Daniel Houghton (1740–1791) was an Irish explorer and one of the earliest Europeans to travel through the interior of West Africa.
In the Irish National Archives there is a file[2] containing the "Memorial of Monica Kiernan, alias Lawler Lynch and James, George and Cecilia Lawler Lynch of Galway Town, to Viscount Sidmouth, seeking assistance and noting that they are the descendants of the late Maj Daniel Francis Houghton, 69th Regiment of Foot, who discovered the source of the Niger River in Africa; noting that Houghton’s only child, Catherine Cornwallis Houghton, married George Lawler Lynch.
In 1790, Houghton approached the African Association in London, proposing a mission to travel up the Gambia river and explore the hinterland of Africa's west coast.
Houghton's instructions were to sail to the mouth of the Gambia, navigate the river to the Barra Kunda falls, and then to travel overland to the Hausa lands to the east.
He was also tasked with pinpointing the exact location of the fabled city of Timbuktu as well as charting the course of the Niger River.