John Hanning Speke (1827-1864) born at Bideford, Devon, England. Officer in the British Indian Army and explorer of Africa. Accompanied Richard Burton's expedition (1855-1858), sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society, when he discovered Lake Victoria Nyanza. On a subsequent expedition of 1860-1862 he discovered the exit from the lake into the White Nile which he named Ripon Falls. Here Speke is preventing M'tesa, the tyrant king of Uganda, killing one of his wives who had annoyed him. Engraving from 'Heroes of Britain in Peace and War' by Edwin Hodder (London, c1880).