Lagos Colony
Encyclopedia
Lagos Colony was a British
colonial possession centered on the port of Lagos
in what is now southern Nigeria
. Lagos was annexed on 6 August 1861 and declared a colony on 5 March 1862.
By 1872 Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading center 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 colony and protectorate was incorporated into Southern Nigeria 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.
, which lies in Lagos Lagoon
, a large protected harbor on the Atlantic coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea
west of the Niger River delta. The Lagoon is protected from the ocean by long sand spits that run east and west for up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) in both directions.
Lagos has a tropical savanna climate
with two rainy seasons. The heaviest rains fall from April to July and there is a weaker rainy season in October and November. Total annual rainfall is 1900 millimetres (74.8 in). Average temperatures range from 25°C (77°F) in July to 29°C (84°F) in March.
For many years the staple products of the region were palm oil and palm kernels. Later exports included copra made from the coconut palm, guinea grains, gum copal, camwood and beniseed.
Manufacture of palm oil was mainly considered a job for women.
settlement, and was known as Eko. The rulers of Lagos since then have all descended from the Benin warrior Ashipa who was the first king of the town, although the aristocracy are Yoruba. Ashipa's son built his palace on Lagos Island, and his grandson moved the seat of government to the palace from the Iddo peninsula. In 1730 the Oba of Lagos invited Portuguese slave traders to the island, and soon a flourishing trade developed.
In the first half of the 19th century the Yoruba hinterland was in a state of near-constant warfare due to internal conflicts and incursions from the northern and western neighboring states.
By now the fortified island of Lagos had become a major centre of the slave trade.
The United Kingdom
had abolished import of slaves to their colonies in 1807, and abolished slavery in all British territories in 1833. The British became increasingly active in suppressing the slave trade.
At the end of 1851 a naval expedition overcame local resistance to depose the Oba of Lagos
, Kosoko, and impose a more acceptable regime. Lagos was bombarded into submission.
A few months later a vice-consul from the Bight of Benin consulate was posted to the island, and the next year Lagos was upgraded to a full consulate.
A Yoruba emigrant, the catechist James White, wrote in 1853 "By the taking of Lagos, England has performed an act which the grateful children of Africa shall long remember ... One of the principlal roots of the slave trade is torn out of the soil".
Tensions between the new ruler, Akitoye, and supporters of the deposed Kosoko led to fighting in August 1853. An attempt by Kosoko himself to take the town was defeated, but Akitoye died suddenly on 2 September 1853, perhaps by poison. After consulting with the local chiefs, the consul declared Dosunmu (Docemo), the eldest son of Akitoye, the new Oba.
With successive crises and interventions, the consulate evolved over the following years into a form of protectorate.
Lagos became a base from which the British would gradually extend their jurisdiction in the form of a protectorate over the hinterland. The process was driven by demands of trade and security rather than by any deliberate policy of expansion.
The CMS Grammar School
was founded in Lagos on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society, modeled on the CMS Grammar School in Freetown
, Sierra Leone
.
In August 1861 a British naval force entered Lagos Bay and seized the town in the name of Queen Victoria.
King Docemo was exiled and the consul William McCoskry
became acting governor.
As a colony, Lagos was now protected and governed directly from Britain.
Africans born in the colony were British subjects, with full rights including access to the courts. By contrast, Africans in the later protectorates of southern and northern Nigeria were protected people but remained under the jurisdiction of their traditional rulers.
In the early years, trade with the interior was severely restricted due to a war between Ibadan
and Abeokuta
.
The Ogun River
leading to Abeokuta
was not safe for canoe traffic, with travelers at risk from Egba robbers. On 14 November 1862 Governor Henry Stanhope Freeman
called on all British subjects to return from Abeokuta to Lagos, leaving their property, for which the chiefs of Abeokuta would be answerable to the British government.
The acting Governor William Rice Mulliner
met the Bashorun of Abeokuta in May 1863, who told him that the recent robberies of traders' property were due to the custom of suppressing trading so as to force the men to war. The plunder would cease when the war was over. In the meantime, traders should not travel to Abeokuta since their safety could not be guaranteed.
