School of Oriental and African Studies
MS 282539
Bovill, Edward William
c.1818-1828
4 boxes
English
Edward William Bovill was born on 25 December 1892. He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, and served in the First World War with the 10th Royal Hussars and the W.A.F.F. He was Director of Matheson & Co. Ltd. from 1936-1945 and Chairman of R.C. Treat & Co. Ltd. from 1942-1961. He was a medallist at the Royal Society of Arts in 1935 and became Vice-President of the Hakluyt Society in 1964. Between 1962 and 1966 he researched and wrote the four volume
Missions to the Niger
(published for the Hakluyt Society at the University Press). He died on 19 December 1966.
Other publications included
Caravans of the Old Sahara
, 1930;
East African Agriculture
, 1950;
The Battle of Alcazar
, 1952;
The Golden Trade of the Moors
, 1958;
The England of Nimrod and Surtees
, 1959;
English Country Life, 1780-1830
, 1962;
The Bornu Mission
(ed.), 1965.
The collection comprises notebooks and files used by Edward William Bovill and research material for the book
Missions to the Niger
, Vols I-IV (Hakluyt Society, 1962-1966). The papers are mainly xerox copies of correspondence in the Public Record Office relating to the explorations of Friedrich Hornemann, Mungo Park, Dixon Denham, Hugh Clapperton, Alexander Gordon Laing and Walter Oudney in North and Central Africa during the period c.1800-1829. There are also several notebooks, which contain notes of the progress of Bovill's work.
The papers have been arranged into notebooks; files of xeroxed materials, and correspondence relating to Bovill's papers. The original number of the files appears in square brackets at the end of each entry.
Donated through the Royal Geographic Society in 1973.
No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance
Unrestricted
Unpublished handlist
Related Collections at SOAS: Bovill, E.W.,
Missions to the Niger
, Vols 1-4, (Hakluyt Society, 1962-1966) are held in SOAS Library
Bovill
Edward William
1892-1966
Historian
Hornemann
Friedrich Conrad
1772-1801
African explorer
Park
Mungo
1771-1806
African explorer
Denham
Dixon
1786-1828
Lieutenant-Colonel, African traveller
Clapperton
Hugh
1788-1827
African explorer
Laing
Alexander Gordon
1794-1826
African traveller
Oudney
Walter
1790-1824
Doctor and explorer
rules="ncarules"
University of Cambridge
Trinity College
Matheson & Co Ltd
R C Treat & Co Ltd
Royal Society of Arts
Hakluyt Society
Geographical exploration