Dowlish Wake home of the family of John Hanning Speke who took part in three expeditions to Central Africa from 1854-1862, the last two in search of the source of the Nile. He discovered Lake Victoria and maintained that it was the source of the White Nile. On his third expedition, Speke identified Ripon Falls, the outlet of Lake Victoria, as the source of the Nile; this was confirmed by Henry Morton Stanley in a later expedition. Speke was killed in Neston Park in Wiltshire by his own gun while hunting with his cousin on 18 September 1864; Dr David Livingstone and
John Lee Lee the will of his uncle Major Edward Lee (d.17 January 1819) of Orleigh, he inherited several estates including Orleigh. Under the terms of the bequest he adopted the surname Lee by royal licence dated 21 March 1825. He let Orleigh to his brother-in-law William Speke of Jordans near Ilminster (father of the River Nile explorer John Hanning Speke (1827–1864)) and made his own residence at Dillington. In 1830 he was elected one of the Members of Parliament for Wells, and held the seat until 1837. Lee married twice. His first marriage was in 1834 to Jessy Edwards-Vaughan (died 1836), the