Despite the dangers of travel in the interior, an 1865 parliamentary committee on the west coast of Africa was informed that Lagos was at no risk from Abeokuta for two reasons. First, the people of Abeokuta were too intelligent to make such an attack. Second, although Abeokuta had 1,000 canoes used for trading with Lagos, they had no war canoes, and even if they did they could never storm the well-defended island from across the lagoon.
Although the slave trade had been suppressed, and slavery was illegal in British territory, slavery still continued in the region.
Lagos was seen as a haven by runaway slaves, who were something of a problem for the administration. McCoskry 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.
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 former explorer Richard Francis Burton
, who visited Lagos and Abeokuta
in 1861 while acting as consul at at Fernando Po, and who was also opposed to missionary work.
His successor, Freeman, agreed with Burton that the blacks were more likely to be converted by Islam than by Christianity.
Freeman attempted to suppress an attempt by Robert Campbell, a Jamaican of part-Scottish, part-African descent, to establish a newspaper in the colony. He consider it would be "a dangerous instrument in the hands of semi-civilized Negroes".
The British government did not agree, and the first issue of the Anglo-African, Nigeria's first weekly newspaper, appeared on 6 June 1863.
A small legislative council was established when the colony was founded in 1861, with the mandate of assisting and advising the Governor but without formal authority, and was maintained until 1922. The majority of members were colonial officials.
In 1863 the British established the Lagos Town Improvement Ordinance, aiming to control physical development of the town and surrounding territory.
The administration was merged with that of Sierra Leone in 1866, and was transferred to the Gold Coast in 1874.
The Lagos elites lobbied intensively to have autonomy restored, which did not happen until 1886.
Colonial Lagos developed into a busy, cosmopolitan port, with an architecture that blended Victorian
and Brazil
ian styles.
The Brazilian element was imparted by skilled builders and masons who had returned from Brazil.
The black elite was composed of English-speaking "Saros" from Sierra Leone and other emancipated slaves who had been repatriated from Brazil and Cuba.
By 1872 the population of the colony was over 60,000, of whom less than 100 were of European origin. In 1876 imports were valued at £476,813 and exports at ₤619,260.
On 13 January 1874, leaders of the Methodist community, including Charles Joseph George
, met to discuss founding a secondary school for members of their communion as an alternative to the CMS Grammar School. After a fund-raising drive, the Methodist Boys School building was opened in June 1877.
On 17 February 1881, George was one of the community leaders who laid the foundation stone for the Wesley Church at Olowogbowo
, in the west of Lagos Island
.
The colony had succeeded in eliminating slavery and had became a prosperous trading community,
but until the start of the European scramble for Africa
the British Imperial government considered that the Lagos colony was in some respects a failure. The British had refused to intervene in the politics of the hinterland, so the colony had failed to grow and did not return any significant profit.
and both Egba Alake
(Abeokuta) and Ijebu
.
Further to the east, the Ekiti
and Ijesa revolted against Ibadan rule in 1878, and sporadic fighting continued for the next sixteen years. Assistance from Saro merchants in Lagos in the form of breech-loading rifles gave the Ekiti the advantage.
The Lagos government, at that time subordinate to Accra
in the Gold Coast, was instructed to stay out of the conflict, despite the damage it was doing to trade, and attempts to mediate by the Saro merchants and by the Fulani emirs were rejected.
In 1886 Lagos became a separate colony from the Gold Coast
under Governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney
.
The legislative council of the new colony was composed of four official and three unofficial members. Governor Moloney nominated two Africans as unofficial representatives: the clergyman, later bishop James Johnson
and the trader Charles Joseph George.
At this time the European powers were in intense competition for African colonies while the protagonists in the Yoruba wars were wearying. The Lagos administration, acting through Samuel Johnson and Charles Phillips
of the Church Mission Society
, arranged a ceasefire and then a treaty that guaranteed the independence of the Ekiti towns.
Ilorin
refused to cease fighting however, and the war dragged on.
