William Grant Stairs
| William Grant Stairs | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1 July 1863 |
| Died | 9 June 1892 (aged 28) |
| Allegiance | Canadian-British |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands held | Stairs Expedition to Katanga Emin Pasha Relief Expedition |
| Other work | explorer |
William Grant Stairs (1 July 1863 – 9 June 1892) was a Canadian-Britishexplorer, soldier, and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa.
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the sixth child and third son of John Stairs and Mary Morrow, he attended school at Fort Massey Academy in Halifax, Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, Student # 52
After graduating as a trained engineer, Stairs spent three years working for the New Zealand Trigonometrical Survey in northern New Zealand. In 1885, he accepted the offer of a commission in the British Royal Engineers and trained in Chatham, England. In 1891 he transferred to the Welsh Regiment.
Captain Stairs was appointed to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition led by Henry Morton Stanley, at the time the most celebrated living explorer of Africa. Stairs sailed from London on 20 January 1887 and met Stanley in Suez on 6 February. Their expedition started from Banana at the mouth of the Congo River on 19 March and ended in Bagamoyo, Tanzania on 5 December 1889. Stairs was appointed second-in-command after Captain Barttelot was shot on 19 July 1888.
During the 5000 km journey across Africa through some of its most difficult country consisting of almost impenetrable rainforest and swamps, Stairs and colleagues suffered frequently from malaria and dysentery. Stairs had endurance, toughness and perseverance. He discovered one source of the Nile, the Semliki River, and became the first non-African to ever climb in the Ruwenzoris, reaching 10,677 ft before having to turn around. He was seriously wounded in the chest by a poisonous arrow during an attack by natives, many of whom assumed they were a slave-raiding party, and the expedition killed hundreds in return. Stairs recovered from his wound to continue the journey. In Dublin, Ireland there is a bronze plaque depicting this 13 August 1887 event on the statue of expedition Surgeon Major Thomas Heazle Parke who removed the arrow and sucked the poison from the wound.
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