The statue was proposed in 1874, a year after reports arrived of Livingstone's death in Zambia. He shares the plinth with the lion he shot in Mabotsa. Savaged by the enraged animal before it was brought down by a spear, Livingstone lost the effective use of his left arm which was crushed; but his right arm retains the power to extend the Bible. The architecture behind belongs to the Scott Monument.

"It is tempting to point to the special success of Scotsmen - Bruce, Park, Clapperton and Livingstone - in living off the land in Africa, and ascribe their gifts of endurance under difficulties of diet to a background of porridge-eating at home, as contrasted with the traditionally more carniverous Englishman, who must have sadly missed his beef in a continent where the slaughtering of cattle for food was a rare luxury." -- Dr. Ronald Miller, Scottish lecturer