South African Empire podcast

The UK National Archives have some podcasts worth a listen. There's plenty here on how to search for ancestors with particular backgrounds, including ones who wound up in prison, the workhouse, or the circus. 

There's also help on searching for people in certain locales, for example in Scotland, and discussion on emigration to Canada and Ireland, transportation to Australia and on immigration to the UK. There's even a podcast about UFOs! Plenty to choose from...


For people interested in South Africa, there is one on the "South African Empire"

Ndotolu - Walter and Anna Fisher of Central Africa

Ndotolu - The life and stories of Walter and Anna Fisher of Central Africa, Fisher & Hoyte. (my copy 1992, 2nd impression, published by Miss Joan Hoyte, Zambia, from whom copies might be available)

This is an update of the 1948 book 'Africa Looks Ahead', telling the tale of another remarkable missionary family. There is an appendix on the Fisher children. The Fisher, Arnot, Hoyte and Darling families are all connected. (There is a lot more information on the family tree and other names mentioned here in the sequel to this book, Nswana.)

Most of the people in the book are either related to the Fishers or associated with their mission. The Fishers were inspired particularly by Scotsman Fred Arnot, who also appears prominently. I was interested to see that Arnot is referred to as Munari (red neck), a name I always thought only associated with David Livingstone (who, of course, inspired Arnot).

The Fisher's final mission station was at Kalene Hill in present-day north-western Zambia, where Walter Fisher set up a hospital. Husband and wife administer to all comers, with Walter gaining respect through a quiet authority and medical wonders such as cataract operations. Many missionary children were born at Kalene Hill, it being the only medical facility in a very wide area. Patients travelled as much as 150 miles to reach it. The border commission also used them as a sort of post restante for any mail to people in the area, who would naturally also stay at Kalene Hill if in the vicinity.

The Fishers' first trip to Africa was in 1888 and some of the people mentioned are in earlier stations, from Angola going east around the Caprivi strip into northern Zambia.

Like other missionaries, the Fishers returned to Greenwich and elsewhere in England on furlough every couple of years (shorter than the usual 5 years, although husband and wife take it in turns). Some of the children go to boarding school in England and some names in the book relate to these trips back to the homeland.

Once again one must admire the zeal that led people like these (Walter Fisher had a bright career ahead as a surgeon) to come to Africa and spend their lives there. This may be attributed in this case at least in part to their Plymouth Brethren background, which seems to have given Walter and others in his family a discipline and dedication of a rare kind.

There is the usual litany of deaths by malaria with several of their outgoing party dead within a week or two of departure.

Some names:

Aldwinckle, Miss (Westcliff school) p121
Allen, Roland (author of 'Missionary Methods') p171
Anton, Mr (Lufira) p119
Arnot, Fred x Trottie Fisher (Walter's sister) p17-20, 25-28,32-34, 40-44, 48-58, 66-8, p118-9, 123, 140-1, 192 d. 1914
Arnot, Nigel p125
Arnot, Rachel p141
Arnot, Ray p73
Arthington trust p155

Bellis, Mr (government) p191
Bird, Cyril & Mrs p65, 70, 78, 80
Bird, Handley (1891 of India) p65, 84, 86-88 d Feb 1896 blackwater fever
Boake, Mr (Loughton, Essex) p195
Brayshaw, Miss Lizzie p90, 93, 107-8
Brealey, Walter p13
Brinton, Tomase (photo) p161

Cameron, trader at Benguella p29, 38
Carlile, Miss (aunt of Fisher children) p93,96,107-8
Chamora p193
Chamuwana, p156
Chapman, Robert p18
Chimwanga (headman) p158
Chindinduma (king) p54-5, 78
Chinenga p168-70
Chinyama (chief) p75
Chiputa p114
Clarke, Mr (Lufira) p118-9
Coillard, Mons. p113
Coppithorne, Mr p90,93-98 d Malaria
Cornfield, Miss x Schindler
Couceiro, Captain p55
Crawford, Dan (Luanza) p20, 42-3, 48, 119 
Cunningham, Mr & Mrs (Lunda Bible) p90, 92, 108-12, 124, 141, 156

Darling, Eileen
Darling, John Singleton p60-3, 89, 127 N. Ireland 1865
Darling, Letitia (Linnie) p60-2
Darling, Marian b<1865 p61
Darling, Miss x Lear, Gilbert (Argentine) 1911 p153 d 1913
Darling, Susanna (Anna) Elizabeth p60-7, 71-3 b. Ireland 1865 
Davies, Miss p20, 31, 34, 39
Dering, Mr p16
Dyer, Henry p18

Easton, Mr & Mrs (China mission) p15
Edwards, Mr p113, 143
Faulkner, Mr p54, 69
Figg, Mr p113-5
Fisher, Alfred Charles p127
Fisher, ffolliott p172-5
Fisher, George (Barnstaple, no relation) p20, 31, 34, 39
Fisher, Hettie p106, 112
Fisher, Katolo p89,156 b 1896
Fisher, Kitty p201 became a Lunda chief in 1971
Fisher, May p77, 80, 89, 98, 107,153-6, 172  b 1893
Fisher, Pearl p99, 107 d 1902
Fisher, Mr and Mrs (Greenwich) p64
Fisher, William Singleton p80-2, 89, 95-7, 107, 156-7
Franklin, Mr (Clarence School) p122

