Lienhardt (1921-1993) was born in Yorkshire, UK. In 1941 he joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and in 1943 was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Service Corps and posted to East Africa. He returned in 1945, and in 1947 graduated in Archaeology and Anthropology from Cambridge University. On graduation, the government of the Sudan awarded him a grant to study the Dinka, and he embarked on several years of fieldwork among the Rek Dinka of Gogrial as well as other groups until 1951. He also acted as Jean Buxton’s supervisor while she conducted her fieldwork in Sudan. Lienhardt is known for his important contributions to the published literature on Southern Sudanese ethnography as well as the anthropology of religion and other subjects, and for the deep and long-standing personal friendships he established with members of the Dinka community, for whom he was known as Thienydeng, 'The Rod of the Spirit' or 'The Stake of Rain'.