Henry Morton Stanley's first trans-Africa exploration for and successfully found the missionary and explorer Livingstone, greeting him with the famous (though disputed) words: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Stanley's journey had four principal aims, to: There was controversy among earlier explorers as to whether these lakes and rivers were connected to each other and the Nile. Richard Burton thought that Lake Victoria might have a southern inlet, possibly from Lake Albert, meaning that the source of the Nile was not Lake Victoria as Speke had argued. Samuel Baker thought that Lake Albert might have an inlet from Lake Tanganyika. Livingstone thought that Lualaba was the source of
Dillington House Court was William Speke of Jordans near Ilminster, father of the celebrated discoverer of the River Nile John Hanning Speke. It is now a Grade II* listed building. Dillington House was the country residence of George III's Prime Minister, Lord North who acquired it through marriage to Anne Speke. The stables which were built in the 18th or early 19th century were remodelled in 1875 by George Nattress and later in the 1960s when the Coach House was converted into a theatre. The two lodges adjacent to the main gate are also Grade II* listed and are in private ownership.