Concerned about the growing influence of the French
in nearby Dahomey
, the British established a post at Ilaro
in 1890.
On 13 August 1891 a treaty was signed placing the kingdom of Ilaro under the protection of the British queen.
When Governor Gilbert Thomas Carter
arrived in 1891, he followed an aggressive policy. In 1892 he attacked Ijebu, and in 1893 made a tour of Yorubaland
signing treaties, forcing the armies to disperse, and opening the way for construction of a railway from Lagos to Ibadan.
Thus on 3 February 1893, Carter signed a treaty of protection with the Alafin of Oyo and on 15 August 1893, acting Governor George Chardin Denton signed a protectorate agreement with Ibadan.
Colonial control was firmly established throughout the region after the bombardment of Oyo
in 1895 and the capture of Ilorin by the Royal Niger Company
in 1897.
in which he outlined plans for a Botanic Station at Lagos with the purpose of developing indigenous trees and plants that had commercial value.
By 1889 rubber had been introduced to the colony, and was promising excellent yields and quality. A report that year described other products including gum and coconut oil, for which a small-scale crushing business had promise, various fibers, camwood, borwood and Indigo, also seen as having large potential.
The growth of the city of Lagos was largely unplanned, impeded by the complex of swamps, canals and sand spits.
William MacGregor
, governor from 1898 to 1903, instituted a campaign against the prevalent malaria, draining the swamps and destroying as far as possible the mosquitoes that were responsible for the spread of the disease.
Telephone links with Britain were established by 1886, and electric street lighting in 1898.
In August 1896, Charles Joseph George and G.W. Neville, both merchants and both unofficial members of the Legislative Council, presented a petition urging construction of the railway terminus on Lagos Island rather than at Iddo, and also asking for the railway to be extended to Abeokuta
. George was the leader of the delegation making this request, and described its many commercial advantages.
On 21 February 1899 the Alake of the Egba signed an agreement opening the way for construction of a railway through their territory.
In 1901 the first qualified African lawyer in the colony, Christopher Sapara Williams, was nominated to the Legislative Council, serving as a member until his death in 1915.
In 1903 there was a crisis over the payment of the tolls that were collected from traders by native rulers, although Europeans were exempted. The alternative was to replace the tolls by a subsidy. MacGregor requested views from Williams, Charles Joseph George and Obadiah Johnson as indigenous opinion leaders. All were in favor of retaining the tolls to avoid upsetting the rulers.
In 1903 Governor MacGregor's administration prepared a Newspaper Ordinance ostensibly designed to prevent libels being published. George, Williams and Johnson, the three Nigerian council members, all objected on the grounds that the ordinance would inhibit freedom of the press. George said "any obstacle in the way of publication of newspapers in this colony means throwing Lagos back to its position forty or fifty years ago". Despite these objections, the ordinance was passed into law.
Walter Egerton
was the last Governor of Lagos Colony, appointed in 1903.
Egerton enthusiastically endorsed the extension of the Lagos
- Ibadan
railway onward to Oshogbo, and the project was approved in November 1904. Construction began in January 1905 and the line reached Oshogbo in April 1907.
The colonial office wanted to amalgamate the Lagos Colony with the protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and in August 1904 also appointed Egerton as High Commissioner for the Southern Nigeria Protectorate
. He held both offices until 28 February 1906.
On that date the two territories were amalgamated, with the combined territory called the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914, the Governor-General Sir Frederick Lugard
amalgamated this territory with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
Lagos was the capital of Nigeria until 1991, when that role was ceded to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and remains the commercial capital.
The estimated population in 2011 was over 9 million.
From 1866 to 1886 Lagos was subordinate first to Sierra Leone, then to Gold Coast.
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
colonial possession centered on the port of Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
in what is now southern Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. Lagos was annexed on 6 August 1861 and declared a colony on 5 March 1862.
By 1872 Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading center with a population over 60,000.
In the aftermath of prolonged wars between the mainland Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
states, the colony established a protectorate over most of Yorubaland
Yorùbáland
Yorubaland, or Yorùbáland , is a cultural region in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo that includes the indigenous territory and cultural reach of the Yoruba people.- History :-Settlement:Oduduwa is regarded as the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba...
between 1890 and 1897.
