The travels of Francis Galton

© 2010 Marja BerclouwThis thesis explores the role played by travel in the early social and psychological development of the English scientist Francis Galton. It tells the story of those travels, relating the narrative of the journey through Galton's own writings and the writings of those, like Swedish explorer Charles John Andersson who, on occasion, travelled with him. It examines the extent to which travel was implicated in the developmental process through which Galton, and many other young men, passed in order to achieve adult status in middle-class Victorian society. Becoming a man required demonstration of mental and physical endurance and the successful undertaking of tasks the accomplishment of which was recognised and lauded by other men. Not all made the transition into adult manhood with ease. In Galton's case a sociable nature and heightened curiosity about the world encouraged the process. A strong family bond, useful family connections in business and science, and wealth—and the freedom of choice and action it bestowed—played their part. Beginning his travels under the supervision of his father Samuel Tertius, Francis Galton was guided in this process toward adult independence. Travel became, purposely, a graduated, purposeful, leaving of home. His place as the youngest child among protective older sisters and very much older brothers made the challenge to find his own way in life more urgent. With the death of his father the task began in earnest. The travels cover the period 1844 to 1852 when Galton, aged 22 to 30, also made his first contribution to scientific observation, experiment, and writing. There are three phases of exploration: 'roughing it' with university friends in Egypt the Sudan and Syria; learning the skills of a 'country gentleman,' by hunting and shooting in Scotland; and finally, making the journey that made his fame: into largely unexplored southern Africa [Namibia]; in the wake of David Livingstone and the sportsmen and adventurers whose written and illustrated accounts of Africa so thrilled the Victorian reading public. The Royal Geographic Society had since 1830 set the agenda and determined the nature and scope of scientific travel, and Galton, through his family connections, was able, both, to become a member and persuade the RGS that he was the right person to lead an expedition into Africa. His self-funded, self-provisioned, two-year journey from Walfisch Bay to the Portuguese Territories [Angola] and back, marked a successful consolidation of skills mastered during previous travels: taking advice from those able to help him achieve his goal; handling animals and organising men; negotiating with indigenous peoples with the power to thwart or guide him safely into alien territory; finding water in an arid land; making camp under a searing sun; taking readings of latitude and longitude and recording and measuring what he observed, often by ingenious means. At the end of the journey the real skill he had gained was that of self-mastery and manly independent action in the world