John Hanning SPEKE

John Hanning SPEKE

John Hanning SPEKE was a Victorian Exlporer who discovered the source of the Nile. His connections with Box are that his brother William was the owner and resident of Hazlebury Manor in the parish and that ultimately he died in mysterious circumstances in the fields at Wadswick in 1864.

To read an account of his life and particularly the circumstances of his death click on the map on the left.

To commemorate Speke’s life, or more accurately his death, a memorial was erected at the very spot where he died. To see a photograph of the memorial - click the map on the right...

To find out exactly where the memorial is, and how to find it, click on the map on the left

Box Parish Council has been given a number of original documents relating to Speke, particularly drawings of the memorial, presumably for the masons to use in its construction. To see images of these documents - click on the map of Africa on the right.....