author
Henry Lansdell
1841–1919
A Victorian clergyman who turned long, difficult journeys into vivid books, he wrote about Siberia, Central Asia, and China from firsthand experience. His travels mixed missionary work with a strong curiosity about places, people, and everyday life far from Britain.
1 Audiobook
Through Siberia
by Henry Lansdell
About the author
Born in Tenterden, Kent, on January 10, 1841, Henry Lansdell became an Anglican priest and went on to build an unusual career as a missionary, traveler, and writer. He is best remembered for ambitious journeys across Russia, Siberia, Central Asia, and China, where he distributed Bibles and religious tracts while also recording what he saw in detail.
Those travels became the basis for a series of substantial books, including Through Siberia, Russian Central Asia, and Chinese Central Asia. His writing drew attention because it combined adventure, geography, social observation, and accounts of prisons, hospitals, and remote communities he visited along the way.
Lansdell died on October 4, 1919. Today he is often remembered as both a religious figure and a Victorian travel author whose books opened up distant regions to English-speaking readers.