The colony and protectorate was incorporated into Southern Nigeria 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.
Location
Lagos was originally a fishing community on the north of Lagos IslandLagos Island
Lagos Island is the principal and central local government area of the Metropolitan Lagos in Nigeria. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a population of 209,437 in an area of 8.7 km²...
, which lies in Lagos Lagoon
Lagos Lagoon
Lagos Lagoon is a lagoon sharing its name with the city of Lagos, Nigeria, the second largest city in Africa, which lies on its south-western side...
, a large protected harbor on the Atlantic coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf....
west of the Niger River delta. The Lagoon is protected from the ocean by long sand spits that run east and west for up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) in both directions.
Lagos has a tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories "Aw" and '"As."...
with two rainy seasons. The heaviest rains fall from April to July and there is a weaker rainy season in October and November. Total annual rainfall is 1900 millimetres (74.8 in). Average temperatures range from 25°C (77°F) in July to 29°C (84°F) in March.
For many years the staple products of the region were palm oil and palm kernels. Later exports included copra made from the coconut palm, guinea grains, gum copal, camwood and beniseed.
Manufacture of palm oil was mainly considered a job for women.
Origins
Lagos was founded by the Bini in the sixteenth century on the site of an earlier YorubaYoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
settlement, and was known as Eko. The rulers of Lagos since then have all descended from the Benin warrior Ashipa who was the first king of the town, although the aristocracy are Yoruba. Ashipa's son built his palace on Lagos Island, and his grandson moved the seat of government to the palace from the Iddo peninsula. In 1730 the Oba of Lagos invited Portuguese slave traders to the island, and soon a flourishing trade developed.
In the first half of the 19th century the Yoruba hinterland was in a state of near-constant warfare due to internal conflicts and incursions from the northern and western neighboring states.
By now the fortified island of Lagos had become a major centre of the slave trade.
The United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
had abolished import of slaves to their colonies in 1807, and abolished slavery in all British territories in 1833. The British became increasingly active in suppressing the slave trade.
At the end of 1851 a naval expedition overcame local resistance to depose the Oba of Lagos
Oba of Lagos
The Oba of Lagos is the traditional, yet ceremonial, sovereign of Lagos, a historical Yorubano-Bini kingdom that went on to become one of the largest cities in Africa after first giving its name to Lagos State, the acknowledged financial heart of contemporary Nigeria...
, Kosoko, and impose a more acceptable regime. Lagos was bombarded into submission.
A few months later a vice-consul from the Bight of Benin consulate was posted to the island, and the next year Lagos was upgraded to a full consulate.
A Yoruba emigrant, the catechist James White, wrote in 1853 "By the taking of Lagos, England has performed an act which the grateful children of Africa shall long remember ... One of the principlal roots of the slave trade is torn out of the soil".
Tensions between the new ruler, Akitoye, and supporters of the deposed Kosoko led to fighting in August 1853. An attempt by Kosoko himself to take the town was defeated, but Akitoye died suddenly on 2 September 1853, perhaps by poison. After consulting with the local chiefs, the consul declared Dosunmu (Docemo), the eldest son of Akitoye, the new Oba.
With successive crises and interventions, the consulate evolved over the following years into a form of protectorate.
Lagos became a base from which the British would gradually extend their jurisdiction in the form of a protectorate over the hinterland. The process was driven by demands of trade and security rather than by any deliberate policy of expansion.
The CMS Grammar School
CMS Grammar School, Lagos
The CMS Grammar School in the Bariga district of Lagos is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society...
was founded in Lagos on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society, modeled on the CMS Grammar School in Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
.
Early years
King Docemo was exiled and the consul William McCoskry
William McCoskry
William McCoskry was a British merchant who served as Consul at Lagos, then as acting Governor of Lagos Colony.-Lagos trader:McCoskry reached Lagos in early 1852, soon after the Oba Kosoko has been expelled. He had already represented the British firm of W.B...
became acting governor.
