Находился на службе волонтером в составе гражданского медицинского персонала в
Крымской войне
.
Участвует в Замбезийской экспедиции
Ливингстона
1858-1864. О Ливингстоне он написал в дневнике 1862 года «Я не могу прийти к другому выводу кроме того, что доктор Ливингстон выжил из ума и является наиболее опасным руководителем»
После смерти Ливингстона продолжил дело прекращения региональной работорговли. Вел длительные переговоры с султаном Занзибара, пока тот не запретил работорговлю в 1873 году. В 1886 стал британским консулом на Занзибаре.
Работы
'Account of the Zambezi District, in South Africa, with a Notice of Its Vegetable and Other Products', "Transactions of the Botanical Society" (1864), 8, 197-202....
'Ascent of the Rovuma', "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London" (1864-1865), 9, 284-8.
'Dimorphism in the Flowers of Monochoria Vaginalis', "Journal of the Linnean Society: Botany" (1865), 8, 147.
'Extracts of a Letter of Д Kirk to Alex Kirk, Esq., Relating to the Livingstone Expedition', "Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science" (1859), 185-6.
'Hints to Travellers – Extracts from a Letter from John Kirk', "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society" (1864), 34, 290-2.
'Letter Dated 28 February Replying to Д Peters', "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London" (1865), 227.
'Letter from Д John Kirk (of the Livingstone Expedition), A H. M Ship Pioneer, River Shire, East Africa, 14 Декабря 1861.' "Transactions of the Botanical Society" (1862), 7, 389-92.
'Letter from Д John Kirk, Physician and Naturalists to the Livingstone Expedition, Relative to the Country near Lake Shirwa, in Africa', "Transactions of the Botanical Society" (1859), 6, 317-21, plate VII.
'Letter from John Kirk to Professor Balfour', "Transactions of the Botanical Society" (1864), 8, 110-1.
'List of Mammalia Met with in Zambesia, Tropical East Africa', "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London" (1864), 649-60.
'Notes on the Gradient of the Zambesi, on the Level of Lake Nyassa, on the Murchison-Рапидс, and on Lake Shirwa', "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society" (1865), 35, 167-9.
'Notes on Two Expeditions up the River Rovuma, East Africa', "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society" (1865), 35, 154-67.
'On a Few Fossil Bones from the Alluvial Strata of the Zambesi Delta', "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society" (1864), 34, 199-201.
'On a New Dye-Wood of the Genus
, from Tropical Africa', "Journal of the Linnean Society: Botany" (1867), 9, 229-30.
'On a New Genus of Liliaceæ from Tropical East Africa', "Transactions of the Linnean Society" (1864), 24, 497-9.
'On a New Harbour Opposite Zanzibar', "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London" (1866-1867), 11, 35-6.
'On Musa Livingstoniana, a New Banana from Tropical Africa', "Journal of the Linnean Society: Botany" (1867), 9, 128.
'On the "Tsetse Fly of Tropical Africa (Glossina Morsitans, Westwood).' "Journal of the Linnean Society: Zoology" (1865), 8, 149-56.
'On the Birds of the Zambezi Region of Eastern Tropical Africa', "Ibis" (1864), 6, 307-39.
'On the Palms of Tropical East Africa', "Journal of the Linnean Society": Botany (1867), 9, 230-5.
'Report on the Natural Products and Capabilities of the Shire and Lower Zambesi Valleys', "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London" (1861-1862), 6, 25-32.
'Report by Sir John Kirk on the Disturbances at Brass' (Great Britain: Colonial Office, 1896)
Фотография
Джон Керк был заядлым фотографом. Сохранились 250 фотографий, которые он сделал во время
Крымской войны
и в Замбезийской экспедиции
Ливингстона
1858-1864.
Портрет работорговца и охотника за слоновой костью
"List of Past Gold Medal Winners" (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
Источники
Out of Africa: The Kirk Papers // Digital Gallery - National Library of Scotland -
Anonymous 1908
Foskett, Reginald, ed. 1965.
The Zambesi Journal and Letters of Dr. John Kirk, 1858–63
. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
Martelli, George. 1970.
Livingstone's River: A History of the Zambezi Expedition
, 1858–1864. London: Chatto & Windus.
Liebowitz, Daniel. 1999.
The Physician and the Slave Trade: John kirk, the Livingstone Expeditions, and the Crusade against Slavery in East Africa.
New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Ferguson, Niall. 2003.
Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World
. London: Penguin Books. pp. 156–8, 236–7, 239.
Dritsas, Lawrence. 2005.
From Lake Nyassa to Philadelphia: A Geography of the Zambesi Expedition, 1858–64.
British Journal for the History of Science
38, no. 1: 35–52.
Hazell, Alastair. 2012.
The Last Slave Market: Dr John Kirk and the Struggle to End the East African Slave Trade
. London: Constable
Hendrik L. Wesseling: Teile und herrsche. Die Aufteilung Afrikas 1880–1914 (= Beiträge zur Kolonial- und Überseegeschichte. Bd. 76). Steiner, Stuttgart 1999,
ISBN 3-515-07543-7
, S. 126.
Hermann Schreiber: Denhardts Griff nach Afrika. Die Geschichte einer deutschen Kolonialerwerbung. Scherl, Berlin 1938.