John Hanning Speke and Speke, and Baker played into this so he could assume a greater role as an explorer and co-discoverer of the Nile. Speke, via Baker's ship, then continued to Khartoum from which he sent a celebrated telegram to London: "The Nile is settled." Speke's expedition did not resolve the issue, however. Burton claimed that because Speke had not followed the Nile from the place it flowed out of Lake Victoria to Gondokoro, he could not be sure they were the same river. Baker and Florence, meanwhile, stayed in Gondokoro and tried to settle the flow of the river from there
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