author

Major William Gray

An early 19th-century British officer and travel writer, he is known for a vivid account of an expedition from the Gambia toward the Niger. His book captures both the hardship of the journey and the era’s drive to map and describe West Africa.

1 Audiobook

Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the river Gambia, through Woolli, Bondoo, Galam, Kasson, Kaarta, and Foolidoo, to the river Niger

Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the river Gambia, through Woolli, Bondoo, Galam, Kasson, Kaarta, and Foolidoo, to the river Niger

by Major William Gray, Staff Surgeon Dochard

About the author

Major William Gray is chiefly remembered for Travels in Western Africa, in the Years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, published in London by John Murray in 1825 and credited to Major William Gray and the late Staff Surgeon Dochard. The book follows an expedition traveling from the River Gambia through regions including Woolli, Bondoo, Galam, Kasson, Kaarta, and Foolidoo toward the River Niger.

From the surviving descriptions of the work, Gray took command after the expedition’s original leader, Major Peddie, died early in the journey. His narrative focuses on the realities of travel and exploration in West Africa—illness, difficult terrain, supply problems, and encounters with local communities—making the book valuable both as an adventure narrative and as a historical document of British exploration.

Reliable biographical details about Gray himself are hard to confirm from the sources found here, so it is safest to present him primarily through this book and the expedition it records. No suitable verified portrait image could be confirmed from the pages reviewed.