William McCoskry | |
---|---|
Acting Governor of Lagos Colony | |
In office 6 August 1861 –22 January 1862 | |
Succeeded by | Henry Stanhope Freeman |
Personal details | |
Nationality | British |
Profession | Merchant |
William McCoskry was a British merchant who served as Consul at Lagos,then as acting Governor of Lagos Colony.
McCoskry reached Lagos in early 1852,soon after the Oba Kosoko was expelled. He had already represented the British firm of W.B. Hutton in West Africa for seven years. [1] McCoskry,a Scotsman,was known as "A l'agbon pipon" (man with the red beard) by the Yoruba people. Apongbon in the west of Lagos Island derives its name from this phrase. [2] McCoskry got on bad terms with Benjamin Campbell,who arrived on 21 July 1853 to take up the position of Consul. He even attempted to ship palm oil without paying duties. [3] Campbell later recommended McCoskry as vice-consul for Badagry. [4] He held this position briefly between 1855 and 1856. [5] In March 1856,McCoskry was acting for Consul Campbell,who was away from the colony on a visit to the Benin River,when a plot was discovered to overturn the Oba of Lagos,Dosunmu. When three cruisers appeared off the bar the plot fizzled out. [6]
A new consul,Henry Grant Foote,arrived at Lagos on 21 December 1860. He appointed McCoskry unpaid vice-consul. [5] In May 1861,while on an expedition into the interior,Foote died of fever and McCoskry took over as Acting Consul. [7] In July 1861,McCoskry signed treaties with Porto Novo and Badagry to facilitate trade with Lagos. [8] At the end of July 1861 Her Majesty's ship Prometheus arrived in the lagoon. A few days later,on 3 August the commander,N.B. Bedingfeld paid a visit to the Oba of Lagos accompanied by McCoskry and a detachment of armed marines,and demanded that Dosunmu sign a treaty to surrender Lagos. The king initially refused. [9] However,on 6 August 1861,Bedingfeld and McCoskry entered into a treaty (The Lagos Treaty of Cession) on behalf of the Queen of Great Britain with "Docemo" (Dosunmu),King of Lagos. Dosunmu transferred sovereignty of the island and territories of Lagos to the British in return for an annual pension. [10]
McCoskry was appointed acting Governor soon after annexation. [11] The slave trade had been outlawed,but slavery continued. McCoskry hinted that after annexation of Lagos Colony unrest among the slaves increased substantially. [12] He remarked that problems related to domestic slavery were giving him "more trouble than all the rest of the business together". He noted that there were many runaway slaves looking for protection in Lagos Colony,which they saw as a refuge. McCloskey recognized the rights of slave owners to retain their property or to receive compensation for liberation. He set up a court to hear cases of abuse against slaves and of runaway slaves from the interior,and established a "Liberated African Yard" to give employment to freed runaways until they were able to look after themselves. He did not consider that abolition of slavery in the colony would be practical. [11] In 1865 McCloskry testified before a parliamentary committee on the conditions at Lagos. He said that rather more than 500 fugitive slaves had arrived in the colony since 1861. [13]
McCloskry,and other merchants in the colony,were opposed to the activities of missionaries which they felt interfered with trade. In 1855 he had been among signatories of a petition to prevent two missionaries who had gone on leave from returning to Lagos. McCloskry communicated his view to the explorer Richard Francis Burton,who visited Lagos and Abeokuta in 1861 while acting as consul at Fernando Poo. [14]
After serving as acting governor,McCloskry again became a private merchant at Lagos. He was appointed one of three Land Commissioners,making recommendations to the governor on grants of land,in many cases giving formal title to the existing occupants. [15]
Sir John Hawley Glover was a Royal Navy officer who served as Governor of Lagos Colony,Governor of Newfoundland,and Governor of British Leeward Islands.
Efunroye Tinubu,born Ẹfúnpọ̀róyèỌ̀ṣuntinúbú,was a powerful Yoruba female aristocrat,merchant,and slave trader in pre-colonial and colonial Nigeria.
Lagos is the largest city of the West-African country of Nigeria,and its former capital;it is the largest city in Africa in terms of population with about 15.3 million people. It is also the 4th largest economy in Africa.
The Oba of Lagos,also known as the Eleko of Eko,is the traditional ruler (Oba) of Lagos.
Akitoye,sometimes wrongly referred to as Akintoye,reigned twice as Oba of Lagos;first,from 1841 to 1845,and a second time,from 1851 to 1853. His father was Oba Ologun Kutere and his siblings were Obas Osinlokun and Adele.
