W. Holman (William Holman) Bentley

Born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in 1855, he became an English Baptist missionary with the Baptist Missionary Society and traveled to the Congo in 1879. Before that, he had worked as a bank clerk, but his life became closely tied to central Africa, where he served for many years and built a reputation as a determined pioneer and observer.

Bentley is especially remembered for his work on the Kongo language. He compiled a dictionary and grammar, translated the New Testament, and wrote books including Life on the Congo and Pioneering on the Congo. His writing is valued not only for its missionary perspective, but also for the detail it preserves about the region during a time of major change.

He died in 1905. Though some older accounts describe his work in the language of empire and mission, his books remain important historical documents for readers interested in Congo history, travel writing, and early language study.