David Livingstone (1813-1873) by John Mossman (1817-1890). 1875-9; erected 1879. Bronze statue on a granite pedestal with bronze reliefs. Cathedral Square (originally in George Square), Glasgow. Click on images to enlarge them.
This fine statue of Livingstone, standing by a covered tree-stump, with binoculars round his neck, a Bible in one hand and his hat in the other, and a few pieces of equipment at his feet, looks much more at home in its present leafy position than it could possibly have done in busy George Square. Livingstone, who started work in a Lanarkshire cotton mill when he was only ten years old, studied under Thomas Graham at the Andersonian Institution, but in the same year (1840) that he took his physician's degree he was sent out to southern Africa” by the London Missionary Society. Here he set about opening up new territory. As is well known, he crossed the Kalahari desert, and on a later expedition discovered Victoria Falls — a statue of him overlooks it — and he also discovered Lake Nyasa during a 1858-64 expedition. He died on an expedition begun in 1865 "partly in conjunction with Sir Henry Morton Stanley" (McKenzie 62).
Left: An Arab slave trader beating an African woman. Right: The panel Livingstone’s birth and death dates surrounded by jungle vegetation. etc.
Livingstone reading the Bible to an African family.
Photograph top left, caption and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2009. Other photographs by George P. Landow 2016. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]
Bibliography
McKenzie, Ray. Public Sculpture of Glasgow. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002.
Created 1 October 2009
Last modified 16 April 2020