As a colony, Lagos was now protected and governed directly from Britain.
Africans born in the colony were British subjects, with full rights including access to the courts. By contrast, Africans in the later protectorates of southern and northern Nigeria were protected people but remained under the jurisdiction of their traditional rulers.
In the early years, trade with the interior was severely restricted due to a war between Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
and Abeokuta
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
.
The Ogun River
Ogun River
The Ogun River is a waterway in Nigeria that discharges into the Lagos Lagoon.-Course and usage:The river rises in Oyo State near Shaki at coordinates and flow through Ogun State into Lagos State....
leading to Abeokuta
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
was not safe for canoe traffic, with travelers at risk from Egba robbers. On 14 November 1862 Governor Henry Stanhope Freeman
Henry Stanhope Freeman
Henry Stanhope Freeman was the first Governor of the Lagos Colony, serving from 22 January 1862 to April 1865.-Background:Freeman was British Vice-Consul at Ghadames in Libya, and while there put together notes on one of the Tuareg languages.Freeman was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic...
called on all British subjects to return from Abeokuta to Lagos, leaving their property, for which the chiefs of Abeokuta would be answerable to the British government.
The acting Governor William Rice Mulliner
William Rice Mulliner
William Rice Mulliner was a British officer who was the acting governor of the Lagos Colony in 1863.On 1 September 1854 Mulliner purchased a commission as Ensign with the 3rd West India regiment....
met the Bashorun of Abeokuta in May 1863, who told him that the recent robberies of traders' property were due to the custom of suppressing trading so as to force the men to war. The plunder would cease when the war was over. In the meantime, traders should not travel to Abeokuta since their safety could not be guaranteed.
Despite the dangers of travel in the interior, an 1865 parliamentary committee on the west coast of Africa was informed that Lagos was at no risk from Abeokuta for two reasons. First, the people of Abeokuta were too intelligent to make such an attack. Second, although Abeokuta had 1,000 canoes used for trading with Lagos, they had no war canoes, and even if they did they could never storm the well-defended island from across the lagoon.
Although the slave trade had been suppressed, and slavery was illegal in British territory, slavery still continued in the region.
Lagos was seen as a haven by runaway slaves, who were something of a problem for the administration. McCoskry 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.
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 former explorer Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
, who visited Lagos and Abeokuta
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
in 1861 while acting as consul at at Fernando Po, and who was also opposed to missionary work.
His successor, Freeman, agreed with Burton that the blacks were more likely to be converted by Islam than by Christianity.
Freeman attempted to suppress an attempt by Robert Campbell, a Jamaican of part-Scottish, part-African descent, to establish a newspaper in the colony. He consider it would be "a dangerous instrument in the hands of semi-civilized Negroes".
The British government did not agree, and the first issue of the Anglo-African, Nigeria's first weekly newspaper, appeared on 6 June 1863.
Growth of the town
In 1863 the British established the Lagos Town Improvement Ordinance, aiming to control physical development of the town and surrounding territory.
The administration was merged with that of Sierra Leone in 1866, and was transferred to the Gold Coast in 1874.
The Lagos elites lobbied intensively to have autonomy restored, which did not happen until 1886.
Colonial Lagos developed into a busy, cosmopolitan port, with an architecture that blended Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian styles.
The Brazilian element was imparted by skilled builders and masons who had returned from Brazil.
The black elite was composed of English-speaking "Saros" from Sierra Leone and other emancipated slaves who had been repatriated from Brazil and Cuba.
By 1872 the population of the colony was over 60,000, of whom less than 100 were of European origin. In 1876 imports were valued at £476,813 and exports at ₤619,260.
On 13 January 1874, leaders of the Methodist community, including Charles Joseph George
Charles Joseph George
Charles Joseph George was a successful SaroA "Saro" was a freed slave who had returned to Nigeria. trader who was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of the Lagos Colony from 1886 onwards.-Church leader:...
, met to discuss founding a secondary school for members of their communion as an alternative to the CMS Grammar School. After a fund-raising drive, the Methodist Boys School building was opened in June 1877.
