Category: History
-
Herbert Macaulay is the nationalist figure whose portrait adorn the Nigerian one-naira metal coin. Macaulay was the grandson of the equally notable Samuel Adjai Crowther whose influence was significant in the annexation of Lagos and in the missionary activities across the country. Herbert was also the son of the founder of Nigeria’s first secondary school,…
-
National Union of Students was founded October 1939 in Abeokuta Grammar School among students at the urge of the school’s principal, Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. The Union, at inception, sought to establish unity among Nigerian nationalities. The NUS collaborated with the Nigerian Youth Circle in organizing a youth rally in Ojokoro in November 1943, with the likes…
-
Nigerian Youth Movement was founded in 1934 to address the nonconfrontational accommodation of colonial order by the older generation of educated elites led by Herbert Macaulay. The political consciousness of the Lagos intelligentsia was awakened when, for example, the British colonial government created Yaba Higher College, training were limited to technicians, and there was a…
-
Ladies Club was the elite social group of Victoria era Lagos consisting of high-breed ladies, mostly Sierra Leoneanian returnees of Yoruba origin. A major face of this group was Victoria Davies, goddaughter of the Queen of England, and daughter of the famous Sarah Forbes Bonnetta, also the British crown’s protégé. Other members of this group…
-
James Johnson; Victorian era preacher in Lagos, greatly renowned for his devoutness and Pan-Africanist ideas. Though a Nigerian from Ijesha land, James was born in Sierra Leone in 1838 and he had the privilege of schooling at Fourah Bay College, his father being one of the slaves that were freed by the British anti-slavery surveillance…
-
John Randle was a 19th Century Nigerian physician and co-founder of Nigeria’s first political party, called the People’s Union. He was a contemporary of Dr. Obadaih Johnson at Sierra Leone College and Edinburg University. Randle was a specialist in Yellow Fever, benefactor of Fourah Bay College, and temporary member of Legislative Council under Sir William…
-
James Pinson Labulo Davies , called Captain JPL Davies was the wealthy Lagos businessman and merchant of the 19th Century who pioneered cocoa farming in West Africa. Davies is often described in literatures as the most colourful Lagosian of his time. Born in August 1828, Labulo schooled at the CMS Grammar School in Freetown before…
-
Vlekete market, named after a local deity, is located in the heart of Badagry town at the western coast of Nigeria. Vlekete is the major and the most popular slave market in the region. The trade in humans was held in Vlekete every five days, with slaves been brought mostly from Oyo, Egba land, Egbado,…