A full length portrait of John Hanning Speke (1827-64) from an original photograph by Southwell Brothers of about 1863. To the left of Speke sits a surveying sextant on a stand. After serving in the British army, Speke took part in a number of expeditions in Africa in the 1850s and 1860s, notably to east Africa in 1856-59 (with Richard Burton), during which time he named Lake Victoria, which he believed was the source of the Nile. This was followed by an expedition of 1860-63 to locate the river's source.