The Ondo Kingdom is a traditional state that traces its origins back for over 500 years,with its capital in Ode Ondo. Ondo Kingdom was established by Princess Pupupu,one of the twins of Alafin Oluaso. Her mother was Queen Olu who later died at Ile oluji. There were wars in the town between 1865 and 1885 when people in the kingdom fled to Oke Opa. Three Osemawes were installed and died there. Before then the kingdom was ruled by the son of Pupupu called Airo.
Lagos Colony was a British colonial possession centred on the port of Lagos in what is now southern Nigeria. Lagos was annexed on 6 August 1861 under the threat of force by Commander Beddingfield of HMS Prometheus who was accompanied by the Acting British Consul,William McCoskry. Oba Dosunmu of Lagos resisted the cession for 11 days while facing the threat of violence on Lagos and its people,but capitulated and signed the Lagos Treaty of Cession. Lagos was declared a colony on 5 March 1862. By 1872,Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading centre with a population over 60,000. In the aftermath of prolonged wars between the mainland Yoruba states,the colony established a protectorate over most of Yorubaland between 1890 and 1897. The protectorate was incorporated into the new Southern Nigeria Protectorate in February 1906,and Lagos became the capital of the Protectorate of Nigeria in January 1914. Since then,Lagos has grown to become the largest city in West Africa,with an estimated metropolitan population of over 9,000,000 as of 2011.
Henry Stanhope Freeman was the first Governor of the Lagos Colony,serving from 22 January 1862 to April 1865.
The Treaty of Cession,6 August 1861 or the Lagos Treaty of Cession was a treaty between the British Empire and Oba Dosunmu of Lagos wherein Dosunmu,under the threat of military bombardment,ceded Lagos Island to Britain,whilst retaining the title and powers of Oba,subject to English laws.
The Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos,1 January 1852 was an agreement between Great Britain and Oba Akitoye,the newly installed Oba of Lagos. The treaty was signed following British victory during the Reduction of Lagos.
Oba Akinsemoyin reigned as Oba of Lagos from around 1704 to 1749. His father was Oba Ado and his siblings were Erelu Kuti and Oba Gabaro,whom he succeeded.
Chief Daniel Conrad Taiwo,alias Taiwo Olowo,was a trader,arms dealer,slave owner,political power broker,philanthropist and community leader in Colonial Lagos.
Kosoko was a member of the Ologun Kutere Lagos Royal Family who reigned as Oba of Lagos from 1845 to 1851. His father was Oba Osinlokun and his siblings were Idewu Ojulari,Olufunmi,Odunsi,Ladega,Ogunbambi,Akinsanya,Ogunjobi,Akimosa,Ibiyemi,Adebajo,Matimoju,Adeniyi,Isiyemi,Igbalu,Oresanya,and Idewu-Ojulari.
Chief Oshodi Landuji Tapa was Oba Kosoko's war captain and one of the most powerful chiefs in the Oba of Lagos' court.
Oba Idewu Ojulari reigned as Oba of Lagos from 1829 to about 1834/5. His father was Oba Osinlokun and his siblings were Kosoko and Opo Olu,a wealthy and powerful female slave holder.
The Reduction of Lagos or Bombardment of Lagos was a British naval operation in late 1851 that involved the Royal Navy bombarding Lagos under the justification of suppressing the Atlantic slave trade and deposing the King (Oba) of Lagos,Kosoko,for refusing to end the slave trade.
Oba Adele or Adele Ajosun reigned twice as Oba of Lagos;first,from c1811 to 1821,and a second time from 1835 to 1837. His father was Oba Ologun Kutere and his siblings were Obas Osinlokun and Akitoye,thus the Ologun Kutere line has remained the dominant line in the Obaship of Lagos.
Dosunmu,referred to in British documents as Docemo,reigned as Oba of Lagos from 1853,when he succeeded his father Oba Akitoye,until his own death in 1885. He was forced to run away to Britain under the threat of force in August 1861.
The Eletu Odibo of Lagos is the traditional nobleman that has historically served as the principal kingmaker of the Oba of Lagos. As head of the Akarigbere class of chiefs,the Eletu Odibo also serves as the prime minister of the Oba.
Robert Campbell was a Jamaican-born emigrant from the United States to Nigeria who wrote books and published a newspaper. Initially apprenticed to a printer he trained as a teacher in Spanish Town. Finding his salary insufficient in the economic turmoil of post-abolition Jamaica he emigrated to Nicaragua and Panama before settling in New York City in 1853. He found work as a printer before being employed as a science teacher and then assistant principal at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.
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