In Focus: – King George Aggrey Essien

This piece of history was shared on a what’s app group I am on, made for interesting reading. I have asked for the source document to read more. I thought it would be great to share it.

King Aggrey bitterly complained to Mr Conran, a British Administrator, for the lack of respect for his authority as “King of Cape Coast.” In September 1865 he again complained, concerning an attack on the people of Cape Coast by the West Indian garrison of the Castle. Enraged, Mr Conran subsequently caused King Aggrey’s arrest and exile to Sierra Leone for trial.

The then British Governor, Richard Pine, tried to get King Aggrey to agree to the right of appeal from his court to British jurisdiction. He, however, remained defiant insisting that British jurisdiction was confined to British possessions only and that the British could not interfere in the affairs of Africans.

King John Aggrey Essien was born in Oguaa (Cape Coast) in 1809 to King Joseph Aggrey Burupu of Oguaa. He learnt to read and write without any formal education.

By 1840 he had taken interest in the events which were to lead to the formal conclusion of the Anglo-Fante Alliance.

It is on record that King George Aggrey Essien was the first King in the 19th century to really challenge the legitimacy of British authority and jurisdiction.

In so doing, he organized systematic protests against the British administration of the Gold Coast which inevitably earned him the accolade as one of the African political martyrs of British imperialism.

Shortly after his coronation as King of Oguaa in February 1865, King Aggrey wrote to the Governor that “in the eye of the law, Cape Coast is not British territory”. He clearly spelt out his objection to cases from his court being sent on appeal to the British courts on the grounds that traditional authority existed before the Cape Coast Castle itself was erected, and the grounds on which the Castle stands was originally taken from my ancestors at an annual rent”.

In one of the letters, that partly reads:

“The time has now come for me to record a solemn protest against the perpetual annoyances and insults that you persistently and perseveringly continue to practice on me in my capacity as legally constituted King of Cape Coast”

” However much you wish to have me and my people under martial law, you will never have that pleasure…….

it is impossible for me to endure your tyranny, annoyances and abuses any longer; nor will I be subject to the disunion that you are daily endeavouring to create amongst my chiefs and elders“

Though exiled for trial in Sierra Leone, King Aggrey remained defiant until he became very sick in March 1869 and was hurriedly repatriated by the British authorities. On his return home, he renounced his claim to Kingship and died later in Cape Coast.

It was the general resentment of British jurisdiction on the coast which strengthened Aggrey’s hand.  The local British position was further weakened by the recommendation of a British parliamentary committee in 1865 that the British should withdraw from the Gold Coast.

King Aggrey knew of the recommendation because he had sent two commissioners, Joseph Martin and D.L. Carr, to testify before the committee in London. They, together with Thomas Hughes and other educated Africans, helped the chief in his protests. Before long, it became clear that the British had not kept their part of the bargain struck in the Bond of 1844.

King Aggrey and his advisers were demanding self-government. The British, who were impatient with educated Africans, felt that *King Aggrey* had gone too far. But the British themselves realized that they had no power to proceed with the case. Samuel W. Blackall, Governor-Chief of the British West African settlements, therefore, tried in vain to secure King Aggrey’s submission, first by persuasion, and then by threats.

King Aggrey is a worthy forerunner and a nationalist who fought fearlessly for the emancipation of his people

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