Stephen Caulker

This article is about the African king. For the English footballer, see Steven Caulker.

Stephen Caulker (died 1810) was a king of the Banana Islands off the coast of present-day Sierra Leone. The mixed-race descendant of an English trader and his African wife, he was part of a Caulker hereditary dynasty that ruled as paramount chiefs in the states of Bumpe and Shenge (Kagboro) in Sierra Leone from 1820 into the late 20th century.

Background

Stephen Caulker was born in the Banana Islands, the mixed-race son of Charles Caulker and his African wife. His father was a mixed-race descendant of Thomas Corker, an English slave trader at Sierra Leone, and his African wife or concubine, through Skinner Caulker.

In 1797 Caulker seized the Banana Islands from King William Cleveland, killing him. He was avenging the murder and beheading of his father Charles Caulker, by Cleveland's father King James Cleveland, who had previously ruled there.

The Clevelands were descendants of another British trader. Stephen Caulker and his son Thomas Stephen Caulker established a successful political dynasty, the Bompe Chiefdom, in mainland Sierra Leone. His son was king from 1810-1820, when the Banana Islands were incorporated into the colony of Sierra Leone by the British.

That year Caulker and his family established the Bumpe Chiefdom (also known as Bompeh) in south-central Sierra Leone. Their territory was concentrated in the northwest region of the Southwest District. Thomas Stephen Caulker was a paramount chief from 1820 to 1832, after which his son Charles Caulker became chief. Bompeh was made part of Sierra Leone in 1888. Caulker descendants ruled as hereditary chiefs at least up until 1984.

Other Caulker descendants ruled as paramount chiefs in Shenge (later Kagboro) into the 20th century.

Further reading

• Imodale Caulker-Burnett, The Caulkers of Sierra Leone: The Story of a Ruling Family and Their Times (Xlibris, 2010)