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Name: GREGORY, John Walter FRS (Professor)
Birth Date: 27.1.1864 Bow, London
Death Date: 2.6.1932 Megantoni Rapids, Peru
Nationality: British
First Date: 1892
Last Date: 1899
Profession: A distinguished geologist and author of 'The Great Rift Valley', in 1892 he was the first man to climb Mt. Kenya
Married: In Woodham Walter, Maldon 1895 Adriana Audrey Chaplin b. 1872 Stowupland, Suffolk, d. 15 Dec 1945 Maldon, Essex
Children: Ursula Joan (29 July 1896-1959); Christopher John (11 July 1900 East Meon, Hampshire-1977)
Author: 'The Great Rift Valley' 1896, 'Foundations of British East Africa' 1901
Book Reference: Gillett, Ainsworth, North, Nicholls, Chandler
School: Stepney Grammar School; Birkbeck Scientific Institution
General Information:
Nicholls - The geologist J.W. Gregory came in May 1893 to explore the Rift Valley and climb Mt Kenya. The result of his visit was the remarkable book, 'The Great Rift Valley' …… A small, frail-looking but wiry man, a teetotaller, Gregory travelled by himself. He was not harmed by the Kikuyu because they considered him a lunatic, and they never hurt lunatics.
North - Geologist attached to the Lieut. C.H. Villiers expedition by the British Museum; arr Lamu 21-11-1892; expedition had broken up by Jan 1893 & he continued up-country alone, eventually reaching the moorland zone of Mt. Kenya at a height of 4730 metres.
Ainsworth - 'a travel worn, much bewhiskered human' a very interesting man with a fund of information on many subjects.
See article in Old Africa magazine Apr/May 2019 by Thomas Schlüter