On 17 February 1881, George was one of the community leaders who laid the foundation stone for the Wesley Church at Olowogbowo
Olowogbowo
Olowogbowo is an area in the west of Lagos Island in Lagos, Nigeria, also known as Apongbon. The area is in the central business district....
, in the west of Lagos Island
Lagos Island
Lagos Island is the principal and central local government area of the Metropolitan Lagos in Nigeria. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a population of 209,437 in an area of 8.7 km²...
.
The colony had succeeded in eliminating slavery and had became a prosperous trading community,
but until the start of the European scramble for Africa
Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914...
the British Imperial government considered that the Lagos colony was in some respects a failure. The British had refused to intervene in the politics of the hinterland, so the colony had failed to grow and did not return any significant profit.
Yoruba wars
In 1877 a trade war broke out between IbadanIbadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
and both Egba Alake
Egba Alake
Egba Alake is one of the four sections of Egbaland, the others being Oke-Ona, Gbagura and the Owu, and is a traditional state which joins with its bordering sections to form something of a High Kingship....
(Abeokuta) and Ijebu
Ijebu
Ijebu was a Yoruba kingdom in pre-colonial Nigeria. It formed around the fifteenth century. According to legend, its ruling dynasty was founded by Obanta of Ile-Ife...
.
Further to the east, the Ekiti
Ekiti State
Ekiti State is a state in southwest Nigeria, created on October 1, 1996 alongside five other new states by military dictator General Sani Abacha...
and Ijesa revolted against Ibadan rule in 1878, and sporadic fighting continued for the next sixteen years. Assistance from Saro merchants in Lagos in the form of breech-loading rifles gave the Ekiti the advantage.
The Lagos government, at that time subordinate to Accra
Accra
Accra is the capital and largest city of Ghana, with an urban population of 1,658,937 according to the 2000 census. Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra Metropolitan District, with which it is coterminous...
in the Gold Coast, was instructed to stay out of the conflict, despite the damage it was doing to trade, and attempts to mediate by the Saro merchants and by the Fulani emirs were rejected.
In 1886 Lagos became a separate colony from the Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
under Governor Cornelius Alfred Moloney
Cornelius Alfred Moloney
Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney, KCMG, was a British colonial administrator.He served as British Administrator of The Gambia from 1884 to 1886, Governor of Lagos Colony from 1886 to 1890, Governor of British Honduras from 1891 to 1897, Governor of the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands from 1897...
.
The legislative council of the new colony was composed of four official and three unofficial members. Governor Moloney nominated two Africans as unofficial representatives: the clergyman, later bishop James Johnson
James Johnson (Reverend)
James 'Holy' Johnson was a prominent clergyman and one of the first African members of Nigeria's Legislative Council.-Early Life:James Johnson was born in Sierra Leone in 1836 to liberated African parents of Yoruba origin....
and the trader Charles Joseph George.
At this time the European powers were in intense competition for African colonies while the protagonists in the Yoruba wars were wearying. The Lagos administration, acting through Samuel Johnson and Charles Phillips
Charles Phillips (bishop)
Charles Phillips was a member of the Church Mission Society based in the Lagos Colony who became Bishop of Ondo.-Early career:Charles Phillips was the son of a former Egba slave also called Charles Phillips who returned from Sierra Leone to work as a catechist at Ijaye.Phillips gained his...
of the Church Mission Society
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society, also known as the Church Missionary Society, is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Communion and Protestant Christians around the world...
, arranged a ceasefire and then a treaty that guaranteed the independence of the Ekiti towns.
Ilorin
Ilorin
Ilorin is one of the largest cities in Nigeria and is the capital of Kwara State. As of 2007 it had a population of 847,582.-History:Ilorin was founded by the Yoruba, one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, in 1450...
refused to cease fighting however, and the war dragged on.
Concerned about the growing influence of the French
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
in nearby Dahomey
Dahomey
Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
, the British established a post at Ilaro
Ilaro
Ilaro, Ogun State is a town in Ogun State, Nigeria.Ilaro [3] is the headquarters of the Yewa South[1] Local government area of Nigeria, west of Africa. Ilaro town is about 50 km from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, and about 100 km from Ikeja, the capital city of Lagos State...
in 1890.
