Harry Johnston



Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston GCMG KCB| (12 June 1858 – 31 August 1927) was a British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa" that occurred at the end of the 19th century. The falls at Mambidima on the Luapula River were named Johnston Falls by the British in his honour.

Quotes

 * It is the first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man's existence, the first honest protest against our long, long martyrdom.
 * Comments on The Martyrdom of Man (1872) by William Winwood Reade, in Liberia (1906), Vol. 1, p. 257


 * In our land the educated poor, who at the most can only cycle or take short railway journeys into the country from an adjoining town, are fast losing their rightful heritage — the beauty of the country-side, which is rapidly disappearing with very little benefit to anyone. Apparently nobody but a few timid adherents of the Archeological Society cares a straw.
 * As quoted in "Gleanings" by Mary V. Fuller, in The American City, Vol. I, No. 3 (November 1903)


 * Iceland, though it lies so far to the north that it is partly within the Arctic Circle, is, like Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, affected by the Gulf Stream, so that considerable portions of it are quite habitable.
 * Pioneers in Canada (1912)


 * This much i can speak of with certainty and emphasis : that from the British frontier hear Fort George to the limit of my journeys into the Mbuba country of the Congo Free State, up and down the Semliki, the natives appear to be prosperous and happy... The extent to which they were building their villages and cultivating their plantations within the precincts of Fort Mbeni showed that they had no fear of the Belgians.
 * Casement Report, Page 5. information given, by Sir Harry Johnston to Casement.