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Gilbert Thomas Carter

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by David Underdown (talk | contribs) at 10:31, 14 January 2010 (→Lagos (Nigeria): slight tweak since KCMG is now further away from the previous mention of CMG). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sir
Gilbert Thomas Carter
A black and white photograph showing an elderly man in a dark suit and tie, wearing a panama hat, with glasses and a light-coloured moustache. He is in the act of drawing a bow, his body is facing towards the camera, while he looks to the right, aiming the bow in the same direction. He is standing on grass, with shrubs and trees in the background.
Sir Gilbert in his retirement at Ilaro Court
Collector of Customs and Treasurer for the Gold Coast Colony[1]
In office
1879–1882
Appointed byQueen Victoria
Treasurer of the Settlement on the Gambia[2]
In office
1882–1886
Appointed byQueen Victoria
Acting Administrator of the Colony of The Gambia[2] (made full Administrator in 1888)[2]
In office
1886–1888
Appointed byQueen Victoria
Preceded bySir James Shaw Hay
Succeeded bySir Robert Baxter Llewelyn
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Lagos (Nigeria)[3]
In office
1891–1897
Appointed byQueen Victoria
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahama Islands[4]
In office
1898–1904
Appointed byQueen Victoria
Preceded bySir William Frederick Haynes Smith
Succeeded bySir William Grey-Wilson
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Barbados and its Dependencies[5]
In office
1904–1911
Appointed byKing Edward VII
Preceded bySir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson
Succeeded bySir Leslie Probyn
Administrator of the Government of the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago, and its Dependencies in the absence of the Governor.[6]
In office
1907–1911
Appointed byKing Edward VII
Personal details
Born(1848-01-14)14 January 1848
London, UK
Died18 January 1927(1927-01-18) (aged 79)
Barbados
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Military service
Allegiance UK
Branch/service Royal Navy
Years of service1864–1875
RankAssistant Paymaster[7]
Battles/warsThird Anglo-Ashanto War
Joined Navy
(Assistant Clerk)		14 December 1864[8]
Promoted to Clerk4 July 1866[8]
Placed on Navy List
(Promoted to Assistant Paymaster)		1 December 1869[8]
Placed on Retired List16 August 1875[8]

Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter KCMG (14 January 1848 – 18 January 1927)[9] was an administrative officer in the Royal Navy and later a colonial official who served as an Administrator and Governor in Africa and the Caribbean.

Early life and Naval career

Carter was the only son of Commander Thomas Gilbert Carter (R.N.).[9] He was educated at the Royal Naval School in Greenwich.[9] Carter joined the Royal Navy in 1864, serving as an Assistant Clerk on the HMS Frederick William, being transferred in 1866 to HMS Malacca.[8] On 5 July 1966, Carter was promoted to Clerk, while still serving on HMS Malacca.[8] Between 1867 and 1869, he served on a variety of ships as a clerk, until on 1 December 1869 (while serving on HMS Pembroke, when he was promoted to Assistant Paymaster (being added to the Navy List).[10]

Following a posting to HMS Royal Adelaide for the first 9 months of 1870, Carter's final posting was to the Colonial steamer Sherbro from August 1870[8] During his time on the Sherbro, he was involved with the Third Anglo-Ashanto War on the Gold Coast.[9] When Elmina was sold to the British by the Dutch Government, he was a commissioner, responsible for valuing the stores and ordnance left behind by the Dutch.[9]. He retired from the Navy on 21 July 1875.[8]

Leeward Islands, the Gold Coast and the Gambia

In 1875, Carter became the private secretary to Sir George Berkeley, Governor of the Leeward Islands.[9] In August 1879, he was appointed Collector of Customs and Treasurer of the Gold Coast.[9] From 1882 until December 1888, Carter administered the Settlement on the Gambia[2] as a Treasurer and Postmaster.[9] From 1886, he was acting Administrator of the Colony of the Gambia, and on 1 December 1888 he was appointed Administrator on its separation from Sierra Leone.[9]

On 1 January 1890, Carter was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).[11]

In 1891, the native King of Gambia had been organising abusive acts towards the British colonists.[12] Carter (from his official residence in Bathurst) sent an envoy with a message that if the abuses continued, "he might expect a visit of a disciplinary nature from the marine forces of the Queen of England."[12] The King sent the envoy back mutilated, with a message: "This is the King's answer."[12] In response, Carter sent three British gunboats to avenge the outrage upon the envoy.[12]

Lagos (Nigeria)

On 3 February 1891, Carter was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Lagos.[3] In 1892, Carter ordered an attack on the Ijebu "in the interest of civilization".[13] Afterwards, he continued to justify this attack as a war to end slavery and promote civilization.[13]

Early in 1893, Carter travelled to various parts of Yorubaland, accompanied by soldiers, in an attempt to demonstrate the might of the British.[13] Carter was not well received at Oyo, and the Egba chiefs advised him not to interfere with slavery, while the Ibadan chiefs said they were afraid that their slaves would "assert their freedom by running to the Resident" – and they refused to sign a treaty with Carter that would impose a Resident on the city.[13]

