Alice Seeley
| Lady Alice Seeley Harris | |
|---|---|
Alice Seeley Harris
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| Born |
Alice Seeley 24 May 1870 Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 24 November 1970 (aged 100) Guildford, Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Missionary, photographer, activist |
| Spouse(s) | John Hobbis Harris |
| Children | Alfred, Margaret, Katharine, Noel |
| Parent(s) | Alfred and Caroline Seeley |
Alice Seeley Harris (1870–1970) was an English missionary and an early documentary photographer. Her photography helped to expose the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State under the regime of Leopold II, King of the Belgians.
Alice Seeley was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England to Aldred and Caroline Seeley. Her sister, Caroline Alfreda, was a school teacher who never married. Alice married John Hobbis Harris (later Sir John) at a Registry Office in London. They had four children: Alfred John, Margaret Theodora, Katherine Emmerline (known as “Bay”) and Noel Lawrence. Alice spent many years in Frome, Somerset and died at the age of 100 in 1970 at Lockner Holt, in Surrey.
In 1889, aged 19 yrs, Alice entered the Civil Service and was later appointed to the Accountant General’s office in GPO London. Alice gave her spare time to Frederick Brotherton Meyer’s mission work at Regent’s Park Chapel and later Christ Church, in Lambeth.
Alice left the Civil Service to enter Doric Lodge, the RBMU’s (Region Beyond Missionary Union, previously the Congo Balolo Mission) Missionary Training College and in 1894, met her future husband John Hobbis Harris. Finally in 1897, after seven years of trying, Alice was accepted to go out to the Congo Free State. Shortly afterwards, Alice and John got engaged and were married on 6 May 1898.
On the 10 May 1898, Alice and John departed on the SS Cameroon to the Congo Free State as missionaries with the Congo-Balolo Mission, it was to be her ‘honeymoon’. They arrived in the Congo three months later, on the 4 August 1898, and then travelled to the Mission Station Ikau near Basankusu.
Alice was appalled and saddened at what she witnessed in the so-called Congo Free State, and began campaigning for the human rights of the Congolese natives to be recognised.
Alice was stationed with her husband John from 1898 – 1901 at the Mission Station at Ikau. Ikau is located near the River Lulanga, which is a tributary of the River Congo in the Balolo Tribal region. Later, from 1901 - 1905, they were stationed at the Mission Station at Baringa, a village in Tshuapa District, Befale Territory in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It stands on the banks of the Maringa River, approximately 100 km upriver from Basankusu.
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