This exquisite hand-tinted ambrotype shows David Livingstone, one of the great Christian missionaries of the nineteenth century. His African expeditions and discovery and naming of Victoria Falls made him Britain's national hero. In 1856 Livingstone returned to Britain after crossing Africa from Luanda on the west to near the mouth of the Zambezi on the east. He quickly became known around the country. In 1858 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and had an audience with the queen. It is most likely that this photograph was taken during the period that Livingstone was in Britain. In March 1858, he embarked on his Zambezi expedition which lasted until 1864.