Page 17 - They Also Served

THE TWO HUNDRED 1Dixon Denham 1819.
Dixon Denham was born in London on New Year’s Day 1786. Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, he was articled to a solicitor before joining the army in 1811. Purchasing a commission, he served with firstly the 23rd and later 54th Regiment. Taking part in the latter stages of the Peninsular War, he later carried his wounded commander to safety at the Battle of Toulouse in 1814 and was present at Waterloo the following year. A close acquaintance of the Duke of Wellington, Denham was part of the occupation of Paris before being placed on half pay in 1818.
In 1819, Denham entered Sandhurst in what was then called the Senior Department, hoping to find later employment as a staff officer in what later became the Staff College. Not surprisingly, given his age and experience, he found the training and regime boring, although the Commandant, Sir Howard Douglas, thought highly of him. A friend described him as ‘the kind of man who must have adventure or he rots’. Having met the explorer George Lyon, Denham was determined to join an expedition to Africa and used his connections to achieve this. In 1821 he joined a mission to trace the source of the Niger River, which involved a crossing of the Sahara Desert.
However, Denham almost immediately fell out with the leader of the team, Walter Oudney, causing him to write: ‘His absence will be no loss to the mission as Major Denham could not read his sextant and knew not a star in the heavens’. In a later letter, Oudney compared him to ‘a snake hidden in the grass.’ Nevertheless, Denham was the only Briton in good health, so much of the leadership fell to him as they crossed
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