 This settlement, which was already in operation by 1779, was occupied by Dr John Laidley and a family by the name of Aynsley.Subsequently, Laidley and the Aynsleys rendered invaluable assistance to Major Daniel Houghton in 1790, Mungo Park in 1795 and 1805, and Major William Grey in 1818, in the course of their journeys into the interior of Africa.At the beginning of the 19th century, Montgomery identified that most settlements on the Gambia River were British.