Niger expedition of 1841

The Niger expedition of 1841 was mounted by British missionary and activist groups in 1841-1842, using three British iron steam vessels to travel to Lokoja, at the confluence of the Niger River and Benue River, in what is now Nigeria. The British government backed the effort to make treaties with the native peoples, introduce Christianity and promote increased trade. The crews of the boats suffered a high mortality from disease.

The expedition was put into motion by an Exeter Hall meeting of 1 June 1840. It was chaired by Prince Albert. The organisers were the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and for the Civilization of Africa, set up in 1839 by Thomas Fowell Buxton. Buxton was promoting a grandiose "New Africa" policy, based on a series of treaties to be made in West Africa, the introduction of Christianity, and increased commerce, as set out in his book the previous year. Buxton's ideas went back at least half a century, to the Sierra Leone Company. At the time anti-slavery activists had little access to the higher reaches of the British government, and were relying on public meetings and popular agitation; Buxton was in an exceptional position.

Up to 4000 people attended the meeting, Sir Robert Peel spoke from the stage, and Prince Albert became President of the Society. The proceedings were written up by Joseph Beldam.

The Whig government of the time, under William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, was more irritated than pleased by Buxton's lobbying. But it made financial moves to support the expedition. Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary found £50,000 to offer Spain for their claimed sovereignty of Fernando Po (now Bioko), an island in the region already home to British naval bases.

Officially known as the African Colonization Expedition, it was opposed by Robert Jamieson, and Macgregor Laird. Some medical planning was done and Royal Navy surgeons carried quinine as a prophylactic against malaria. The boats also had a ventilation system, based on that of David Boswell Reid for the Palace of Westminster.

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