|
See also: British naturalist and See also: administrator, son of the Rev
.
See also: John
See also: Kirk, was See also: born at See also: Barry, near See also: Arbroath, on the 19th of See also: December 1832
.
He was educated at See also: Edinburgh for the medical profession, and after serving on the See also: civil medical staff throughout the See also: Crimean War, was appointed in See also: February 1858 physician and naturalist to See also: David See also: Livingstone's second expedition to Central See also: Africa
.
He was by Livingstone's See also: side in most of his journeyings during the next five years, and was one of the first four See also: white men to behold Lake Nyassa (
See also: Sept
.
16, 1859)
.
He was finally invalided home on the 9th of May 1863
.
The reputation he gained during this expedition led to his See also: appointment in See also: January 1866 as acting surgeon to the See also: political agency at See also: Zanzibar
.
In 1868 he became assistant political See also: agent, being raised to the See also: rank of See also: consul-general in 1873 and agent in 1880
.
He retired from that See also: post in 1887
.
The twenty-one years spent by Kirk in Zanzibar covered the most critical See also: period of the See also: history of See also: European intervention in See also: East Africa; and during the greater See also: part of that See also: time he was the virtual ruler of the country
.
With Seyyid Bargash, who became sultan in 187o, he had a See also: con-trolling influence, and after the failure of See also: Sir Bartle See also: Frere's efforts he succeeded in obtaining (See also: June 5, 1873) the sultan's signature to a treaty abolishing the slave See also: trade in his dominions
.
In 1877 Bargash offered to a British merchant—Sir W
.
Mackinnon—a lease of his mainland territories, and he gave Kirk a declaration in which he bound himself not to cede territory to any other power thanSee also: Great Britain, a declaration ignored by the British See also: government
.
When See also: Germany in 1885 claimed districts considered by the sultan to belong to Zanzibar, Kirk intervened to prevent Bargash going in See also: person to Berlin to protest and induced him to submit to the dismemberment of his dominions
.
In the delicate negotiations which followed
KIRK
Kirk used his See also: powers to checkmate the See also: German designs to supplant the British in Zanzibar itself; this he did without destroying the Arab See also: form of government
.
He also directed the efforts, this time successful, to obtain for Britain a portion of the mainland—Bargash in May 1887 granting to Mackinnon a lease of territory which led to the foundation of British East Africa
.
Having thus served both Great Britain and Zanzibar, Kirk resigned his post (See also: July 1887), retiring from the consular service
.
In 1889-1890 he was a plenipotentiary at the slave trade See also: conference in Brussels, and was one of the delegates who fixed the tariff duties to be imposed in the See also: Congo See also: basin
.
In 1895 he was sent by the British government on a See also: mission to the See also: Niger; and on his return he was appointed a member of the See also: Foreign Office committee for constructing the See also: Uganda railway
.
As a naturalist Kirk took high rank, and many See also: species of the See also: flora and See also: fauna of Central Africa were made known by him, and several bear his name, e.g. the Otogale kirkii (a lemuroid), the Madoqua kirkii (a diminutive See also: antelope), the Landolphia kirkii and the See also: Clematis kirkii
.
For his services to geography he received in 1882 the patrons' medal of the Royal See also: Geographical Society, of which society he became foreign secretary
.
Kirk was created K.C.B. in 1900
.
He married, in 1867, See also: Miss See also: Helen Cooke
.
|
|
|
[back] KIRIN |
[next] JOHN KIRKBY (d. 1290) |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.