George Grenfell

George Grenfell
Missionary and explorer in Africa
Born	21 August 1849 Sancreed, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Died	1 July 1906(1906-07-01) (aged 56) Basoko, Congo Free State
Spouse(s)	Mary Hawkes (1877†) Rosana Patience Edgerley (1855-1928)
Children	Seven children: Patience Elizabeth Grenfell, Caroline Mary Grenfell, Unknown child, Dorothy Grenfell, Gertrude Grenfell, Unknown child, Grace Isabel Grenfell Quallo

George Grenfell (21 August 1849, in Sancreed, Cornwall – 1 July 1906, in Basoko, Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo)) was a Cornish missionary and explorer.

Grenfell was born at Sancreed, near Penzance, Cornwall. In 1875 he went as a Baptist missionary to Cameroon, West Africa, with Alfred Saker (1814–80), and thereafter did some exceedingly important work in exploring little-known rivers of the Congo Basin. In 1877 he removed to Victoria and explored the Wouri River and in the following year he ascended Mongo ma Loba Mountain.

In 1881, cooperating with the Rev T J Comber and others, he established a chain of missions at Musuko, Vivi, Isangila, Manyanga, and other points, and in 1884, in a small steam vessel, he explored the Congo to the equator. He established headquarters at Arthington, near Leopoldville, in 1884, and launched on Stanley Pool a river steam vessel, the Peace, in which he explored the Kiva, the Kwango, and the Kasai rivers, discovered the Ruki, or Black River, and ascended the Mubangi for 200 miles (320 km) to Grenfell Falls, at lat. 4° 40' N. In 1885 he explored with Curt von François other tributaries of the Congo, notably the Busira, along which he found Pygmy Batwa peoples. In the following year he examined the Kasai, the Sankuru, and the Luebo and Lulua, and made careful records of the Bakuba and Bakete tribes. He was awarded in 1887 the Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his explorations in the Cameroons and Congo.