A hunter to the fibre of his being

Robert Morgan looks at the fascinating life of one of the 19th century’s most notable adventurers and his premature end

- Robert Morgan

To some, what is pictured on the right and over the page are just a plain safari shirt and bush hat. But this shirt and hat belonged to the professional hunter, conservationist and explorer Frederick Courteney Selous.

Frederick Courteney Selous (1851–1917) will need little introduction to some of you. His interest in explorers and adventurers began at a young age, with his own hunting exploits starting at the age of 19 in Matabeleland, a region in what is now southwestern Zimbabwe. With the permission of Lobengula, King of the Ndebele, to hunt his lands, Selous explored the regions north of the Transvaal and south of the Congo Basin, shooting and collecting specimens for all kinds of museums and private collections.

Guide 

Having been convinced by Cecil Rhodes to join the British South Africa Company in 1890, Selous was a guide on an expedition to Mashonaland. In 1892, he was awarded the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in recognition of his extensive explorations and surveys, the subject of his journal 20 Years in Zambesia.

He took part in the First Matabele War in 1893 and was wounded in action in the advance on Bulawayo. This prompted a period in England, where he would marry the following year. Returning and settling in Matabeleland with his wife in 1896, Selous again took a prominent part in the fighting at the outbreak of the Second Matabele War, serving as a leader in the Bulawayo Field Force. In 1896, Queen Victoria sanctioned the issue of the British South Africa Company medal to troops who had served in the First Matebele War, which was extended the following year to those who served in the Rhodesia and Mashonaland campaigns of the Second Matabele War.