On 1 May 1873, at the age of 60, Dr David Livingstone died while on an ultimately futile quest to identify the source of the River Nile. The deprivations that Livingstone suffered over the 30 years that span his three great expeditions to Africa are astonishing. His first aim had been to bring Christianity to Africa; he died fighting to end the slave trade.
Early on the morning of 1 May one of his group of faithful African followers found the explorer dead, kneeling beside his bed. It is not clear whether he was in prayer, or trying to find a position to lessen his excruciating intestinal pain and the accompanying rectal bleeding. A few days earlier he had written in his journal, “I am pale, bloodless and weak from bleeding profusely ever since 31st March last. An artery gives off a permanent stream and takes away my strength.”
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