Ewart Grogan
| Ewart Scott Grogan | |
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| Born |
12 December 1874 St George Hanover Square, London, England |
| Died | 16 August 1967 (aged 92) Cape Town, South Africa |
| Occupation | Explorer |
| Known for | First person in recorded history to walk the length of Africa |
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Ewart Scott Grogan (1874–1967) was an English explorer, politician, and entrepreneur. He was the first person in recorded history to walk the length of Africa, following a path from Cape Town to Cairo.
Ewart Grogan was educated at Winchester College and Jesus College, Cambridge, which he left without taking a degree. He was expelled from both school and university. He subsequently spent some time at the Slade School of Art before going to Bulawayo to help defend the town in the Second Matabele War.
He fell in love with Gertrude Watt, the sister of a Cambridge classmate, but her stepfather disapproved of the match; while Grogan came from a respectable family, his own life had little to recommend it. He proposed becoming the first man to make the Cape-to-Cairo journey; the stepfather agreed that this would be a suitable test of his character and seriousness.
He then commenced his expedition from Cape Town to Cairo at the age of 24, reaching Cairo in 1900, after two and a half years of travelling. He had been stalked by lions, hippos, and crocodiles, pursued by headhunters and cannibals, plagued by parasites and fevers. He returned home a popular sensation. He was made a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and met Queen Victoria. In four months of effort, Grogan wrote about his journey in From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north (1902). Capping his success, he married Gertrude.
Gertrude's Garden Children's Hospital located in Nairobi, Kenya was founded in 1947, with the donation of some land by Colonel Ewart Grogan, in memory of his wife, Gertrude Edith. The hospital now has seven branches spread out in the City's residential areas.
While at Cambridge Grogan was a member of the notorious and mysterious dining society, The Natives. The club, which has run for over 135 years, toasts Grogan's journey from Cape Town to Cairo at every dinner.
In October 1914 Grogan traversed part of German East Africa to Kivu where he met his old friend the Belgian Josué Henry. Most of his subsequent life was spent in east Africa, mainly Kenya, where he settled. He died in South Africa at the age of 92.
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Wikipedia