Forgotten 19th-century graves in Mayumba and Nyanga estuary reveal untold Gabonese history

These burial sites contain the remains of British and European missionaries, sailors, and travelers from the late 19th century. The "Compagnons Mémoriels" are documenting these graves, which are threatened by time, to uncover material traces of this buried Gabonese history before they disappear. Among the names emerging from oblivion are Thomas James Comber, a British missionary who died in 1887; Henry Leeke, a Royal Navy lieutenant who drowned in the Mayumba River in 1883; William Henry White, a missionary who died in 1897; and George Fulton Haigh Newcombe, who died in 1880.

Even an eight-week-old infant, the son of Reverend G. R. Pople, is commemorated. These individuals' stories are being pieced together through sources like the Baptist Missionary Society and British naval records, which shed light on their presence and deaths on the Gabonese coast. Led by Pierre Duro, a judicial expert and advisor to the Gabonese executive, the "Compagnons Mémoriels" have officially reported the existence of three funerary sites to the Gabonese Ministry of Culture and the UK Embassy.

One site in Mayumba contains about a dozen graves, with two other sites also identified in Mayumba and Igotchi, at the Nyanga estuary. The inscriptions on the crosses and steles, some dating back to 1877, are fading, highlighting the urgency of this documentation effort.