William Grant Stairs
Encyclopedia
William Grant Stairs was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

-British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 explorer, soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

, and adventurer who had a leading role in two of the most controversial expeditions in the history of the colonisation of Africa
Colonisation of Africa
The colonisation of Africa has a long history, the most famous phase being the European Scramble for Africa during the late 19th and early 20th century.- Ancient colonialism :...

.

Education

Born in Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, the sixth child and third son of John Stairs and Mary Morrow, he attended school at Fort Massey Academy in Halifax, Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....

 in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and the Royal Military College of Canada
Royal Military College of Canada
The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...

 in Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Student # 52

Career

After graduating as a trained engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

, Stairs spent three years working for the New Zealand Trigonometrical Survey in northern New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. In 1885, he accepted the offer of a commission in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 and trained in Chatham, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In 1891 he transferred to the Welsh Regiment.

Emin Pasha Relief Expedition

Captain Stairs was appointed to the privately-funded Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha, General Charles Gordon's besieged governor of Equatoria, threatened by Mahdist forces...

 led by Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...

, at the time the most celebrated living explorer of Africa. Stairs sailed from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on January 20, 1887 and met Stanley in Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...

 on February 6. Their expedition started from Banana
Banana, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Banana is a small seaport in Bas-Congo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Atlantic coast. The port is situated in Banana Creek, an inlet about 1 km wide on the north bank of the Congo River's mouth, separated from the ocean by a spit of land 3 km long and 100 to 400 m...

 at the mouth of the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...

 on March 19 and ended in Bagamoyo
Bagamoyo
The town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century. It was the original capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast...

, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 on December 5, 1889. Stairs was appointed second-in-command after Captain Barttelot
Edmund Musgrave Barttelot
Edmund Musgrave Barttelot was a British Army officer, born in Sussex, England.He joined the army in 1879 and served in India. He volunteered for Henry Morton Stanley's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition...

 was shot on July 19, 1888.

During the 5000 km journey across Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 through some of its most difficult country consisting of almost impenetrable rainforest and swamps, Stairs and colleagues suffered frequently from malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 and dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

. Stairs had endurance, toughness and perseverance. He discovered one source of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...

, the Semliki River
Semliki River
Semliki River is a major river in Central Africa. It flows northwards from Lake Edward in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, across the Uganda border, through western Uganda in Bundibugyo District, near the Semuliki National Park. It empties into Lake Albert at...

, 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 August 13, 1887 event on the statue of expedition Surgeon Major Thomas Heazle Parke
Thomas Heazle Parke
Surgeon-General Thomas Heazle Parke was an Irish doctor, explorer, soldier and naturalist.Parke was born in 1857 at Clogher House in Kilmore, County Roscommon, Ireland, and was brought up in Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim...

 who removed the arrow and sucked the poison from the wound.

The expedition was lauded in Europe and North America for exploits seen as heroic. On his return to England Captain Stairs was named a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

 and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
Royal Scottish Geographical Society
The Royal Scottish Geographical Society is a learned society founded in 1884 and based in Perth. The Society has a membership of 2500 and aims to advance the science of geography worldwide by supporting education, research, expeditions, through its journal , its newsletter and other publications...

 in 1890. Then details emerged of the many Africans killed by the expedition. Stanley's own accounts revealed how he shot Africans who impeded the expedition's progress. The expedition also used brutality against its own porters. Stanley spent his remaining years defending himself and the expedition from criticism made principally in Britain of excessive force and mismanagement of the expedition's Rear Column commanded by Barttelot.

The Stairs Expedition to Katanga

In 1891 on Stanley's recommendation, Stairs was appointed by King Léopold II of Belgium
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...

 to command a mission to take Katanga
Katanga Province
Katanga Province is one of the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1971 and 1997, its official name was Shaba Province. Under the new constitution, the province was to be replaced by four smaller provinces by February 2009; this did not actually take place.Katanga's regional...

 also known as Garanganze with or without the consent of its powerful king, Msiri.

Leopold had used Stanley's services before and agreed with his use of force and understood Stairs to be in the same mould, and he had a reputation for carrying out orders completely and without hesitation.

