Gloucester, Sierra Leone | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 8°20′N13°04′W / 8.333°N 13.067°W | |
Country | Sierra Leone |
Region | Western Area |
District | Western Area Rural District |
Government | |
• Type | Village Council |
• Village Head | William Kallon |
Time zone | UTC-5 (GMT) |
Gloucester is a mountainous village in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Gloucester lies approximately five miles east of Freetown, and close proximity to the towns of Regent and Leicester.
It is located in a valley above Freetown with streams flowing from higher up in the mountains providing irrigation. Much of the area is wooded, but it is possible to see the Bullom Shore to the north. Africanus Horton, born in Gloucester, described the area as presenting "the most picturesque and lovely scenery that ever eye beheld in a tropical world". [1] : 2
Gloucester was founded by Governor Charles MacCarthy in 1814 as a settlement for liberated Africans, or recaptives, who had been freed for vessels involved in the slave trade by the West Africa Squadron. [1] : 19 Henry Düring was a missionary active in the village between 1816–1823. He supervised the building of stone gothic-style church which was formally opened in 1820 with a service involving 400 recaptives. [1] : 20
The population of Gloucester is almost entirely from the Creole ethnic group. The Krio language is widely spoken in Gloucester.
Surgeon-Major James Africanus Beale Horton was a British Army officer, surgeon, writer and banker. Born in Gloucester, Sierra Leone into a Creole family who were liberated from enslavement by the Royal Navy, he began attending the SLGS in 1845. After graduating from Fourah Bay College, Horton received a War Office scholarship study medicine in Britain to prepare him for a career in the British Armed Forces, and he attended King's College London and the University of Edinburgh. Serving in the West India Regiments, Horton was posted to various locations within the British Empire, including Lagos, the Gambia, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast and participated in the Anglo-Ashanti wars.
Abass Chernor Bundu is a Sierra Leonean politician, diplomat, and the current Speaker of the Sierra Leone House of Parliament, in office since April 25, 2018. Bundu was elected speaker by receiving 70 votes in Parliament. The main opposition the All People's Congress, which won the most seats in Parliament, boycotted the election process in protest and did not nominate a candidate for speaker. Bundu is a veteran politician, and a very close ally and personal friend of Sierra Leone's president Julius Maada Bio.
The liberated Africans of Sierra Leone, also known as recaptives, were Africans who had been illegally enslaved onboard slave ships and rescued by anti-slavery patrols from the West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy. After the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished Britain's involvement in the slave trade, the Admiralty established the West Africa Squadron to suppress the trade in cooperation with other Western powers. All illegally enslaved Africans liberated by the Royal Navy were taken to Freetown, where Admiralty courts legally confirmed their free status. Afterwards, they were consigned to a variety of unfree labor apprenticeships at the hands of the Nova Scotian Settlers and Jamaican Maroons in Sierra Leone. During the 19th century, it has been estimated by historians that roughly 80,000 illegally enslaved Africans were liberated by the Royal Navy.
The Western Area Rural District is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. It is located mostly around the peninsula in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. The Western Area Rural District has a 2015 census population of 442,951. The district capital and largest city is Waterloo. Other major towns in the district include Newton, Benguema, Leicester, Tombo and Regent. Most of the towns and villages in the Western area rural District are close to the capital Freetown; and are part of the Freetown Metropolitan Area.
Waterloo is a city in the Western Area of Sierra Leone and the capital of the Western Area Rural District, which is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Waterloo is located about twenty miles east of Freetown. Waterloo is the second largest city in the Western Area region of Sierra Leone, after Freetown. The city had a population of 34,079 in the 2004 census, and 55,000 as per a 2015 estimate. Waterloo is part of the Freetown metropolitan area.
John Ezzidio was a freed slave of Nupe provenance who became a successful businessman and politician in Sierra Leone. Rescued from a slave ship headed for Brazil, he was apprenticed to a French shopkeeper and taught himself to read and write. Ezzidio eventually rose to the position of mayor of Freetown and later became a member of the colonial governor's Legislative Council.
Haja Afsatu Olayinka Ebishola Savage Kabba is a Sierra Leonean Oku politician and former Sierra Leone minister of Energy and Power. She served as a member of Parliament of Sierra Leone from the Western Area Urban District from 2002 to 2007.
The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) is the national police force of the Republic of Sierra Leone. It is primarily responsible for law enforcement and crime investigation throughout Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Police is under the jurisdiction of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Internal Affairs, a cabinet ministry in the Government of Sierra Leone.
Kadijatu Kebbay is a Sierra Leonean model and beauty queen who won Miss University Sierra Leone 2006 beauty contest which took place on 29 July 2006. She won a Mazda saloon car and represented Sierra Leone in South Korea at the World Miss University contest.
Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay is a Sierra Leonean politician from the ruling All People's Congress (APC) political party. He is Sierra Leone's former Minister of Transportation and Aviation and member of the Pan-African Parliament.
June Bernice Matilda Holst-Roness was a former mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone under the APC government of Siaka Stevens. June Holst-Roness was the second female Mayor of Freetown. During her term the city was twinned with Hull, England.
Mohamed Saccoh(born in Koidu Town, Sierra Leone), better known by his stage name K-Man, is a Sierra Leonean rapper and one of the most famous musicians from Sierra Leone. K-Man is known for his soft rap tone. He rapped mainly in English and the Krio language as well as occasionally in the Madinka language.
William Broughton Davies was a Sierra Leonean Creole medical doctor who served in the British Colonial Army from 1860 to 1881. Davies was the first West African to qualify as a medical doctor in 1859.
The Supreme Court of Sierra Leone is the highest court in Sierra Leone. It has final jurisdiction in all civil, criminal, and constitutional cases within Sierra Leone, and its decisions cannot be appealed. The Supreme Court has the exclusive constitutional power to overturn ruling of lower courts within the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone. The Supreme Court, along with the Court of Appeals, High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts form the Judicial branch of the Government of Sierra Leone.
Alhaji Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu is a Sierra Leonean politician and the current Sierra Leone minister of Presidential and Public Affairs. He is also the official spokesman of the All People's Congress (APC) political party, a position he has held even before the APC came to power. In January 2012, Kanu was chosen by Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma to serve as Minister of Information and Communication in Koroma's new second term cabinet.
Bathurst is a mountainous village in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Bathurst seats at 541 feet above sea level, and lies approximately six miles west of Freetown.
Regent is a mountainous town in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Regent lies approximately six miles east of Freetown, and close to the village of Gloucester.
Salamatu Koroma is a Sierra Leonean judge and a current Justice in the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone. She was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice by Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma, and was sworn in on December 5, 2011 after she was confirmed by the Sierra Leone parliament.
The Sierra Leone Creole people are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone between 1787 and about 1885. The colony was established by the British, supported by abolitionists, under the Sierra Leone Company as a place for freedmen. The settlers called their new settlement Freetown. Today, the Sierra Leone Creoles are 1.2 percent of the population of Sierra Leone.
Charlotte is a mountainous village in the Rural District in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. Charlotte is located about twenty miles outside Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. Charlotte, is commonly known as Charlotte Village, and is in close proximity to the towns of Regent, and Leicester. The main economic activity in Charlotte is farming.