On 13 August 1891 a treaty was signed placing the kingdom of Ilaro under the protection of the British queen.
When Governor Gilbert Thomas Carter
Gilbert Thomas Carter
Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter KCMG was an administrative officer in the Royal Navy and later a colonial official who served as a Collector of Customs for the Gold Coast and a Treasurer of the Gold Coast and The Gambia...
arrived in 1891, he followed an aggressive policy. In 1892 he attacked Ijebu, and in 1893 made a tour of Yorubaland
Yorùbáland
Yorubaland, or Yorùbáland , is a cultural region in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo that includes the indigenous territory and cultural reach of the Yoruba people.- History :-Settlement:Oduduwa is regarded as the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba...
signing treaties, forcing the armies to disperse, and opening the way for construction of a railway from Lagos to Ibadan.
Thus on 3 February 1893, Carter signed a treaty of protection with the Alafin of Oyo and on 15 August 1893, acting Governor George Chardin Denton signed a protectorate agreement with Ibadan.
Colonial control was firmly established throughout the region after the bombardment of Oyo
Oyo, Nigeria
Oyo is a city in Oyo State, Nigeria, founded as the capital of the Oyo Kingdom in the 1830s and known to its people as 'New Oyo' to distinguish it from the former capital to the north, 'Old Oyo' ) which had been deserted as a result of rumors of war. Its inhabitants are mostly of the Yoruba people...
in 1895 and the capture of Ilorin by the Royal Niger Company
Royal Niger Company
The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It formed the basis of the modern state of Nigeria....
in 1897.
Later years
In 1887 Captain Maloney, the Governor, gave a report to the Royal Botanic Gardens, KewRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
in which he outlined plans for a Botanic Station at Lagos with the purpose of developing indigenous trees and plants that had commercial value.
By 1889 rubber had been introduced to the colony, and was promising excellent yields and quality. A report that year described other products including gum and coconut oil, for which a small-scale crushing business had promise, various fibers, camwood, borwood and Indigo, also seen as having large potential.
The growth of the city of Lagos was largely unplanned, impeded by the complex of swamps, canals and sand spits.
William MacGregor
William MacGregor
Sir William MacGregor GCMG, CB was a Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, Governor of Newfoundland and Governor of Queensland.-Early life:...
, governor from 1898 to 1903, instituted a campaign against the prevalent malaria, draining the swamps and destroying as far as possible the mosquitoes that were responsible for the spread of the disease.
Telephone links with Britain were established by 1886, and electric street lighting in 1898.
In August 1896, Charles Joseph George and G.W. Neville, both merchants and both unofficial members of the Legislative Council, presented a petition urging construction of the railway terminus on Lagos Island rather than at Iddo, and also asking for the railway to be extended to Abeokuta
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
. George was the leader of the delegation making this request, and described its many commercial advantages.
On 21 February 1899 the Alake of the Egba signed an agreement opening the way for construction of a railway through their territory.
In 1901 the first qualified African lawyer in the colony, Christopher Sapara Williams, was nominated to the Legislative Council, serving as a member until his death in 1915.
In 1903 there was a crisis over the payment of the tolls that were collected from traders by native rulers, although Europeans were exempted. The alternative was to replace the tolls by a subsidy. MacGregor requested views from Williams, Charles Joseph George and Obadiah Johnson as indigenous opinion leaders. All were in favor of retaining the tolls to avoid upsetting the rulers.
In 1903 Governor MacGregor's administration prepared a Newspaper Ordinance ostensibly designed to prevent libels being published. George, Williams and Johnson, the three Nigerian council members, all objected on the grounds that the ordinance would inhibit freedom of the press. George said "any obstacle in the way of publication of newspapers in this colony means throwing Lagos back to its position forty or fifty years ago". Despite these objections, the ordinance was passed into law.