The Stairs Expedition was a military mission of 400 men under the Congo Free State
Congo Free State
The Congo Free State was a large area in Central Africa which was privately controlled by Leopold II, King of the Belgians. Its origins lay in Leopold's attracting scientific, and humanitarian backing for a non-governmental organization, the Association internationale africaine...

 flag, armed with 200 rifles modern for their time. (Msiri's men had muzzle-loading muskets). Stairs ran a well-organised expedition and won the loyalty of his officers and chiefs (Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

i supervisors). It was a smaller and lighter than his previous expedition, with only two other military officers. They were in a race against Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company
British South Africa Company
The British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889...

 expanding from the south, which had already sent two failed expeditions to Msiri. Stairs and Joseph Moloney
Joseph Moloney
Joseph Moloney was the Irish-born British medical officer on the 1891-92 Stairs Expedition which seized Katanga in Central Africa for the Belgian King Leopold II, killing its ruler, Msiri, in the process...

, the expedition's British medical officer, were aware that they could potentially come into armed conflict with a British expedition, and agreed they would nevertheless discharge their duties to their employer, Leopold.

The Stairs Expedition became notorious for the fate of Msiri. After three days of negotiations without progress, Stairs gave Msiri an ultimatum to sign the treaty the next day, December 20, 1891. When Msiri did not appear, he sent his second-in-command, Captain Bodson
Omer Bodson
Omer Bodson was the Belgian officer who shot and killed Msiri, King of Garanganze on 20 December 1891 at Bunkeya in what is now DR Congo. Bodson was then killed by one of Msiri's men.-Military career:...

 to arrest Msiri, who stood his ground. Bodson shot him dead, and a fight broke out. The expedition took their wounded and Msiri's body back to their camp where Stairs was waiting, and there they cut off Msiri's head and hoisted it on a pole in plain view as a 'barbaric lesson' to his people. Some of the Garanganze were massacred by the expedition's askari
Askari
Askari is an Arabic, Bosnian, Urdu, Turkish, Somali, Persian, Amharic and Swahili word meaning "soldier" . It was normally used to describe local troops in East Africa, Northeast Africa, and Central Africa serving in the armies of European colonial powers...

s, and most of the rest fled into the bush.

Stairs handed over Msiri's body to his two brothers and an adopted son, Makanda Bantu, whom Stairs installed as chief to replace Msiri, and who signed the treaty acknowledging Leopold as sovereign. The two brothers refused to do so until Stairs sent Moloney to threaten them with the same fate as Msiri.

Oral histories of the Garanganze people say that the expedition kept Msiri's head – by some accounts in a can of kerosene – but it cursed and killed everyone who carried it and eventually, this included Stairs. He was ill with malaria throughout January 1892. After being relieved by another expedition, the Stairs Expedition set out on the long return journey to Zanzibar. Stairs was frequently sick but by May 1891 had recovered. On a steamer down the lower Zambezi he had another attack of malaria which killed him on June 9, 1892. He is buried in the European Cemetery in Chinde, Mozambique at the mouth of the Zambezi River.

Only 189 of the 400 men on the expedition made it back to Zanzibar, a year after they had left, most of the rest died and few deserted. Katanga became part of the Congo Free State, which was annexed by Belgium in 1908 after an international outcry over the killings, brutality and slavery by Leopold's regime. In the early 20th century as Katanga's mining industries developed, some British in Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...

, representing the losers in the scramble for Katanga, thought of Stairs as a mercenary and traitor to the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

.

Commemoration

Captain Stairs is commemorated with identical 3 tablets (c. 1902) in the vestibule of Mackenzie Building at Royal Military College of Canada
Royal Military College of Canada
The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...

, St. George's Cathedral (Kingston, Ontario) and in Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...

 near Chatham, England.
  • "William Grant Stairs, Captain the Welsh Regiment. Born at Halifax Nova Scotia 1 July 1863. Lieutenant Royal Engineers 1885-91. Served on the staff of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1887 under the leadership of H.M. Stanley and exhibited great courage and devotion to duty. Died of fever on the 9 June 1892 at Chinde on the Zambesi whilst in command of the Katanga Expedition sent out by the King of the Belgians."
  • A tablet at the Royal Military College of Canada
    Royal Military College of Canada
    The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...

