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List of colonial governors of Sierra Leone

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This is a list of colonial administrators in Sierra Leone from the establishment of the Province of Freedom by the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor in 1787 until Sierra Leone's independence in 1961.

Administrator (1787)

On 14 May 1787, the Province of Freedom was founded by the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor for freed slaves.

Governor (1787–1789)

On 22 August 1788, the Province of Freedom and land along the Freetown peninsula was granted to Captain John Taylor of HMS Miro. In 1789, it was abandoned.

  • John Taylor (August 1788 – 1789)

Agent (1791–1792)

In January 1791, the Granville Town was restored by the St. George Bay Company.

Superintendent (1792)

In 1792, Freetown was founded as the main town of the newly established Colony of Sierra Leone

Governors (1792–1827)

  • John Clarkson (July – 31 December 1792)
  • William Dawes (31 December 1792 – March 1794) (1st time)
  • Zachary Macaulay (March 1794 – 6 May 1795) (1st time)
  • William Dawes (6 May 1795 – March 1796) (2nd time)
  • Zachary Macaulay (March 1796 – April 1799) (2nd time)
  • John Gray (April – May 1799) (1st time)

On 5 July 1799, the Province of Freedom was renamed Sierra Leone.

  • Thomas Ludlam (May 1799 – 1800) (1st time)
  • John Gray (1800 – January 1801) (2nd time)
  • William Dawes (January 1801 – February 1803) (3rd time)
  • William Day (February 1803 – 1803) (1st time)
  • Thomas Ludlam (1803–1805) (2nd time)
  • William Day (1805 – 4 November 1805) (2nd time)

On 1 January 1808, Sierra Leone (including coastal area) becomes Crown colony of the United Kingdom, and Sierra Leone Company rule was ended.

On 17 October 1821, Sierra Leone territory becomes part of British West African Territories. Its Governorship was held simultaneously by Governor (from 1827 until 1837 Lieutenant governor) of Sierra Leone.

Lieutenant governors (1827–1837)

Governors (1837–1961)

Flag of the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1889 to 1916
Flag of the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1916 to 1961
  • Richard Doherty (1837–1840)
  • John Jeremie (1840 – April 1841)
  • John Carr (April – September 1841) (acting)
  • William Fergusson (September 1841 – January 1842) (1st time, acting)
  • George Macdonald (January 1842 – July 1844)
  • William Fergusson (July 1844 – 1845) (2nd time) (note the link to William Fergusson Bart may be incorrect as sources indicate that this William Fergusson 1795–1846, physician and colonial governor, was born in Jamaica, the son of a Scottish father and a mother of African descent: ref.1. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49294?rskey=R4PvRe&result=1 ; ref.2. "William Fergusson, born in 1795 in the West Indies to an African American mother and a Scottish-settler father, enrolled on a medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in 1809 – apparently aged only 14 (Shepperson, 1964). After becoming a licentiate of the Royal 9 College of Surgeons of Scotland in 1813, Fergusson was posted to Sierra Leone as second surgeon to the colony. In 1845, around the time ten-year-old Horton would have been entering the Church Missionary Society Grammar School, Fergusson became governor of the colony – "the first, and last, governor of a British African colony of African descent". (Fyfe, 2004)." http://uncover-ed.org/james-africanus-beale-horton/)

On 13 January 1850, the British West African Territories was dissolved and Sierra Leone again becomes a separate crown colony.

On 19 February 1866, Sierra Leone territory becomes part of the British West African Settlements. Its Governorship was held simultaneously by Governor of Sierra Leone.

On 17 December 1874, British West African Settlements was renamed British West Africa Settlements.

On 28 November 1888, the British West Africa Settlements was dissolved and Sierra Leone again becomes a separate crown colony .

On 24 August 1895, hinterland of Sierra Leone becomes British protectorate, and crown colony was renamed Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate.

In 1961, Sierra Leone achieved independence from the United Kingdom. After independence, the viceroy in Sierra Leone was the Governor-General of Sierra Leone.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colonial heads of Sierra Leone.

References

  1. ^ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/21358/page/2479
  2. ^ "No. 27245". The London Gazette. 9 November 1900. p. 6854.
  3. ^ "Latest intelligence - Sierra Leone". The Times. No. 36878. London. 20 September 1902. p. 6. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
  4. ^ a b "Latest intelligence - Sierra Leone". The Times. No. 36891. London. 6 October 1902. p. 4. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
  • Worldstatesmen.org: Sierra Leone
  • Guinness Book of Kings, Rulers & Statesmen, Clive Carpenter, Guinness Superlatives Ltd
  • African States and Rulers, John Stewart, McFarland
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