However, in January 1893 the Egba chiefs signed a Treaty of Independence with the British Government.[14] It was agreed that freedom of trade between the Egba Nation and Lagos was to be guaranteed by the British Government,[15] in return for which no road would be closed without the approval of the Governor.[14] They further agreed that complete protection and "every assistance and encouragement" would be afforded to all Christian ministers.[14] The Crown agreed that "no annexation on any portion of Egba Nation shall be made by her Majesty’s Government without the consent of the lawful authorities of the nation, no aggressive action shall be taken against the said nation and its independence shall be fully recognized."[14] The Egba chiefs further promised to abolish human sacrifices.[14]

He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) on 3 June 1893,[16] "in recognition of his services in conducting a mission to the Yoruba country which resulted in the negotiation of important treaties and brough to an end a long-standing war."[9]

Carter sent Ife works of art to Europe, including three known as the Ife marbles which were given to Carter in 1896 by the recently-crowned King of Ife, Adelekan, in the hopes that a decision in his favour would be made about the resettlement of Modakeke residents outside the city.[17]

Later life, retirement and death

In 1898, Carter was transferred to Bahamas as Governor and Commander-in-Chief[4], and after a temporary transfer to Trinidad[9], in July 1904 he was transferred to the Barbados as Governor and Commander-in-Chief.[5]

In the spring of 1903, Carter met Gertrude Codman Parker (born 6 February 1875[18]) when she was travelling in the Bahamas with her parents.[19] They married on 25 August 1903 in the Church of the Advent in Boston.[19] He was twice married, and had 3 sons and 2 daughters. His son Humphrey was Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.[9][20]

Carter retired in 1910.[9] In 1919, he changed his surname to Gilbert-Carter.[9] In the early 1920s, he moved back to Barbados, and lived at Ilaro Court, which had been designed and built by Lady Gilbert Carter. He died there on 18 January 1927.[9]

References

  1. ^ "No. 24742". The London Gazette. 11 July 1879.
  2. ^ a b c d "No. 25880". The London Gazette. 4 December 1888.
  3. ^ a b "No. 26131". The London Gazette. 3 February 1891.
  4. ^ a b "No. 26921". The London Gazette. 21 December 1897.
  5. ^ a b "No. 27700". The London Gazette. 29 July 1904.
  6. ^ "No. 28018". The London Gazette. 3 May 1907.
  7. ^ "No. 24238". The London Gazette. 20 August 1875.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h "RN Officer's Service Records—Image details—Carter, Gilbert Thomas—Officers' Service Records (Series III)—Paymasters" (fee normally required to view full pdf of original service record). DocumentsOnline. Kew, London: The National Archives. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Sir G. T. Gilbert-Carter". Obituaries. The Times. No. 44483. London. 19 January 1927. col B, p. 9. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
  10. ^ The Admiralty (1881). The Navy List, corrected to the 20th December, 1880. London, England: Eyre & Spottiswoode. p. 417.
  11. ^ "No. 26008". The London Gazette. 1 January 1890.
  12. ^ a b c d "Imprudent King of Gambia.; British Gunboats to Avenge an Outrage on an Envoy". The New York Times. New York, USA: The New York Times Company. 23 April 1891. p. 1. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  13. ^ a b c d Falola, Toyin (1999). "The End of Slavery among the Yoruba". In Miers, Suzanne; Klein, Martin A. (ed.). Slavery and colonial rule in Africa. Studies in slave and post-slave societies and cultures. Vol. 8. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge. pp. 234–235. ISBN 9780714648842. Retrieved 15 December 2009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  14. ^ a b c d e "Egba — Some Historical Facts" (PDF). egbayewa.org. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  15. ^ Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events. Vol. 18. D. Appleton & Company. 1894. p. 367. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  16. ^ "No. 26409". The London Gazette. 3 June 1893.
  17. ^ Preston Blier, Suzanne (September 1985). "Kings, Crowns, and Rights of Succession: Obalufon Arts at Ife and Other Yoruba Centers". The Art Bulletin. 67 (3). College Art Association: 383. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  18. ^ Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1975). The prominent families of the United States of America. Heraldic Publishing Co. p. 406. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  19. ^ a b "Marries an American Girl". Special to The New York Times. New York, USA: The New York Times Company. 26 April 1903. p. 7. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  20. ^ Raven, John A. (April 2004). "Building Botany in Cambridge". New Phytologist. 162 (1). Lancaster, UK: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the New Phytologist Trust: 7–8. ISSN 0028-646X. OCLC 1759937. Retrieved 13 January 2010.

Further reading

  • Hughes, Arnold; Gailey, Harry A, ed. (1999). Historical dictionary of the Gambia. African historical dictionaries. Vol. 79 (3 ed.). Lanham, Maryland, USA: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810836600.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  • Carter, Gilbert Thomas (1987). The Colony of Lagos. London, England: Royal Colonial Institute.
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