     Memorial Arch erected in 1932 "The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1887-1890 52 Captain W.G. Stairs"


A collection of artefacts from his African expeditions are at Fort Frederick (Kingston)
Fort Frederick (Kingston)
Fort Frederick is a historic military building located on Point Frederick on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its construction dates to 1846 and the Oregon crisis. The fort consists of earthworks surrounding a Martello tower...

 and some his diaries are preserved in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia; others are lost.

Stairs Island, Parry Sound, Ontario
Parry Sound, Ontario
Parry Sound is a town in Central Ontario, Canada, located on Parry Sound on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay. Parry Sound is located south of Sudbury and north of Toronto. It is the seat of Parry Sound District, a popular cottage country region for Southern Ontario residents. It is also the...

 was named in honour of Captain William Grant Stairs (RMC 1882).

Further reading

  • Based on Stairs' expedition diaries:
    • Hon. Roy MacLaren
      Roy MacLaren
      Roy MacLaren, PC , is a Canadian politician, diplomat, historian, and author.Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia with a major in History, a Master's degree from St Catharine's College, Cambridge, a Master of...

      , African Exploits : The Diaries of William Stairs, 1887-1892, (1998) McGill-Queen's University Press
      McGill-Queen's University Press
      The McGill-Queen's University Press is a joint venture between McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario....

       (ISBN 0-7735-1640-9) & Liverpool University Press
      Liverpool University Press
      Liverpool University Press, founded in 1899, is the third oldest university press in England after Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press....

       (ISBN 0-85323-722-0)
    • Jane M. Konczacki, Victorian Explorer, (1997), Nimbus Publishing (ISBN 1-55109-103-8).
  • Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
    • Daniel Liebowitz; Charles Pearson: The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey Through the Congo, 2005, ISBN 0-393-05903-0
  • Based on other Stairs Expedition member's journals:
  • The following book provides background on the Stairs family of Halifax.
    • James Frost, Merchant Princes, Halifax's First Family of Finance, Ships and Steel, 2003, James Lorimer and Company.
  • Obituary: Captain William Grant Stairs Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 14, No. 7 (Jul., 1892), pp. 475–476 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

Primary sources

  • Jephson, A. J. Mounteney
    Arthur J. M. Jephson
    Arthur Jeremy Mounteney Jephson was a young adventurer and African explorer, who accompanied H.M.Stanley on the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1887-1889.-Emin Pasha Relief Expedition:...

     : Diary, Edited by Dorothy Middleton, Hakluyt Society
    Hakluyt Society
    Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society is a registered charity based in London, England, which seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material...

    , 1969
  • Stanley, Henry Morton
    Henry Morton Stanley
    Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...

     : In Darkest Africa, 1890

Secondary works

  • Daniel Liebowitz; Charles Pearson : The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey Through the Congo, 2005, ISBN 0-393-05903-0
  • Moorehead, Alan
    Alan Moorehead
    Alan McCrae Moorehead OBE was a war correspondent and author of popular histories, most notably two books on the nineteenth-century exploration of the Nile, The White Nile and The Blue Nile . Australian-born, he lived in England, and Italy, from 1937.-Biography:Alan Moorehead was born in...

     : The White Nile, London, 1960, 1971
  • Smith, Iain R. : The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition 1886-1890, Oxford University Press
    Oxford University Press
    Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

    , 1972
  • Gould, Tony
    Tony Gould
    Tony Gould is an Australian jazz musician, pianist, composer and educator.Gould's many recordings and performances reveal his harmonic view of music and his love of music from both African-American and European jazz traditions, as well as the classical works of Bach, Mahler, Stravinsky and...

     : In Limbo: The Story of Stanley's Rear Column, David & Charles
    David & Charles
    David & Charles is a publisher. The company was founded - and is still based - in the market town of Newton Abbot, in Devon, UK, on 1 April 1960 by David St John Thomas and Charles Hadfield. It first made its name publishing titles on Britain's canals and railways...

     1980 ISBN 0-241-10125-5
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