Gall, Mr p20, 35; 1889 aged 26, d. 1889
Geddes, Mr p125
Gilchrist, Miss p20, 31
Gilchrist, Mr p70, 75-6
Gillard, Miss p16
Green, Dr p14
Green, Mr and Mrs Alfred (Redland) p174
Groves, Henry p18

Harwood, Mr & Mrs p90
Honjo 'half-caste' p30
Hornby, Arthur p113
Hoyte, Miss Winifred x Last (Bunkeya) p143-4, 154-6, 162-3, 172
Hoyte, Dr Julyan p172
Ikelenge (elephant hunter) p132
Ing, Miss (Minehead, Kavungu) p143, 193
Johnston, Mary Anne p60 d. c. 1867
Johnston, Mr  p20, 25 1889 aged 32, d. yellow fever 1889
Judson, Mr and Mrs (From Bihe, school at Sokezi) p195

Kaindo p54
Kaji, Ilunga  p142
Kaji, Musokantanda p142
Kamana p184
Kamona, a.k.a. Nyawili p81-4, 102
Kamwandi, p166
Kapusu (Ovimbundu) p84 x Kamona
Katayi, p 179
Katoyo (brother of Swanakibinda) p132
Kayuma (nurse) p193
Kinniburgh, Linnie p200
Knowles, Mr (Stockton on Tees) p122
Kutela p156
Kwanjulula, Chief p51

Lammond, Mr W. p136
Lane, F p20, 25, 27
Lane, Miss Harriet (nee Lacey) c 1885 Ryde
Lane, Mr p78
Last, Percy x Hoyte p143-4
Lear, Gilbert (Argentine) x Darling p153
Lewanika, King p114, 127, 131, 141
Lewis, Mr & Mrs p96, 107, 113
Lindley, Miss p113 x Hornby
Luming, Mr (Dutch, Benguella) p39
Lynn, Joseph p65, 70-77 d 1893 rabies

Maclean, Dr & Mrs (Bath, UK) p18, 64
Macgregor, Sister "Border Craig" Kalene p129
Maitland, Mr p124
Manase p156
Manson, Sir Patrick p125 (quinine)
Marks, Miss Kitty (later Fisher) p170, 172, 188
Maseka, Musokantanda p142
McKinnon, Mr p113
Morey, Dr (American) p123
Morris, Mr & Mrs p20, 31, 34-36, 39 Mr d. 1889 malaria
Mowat, Mr & Mrs p136
Muhoni, p164-5
Mukangala, Ibala (Chief) p132
Mukwetanza (Queen's husband) p84-6
Munnock, Archie p20, 25, 27, 35, 38, 40, 44
Murrain, Mr and Mrs (Demarara) p75
Mushidi, King p78, 119
Mwatiyamvwa (Lunda king) p142, 166
Mwenda, son of Mushidi p119

Nightingale, Mr Roland p199 x Hettie Fisher
Nyakatolo (chiefess) p78
Nyalukuka, p122
Nyamavunda p154
Nyamuweji p179
Nyangunja (boarders house mother) p193
Nyawili, p185
Ondulu, chief p51
O'Jon, Mrs p93

Paiva (Portuguese Captain) p57-8
Petita (orphan) p193
Piper, Dr and Mrs p166
Pokanwa (congolese) p84
Porto, Senhor p54-6 suicide 1890 (Angola)
Rea, Mr T. p156

Sakawumba, Chief p100-5
Sandongu p81
Sanje (church leader) p68
Sanders, Mr p71
Saunders, Mr & Mrs p25-6, 39 American missionaries, Benguela
Sawyer, Mr & Mrs p141-5, 148, 162-3, 172
Schindler, Mr p65, 70, 79, 83, 87, 91-2, 106, 118 (Benguella and Kalene) x Cornfield
Scott, Miss (Westcliff school) p121
Searle, Mr and Mrs p25-6
Shole, Minnie (governess) p13
Skinner, Miss (Gloucester boarding school c1880) p62
Smith, Miss O.G. x Sawyer p143-4
Smith, Stanley, p15, 80

Spurgeon, Charles p18
Stone, Huntington p18, 82, 122 (Greenwich)
Studd, C.T. mention only p15 Cambridge
Suckling, Mr G.R. p153, 155 (1911)
Swan, Mr and Mrs p54, 78
Swanakibinda p132
Taylor, Cuthbert p108-12
Taylor, Hudson p15 mention only
Taylor, Mr p124

Thompson, H.B. p32
Wangula  (church leader) p68
Webster, Dr p25
Wili (orderly, photo) p161
Williams, Robert (labour recruiting) p192
"Yekesi" (British man, nice tale of glass eye, 1910) p151-2