John Mensah Sarbah
John Mensah Sarbah (3 June 1864, Anomabu – 27 November 1910)[1] was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
Life
John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. He was the eldest son of John Sarbah (1834-1892), a merchant of Anomabu and Cape Coast and a member of the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast, and his wife Sarah.[2] Mensah Sarbah was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later renamed – by Mensah Sarbah himself – as Mfantsipim School) and then at Taunton School in Devon, England, matriculating in 1884.[2] He subsequently entered Lincoln's Inn in London to train as a barrister, and was called to the English bar in 1887 – the first African from his country to qualify in this way.[2][3]
In 1897, along with J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford he co-founded the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, which became the main political organisation that led organised and sustained opposition against the colonial government, laying the foundation for Ghanaian independence.[4][5]
Mensah Sarbah was appointed a member of the Legislative Council in 1901,[6] and was re-appointed in 1906.[2]
In the first birthday honours of King George V, Mensah Sarbah was recognized with the award of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 1910, a few months before his death at the age of 46.[2][7]
Contributions to education
- Initiative of educational scholarships
- Dedication to the promotion of education
- Establishment of secondary schools
- Funding secondary education
Legacy
A residence hall of the University of Ghana is named Mensah Sarbah Hall in his honour.[7]
Selected bibliography
- 1897 - Fanti Customary Laws: a brief introduction to the principles of the native laws and customs of the Fanti and Akan districts of the Gold Coast, with a report of some cases thereon decided in the Law Courts
- 1904 - Fanti Law reports
- 1906 - The Fanti National Constitution: a short treatise on the constitution and government of the Fanti, Asanti, and other Akan tribes of West Africa, together with a brief account of the discovery of the Gold Coast by Portuguese navigators, a short narration of English voyages, and a study of the rise of British Gold Coast jurisdiction, etc., etc.
- 1909 - The Palm Oil and Its Products
References
- ↑ Some sources (including Magnus Sampson, 1969) give 6 November 1910 as the date of Mensah Sarbah's death.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Magnus Sampson, Makers of Modern Ghana: From Philip Quarcoo to Aggrey. Volume One, Accra: Anowuo Educational Publications, 1969, pp. 119-29.
- ↑ L. H. Ofosu-Appiah, Sarbah, John Mensah, Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
- ↑ Ghana - Early Manifestations of Nationalism, Library of Congress A Country Study: Ghana
- ↑ Nti, Kwaku, "Action and Reaction: An Overview of the Ding Dong Relationship between the Colonial Government and the People of Cape Coast", Nordic Journal of African Studies 11(1): 1-37 (2002)
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 27320. p. 3925. 11 June 1901.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Sarbah, John Mensah", in Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 401.
External links
- Works by or about John Mensah Sarbah in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- "The Life of John Mensah Sarbah".
- Article from Drum magazine, 1969.
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