Walter Egerton
Walter Egerton
Walter Egerton had a long career in the administration of the British Empire, holding a number of senior positions including the Governorships of Lagos Colony Southern Nigeria and British Guiana .-Early career:...
was the last Governor of Lagos Colony, appointed in 1903.
Egerton enthusiastically endorsed the extension of the Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
- Ibadan
Ibadan
Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...
railway onward to Oshogbo, and the project was approved in November 1904. Construction began in January 1905 and the line reached Oshogbo in April 1907.
The colonial office wanted to amalgamate the Lagos Colony with the protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and in August 1904 also appointed Egerton as High Commissioner for the Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Southern Nigeria Protectorate
Southern Nigeria was a British protectorate in the coastal areas of modern-day Nigeria, formed in 1900 from union of the Niger Coast Protectorate with territories chartered by the Royal Niger Company below Lokoja on the Niger River....
. He held both offices until 28 February 1906.
On that date the two territories were amalgamated, with the combined territory called the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914, the Governor-General Sir Frederick Lugard
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC , known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong and Governor-General of Nigeria .-Early life and education:Lugard...
amalgamated this territory with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
Lagos was the capital of Nigeria until 1991, when that role was ceded to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and remains the commercial capital.
The estimated population in 2011 was over 9 million.
Governors
Governors of the Lagos Colony were as follows:| Took office | |Governor | 6 August 1861 | 22 January 1862 | William McCoskry William McCoskry William McCoskry was a British merchant who served as Consul at Lagos, then as acting Governor of Lagos Colony.-Lagos trader:McCoskry reached Lagos in early 1852, soon after the Oba Kosoko has been expelled. He had already represented the British firm of W.B... |
Acting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 January 1862 | April 1865 | Henry Stanhope Freeman Henry Stanhope Freeman Henry Stanhope Freeman was the first Governor of the Lagos Colony, serving from 22 January 1862 to April 1865.-Background:Freeman was British Vice-Consul at Ghadames in Libya, and while there put together notes on one of the Tuareg languages.Freeman was elected a member of the Royal Asiatic... |
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| 1863 | 25 July 1863 | William Rice Mulliner William Rice Mulliner William Rice Mulliner was a British officer who was the acting governor of the Lagos Colony in 1863.On 1 September 1854 Mulliner purchased a commission as Ensign with the 3rd West India regiment.... |
Acting. d. 25 July 1863 aged 29. | ||
| August 1863 | 19 February 1866 | John Hawley Glover John Hawley Glover Sir John Hawley Glover , captain in the British Royal Navy, entered the service in 1841 and passed his examination as lieutenant in 1849, but did not receive a commission till May 1851.... |
Acting to April 1865. Administrator or colonial secretary until 1872. |
From 1866 to 1886 Lagos was subordinate first to Sierra Leone, then to Gold Coast.
| Took office | |Governor | 13 January 1886 | 1891 | Cornelius Alfred Moloney Cornelius Alfred Moloney Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney, KCMG, was a British colonial administrator.He served as British Administrator of The Gambia from 1884 to 1886, Governor of Lagos Colony from 1886 to 1890, Governor of British Honduras from 1891 to 1897, Governor of the Federal Colony of the Windward Islands from 1897... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1889 | 1890 | George Denton | Acting for Moloney | ||
| 1891 | 1897 | Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter Gilbert Thomas Carter Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter KCMG was an administrative officer in the Royal Navy and later a colonial official who served as a Collector of Customs for the Gold Coast and a Treasurer of the Gold Coast and The Gambia... |
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| 1897 | 1899 | Henry Edward McCallum Henry Edward McCallum Sir Henry Edward McCallum colonial governor born Yeovil, Somersetshire, England and died in England.... |
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| 1899 | 1903 | Sir William MacGregor William MacGregor Sir William MacGregor GCMG, CB was a Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, Governor of Newfoundland and Governor of Queensland.-Early life:... |
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| 1903 | 16 February 1906 | Walter Egerton Walter Egerton Walter Egerton had a long career in the administration of the British Empire, holding a number of senior positions including the Governorships of Lagos Colony Southern Nigeria and British Guiana .-Early career:... |