Douglas Woodall's Ancestry Page > Biological > Smith–Clark Family > Livingstone
The following account of the brief interaction between thse two men was written by Richard's grandson Alan Ernest William Smith 1904–2000, who was told it by his father Ernest Alfred Smith 1868–1949. Both Alan and Ernest were metallurgists, and so would have understood the technicalities.
The Royal School of Mines was established in 1851 with Dr John Percy FRS as Lecturer in Metallurgy and Richard Smith as his assistant. The following account is taken from a letter dated 4 October 1988 that Alan wrote to a Miss S J Cackett at the Science Museum in London.
David Livingstone brought ore samples to Percy, and RS analysed these. As a result of this contact Livingstone invited him, as mineralogist, to join his 4th exploration (geographical, not missionary) of the source of the Nile. Darkest Africa did not appeal to RS and he was about to be married, so he declined. (L's party arrived in Africa Jan '66, RS was married Feb '66.)