author
Staff Surgeon Dochard
A British army surgeon and early nineteenth-century travel writer, he is best known for a firsthand account of an expedition into West Africa. His surviving work offers a vivid window into European exploration along the Gambia and toward the Niger River.
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
by Major William Gray, Staff Surgeon Dochard
About the author
Very little biographical information could be firmly confirmed about this author beyond his service title and published work. Reliable catalog and scholarly sources identify him as Staff Surgeon Duncan Dochard, a captain in the Royal African Corps, and list him as the co-author of Travels in Western Africa, in the Years 1818, 19, 20, and 21 with Major William Gray.
That book grew out of an expedition launched in 1818 along the Gambia River, with the aim of tracing the Niger River and learning more about the interior of West Africa. Modern scholarly discussion of the expedition notes that Dochard had also been involved in an earlier failed venture in the region, which helps explain the practical, on-the-ground perspective associated with his account.
Because confirmed personal details are scarce, his reputation today rests mainly on that travel narrative. For listeners interested in exploration history, colonial-era travel writing, and early European accounts of West Africa, his work remains a rare primary-source glimpse into a difficult and ambitious journey.