Florence Baker
| Florence Baker | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Florence Barbara Maria von Sass 6 August 1841 Nagyenyed, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 11 March 1916 (aged 74) Newton Abbot, Devon, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Barbara Szász; Maria Freiin von Sass; Barbara Szasz; Barbara Maria Szász; Barbara Maria Szasz |
| Known for | an orphan who became a slave, explored the Nile and died a lady |
| Spouse(s) | Sir Samuel Baker |
Florence, Lady Baker or Barbara Szász; Maria Freiin von Sass; Barbara Szasz; Barbara Maria Szász; Barbara Maria Szasz (Hungarian: Sass Flóra; 6 August 1841 – 11 March 1916) was a Hungarian–British explorer. Born in Transylvania (then Austrian Empire), she became an orphan and was sold as a slave to Samuel Baker. Together they went in search of the source of the River Nile and found Lake Albert. They journeyed to Samuel Baker's home in England where they were married and she became Lady Baker. She later returned to Africa with her husband to try and put down the slave trade. They both retired and died in Devon.
Some sources say that Florence Barbara Maria von Sass was born in Nagyenyed (today Aiud, Romania) in 1841. The story handed down in the Baker family is that she was the daughter of a Székely officer from a Hungarian noble family, who had estates in Transylvania, called von Sas (a branch of the von Sass family) and whilst she was young, during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 "her father and brothers had been killed before her eyes" by Romanians. As an adolescent, she spoke Hungarian, German, Romanian and Turkish. She may have been fourteen when she was being sold as a slave in Vidin, a town and fortified port on the River Danube in what was then the Ottoman Empire and is now Bulgaria, in January 1859. According to certain accounts, she was destined to be owned by the Pasha of Vidin but she had been spotted by Samuel Baker. He and Maharaja Duleep Singh were both on a hunting trip. Samuel Baker bribed the guards and Florence was allowed to escape into his ownership.
Samuel Baker took her to Africa where he was leading an expedition to find the source of the River Nile. They traveled up the Nile to Gondokoro where Florence saved the expedition. There was a dispute between her husband's inflexibility and the staff's disloyalty. Florence was able to intercede and find some common agreement. Gondokoro was a base for ivory and slaves, and the point where boats could go no further and where they would need to travel to the source on foot. There they met Speke and Grant who told them of their explorations. They suggested that they investigate another branch of the Nile. When Speke and Grant both later wrote down accounts of their voyages neither of them mentioned that Baker had Florence with him. This was in line with an agreement they made with Samuel Baker.
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