp, Speke traveled alone for 47 days and became the first European to see the massive lake he named Victoria.

He believed this was the source of the world's longest river. Four years later, in 1862, he found the Ripon Falls flowing from the lake, proving his theory correct. Burton refused to accept it. The two former friends became bitter rivals, and the Royal Geographical Society scheduled a public debate for 16 September 1864 to settle the matter once and for all. The debate never happened. On 15 September, Speke went hunting near Bath.

His gun discharged while he crossed a stone wall. He died within 15 minutes, just 37 years old. An inquest ruled it accidental, though some whispered suicide. The monument went up in 1866, funded by public subscription. Over 2,000 people had attended his funeral, but donations came slowly. When the red granite memorial from Aberdeen was finally erected, there was no ceremony, no unveiling reported in the newspapers.