John Petherick

Who was John Petherick?

John Petherick, Welsh traveller, trader and consul in East Central Africa, was born in Glamorganshire, and adopted the profession of mining engineer.

In 1845 he entered the service of Mehemet Ali, and was employed in examining Upper Egypt, Nubia, the Red Sea coast and Kordofan in an unsuccessful search for coal.

In 1848 Petherick left the Egyptian service and established himself at El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, as a trader, dealing largely in gum arabic. He was at the same time made British consular agent for the Sudan. In 1853 he removed to Khartoum and became an ivory trader. He travelled extensively in the Bahr-el-Ghazal region, then almost unknown, exploring the Jur River, Yalo and other affluents of the Bahr el Ghazal river.

In 1858 he penetrated to the Niam-Niam country. His additions to the knowledge of natural history were considerable, among his discoveries being the Mrs Gray's waterbuck and the Shoebill. Petherick returned to England in 1859 where he made the acquaintance of JH Speke, then arranging for his expedition to discover the source of the Nile. While in England Petherick married, and published an account of his travels.