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
PS Speke "Speke" and her barges were used mainly to carry cotton for export from nearby plantations. When the railway operator's successor, the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EARH), completed its northern Uganda extension from Tororo to Pakwach it superseded the Victoria Nile ferry service. EARH withdrew "Speke", "Stanley" and "Grant" from service in 1962 and offered "Speke" for sale in September of that year. The track of the Busoga Railway was lifted in 1964. PS Speke PS "Speke" was a British stern wheel paddle steamer in Uganda. She was built for the Uganda Railway in 1910 to operate on Lake