John Birchall Welcome to the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies. This
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The Journal of Sierra Leone Studies – October 2017. Editor: John Birchall Welcome to The Journal of Sierra Leone Studies. This is the first Journal dedicated solely to Sierra Leone to have been published for a long time. We hope that it will be of use to academics, students and anyone with an interest in what for many is a rather ‘special’ country. The Journal will not concentrate on one area of academic study and invites contributions from anyone researching and writing on Sierra Leone to send their articles to: John Birchall for consideration. Prospective contributions should be between 3500‐5000 words in length, though we will in special circumstances consider longer articles and authors can select whether they wish to be peer reviewed or not. Articles should not have appeared in any other published form before. The Editorial Board reserves the right to suggest changes they consider are needed to the relevant author (s) and to not publish if such recommendations are ignored. We are particularly interested to encourage students working on subjects specifically relating to Sierra Leone to submit their work. Thank you so much for visiting The Journal and we hope that you (a) find it both interesting and of use to you and (b) that you will inform colleagues, friends and students of the existence of a Journal dedicated to the study of Sierra Leone. Editorial Board: Professor Arthur Abraham, Virginia State University, Peter Andersen, Abdul Bangura, American University, Saidu Bangura ,Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, John Birchall, Professor Tucker Childs, University of Portland, Christine Corcoran, University of Chicago, Lorenzo D'Angelo, University of Milan , Ade Daramy, Nigel Browne‐Davies, Queen Mary University of London, Lisa Denney, Overseas Development Institute, London, Luisa Enria, University of Bath, Melbourne Garber, Dave Harris, Bradford University, Professor Ian Hancock, University of Texas, Professor Adam Jones, University of Leipzig ,Katrina Keefer, Trent University, Professor Paul Lovejoy, University of York, Canada, Dr.Nemata Majeks‐Walker, Gary Schulze, Professor Suzanne Schwarz, University of Worcester, Joko Sengova, Isatu Smith, Chairperson Monuments and Relics Commission, Dr. Richard Wadsworth, Njala University, Professor Alfred Zak‐Williams, University of Central Lancashire Content Jewish Merchants in Sierra Leone, 1831‐1934 by Nigel Browne‐Davies The 1793 Sierra Leone Journa of Isaac Dubois by Jonathan Howard From the Archives of the Journal of Sierra Leone Studies: Madam Yoko: Ruler of the Mendi Confederacy by M.C.F. Easmon (with the Editor’s Note) Jewish Merchants in Sierra Leone, 1831‐1934 By Nigel Browne‐Davies The Colony of Sierra Leone and the territories neighbouring the Colony attracted a diverse range of African and European merchants and traders in the nineteenth century.1 European merchants established trading depots in the Colony and spread out into the hinterland to trade with Africans from the indigenous ethnic groups.2 Although Sierra Leone had a relatively small European population in comparison to some other outposts in the British Empire,3 a small number of European and American Jews settled in Sierra Leone and the territories neighbouring the Colony.4 Some of these Jewish merchants had extensive commercial enterprises in the hinterland and were among the European pioneers who extended British imperial influence into the hinterland and gained substantial wealth from their endeavours.5 However, although these Jewish merchants were an important segment of the European population that pioneered European commercial activities in some areas of the hinterland, the presence of Jewish merchants in Sierra Leone and its hinterland is a largely neglected area of Sierra 1Porter, Arthur, Creoledom: A Study of the Development of Freetown Society, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. 106-107. Fyfe, Christopher, A History of Sierra Leone, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 144- 7, 226, 307-8. Fyfe, C.H., 'European and Creole Influence in the Hinterland of Sierra Leone Before 1896', Sierra Leone Studies (New Series), Number 6, (1956), pp. 113-23. In the nineteenth century, Freetown, the principal city of the Colony of Sierra Leone, was a cosmopolitan centre which attracted African, European, and American merchants who sought to trade in the vast territories adjacent to the Colony. 2Davidson, John, “‘Creole’ or ‘Sierra Leonean’ Some Evidence from 1898,” in Jones, Adam, (Ed.), Mitchell, Peter K., (Ed.), Sierra Leone studies at Birmingham 1985: proceedings of the fourth Birmingham-Sierra Leone Studies Symposium, 13th-15th July 1985, Fircroft College, Birmingham, (Birmingham: Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, 1987), pp. 5-13. Fyfe, C.H., 'European and Creole Influence in the Hinterland of Sierra Leone Before 1896', Sierra Leone Studies (New Series), Number 6, (1956), pp. 113-23. Principally these indigenous African ethnic groups were the Bullom, Mende, Temne, Susu, Nalu, Baga and the Vai. 3Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 203-4, 226, 438. 4Fyfe, C.H., 'View of the New Burial Ground, Sierra Leone Studies, (New Series), Number 2, (June 1954), p. 86. Fyfe 'European and Creole Influence in the Hinterland,’ Sierra Leone Studies (New Series), Number 6, (1956), pp. 119-120. 5Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone, pp. 226, 612. Jolles, Michael, Samuel Isaac, Saul Isaac And Nathaniel Isaacs, (London, Jolles Publications, 1998), pp. 249-253. For example, Nathaniel Isaacs, Louis Solomon, John Myer Harris, and Lionel Hart were some of the more successful Jewish merchants in Sierra Leone. Leonean history. It is the aim of this article to examine the activities of Jewish merchants and their descendants in the hinterland and Colony of Sierra Leone between 1831 and 1934. It is the purpose of this article to highlight the activities of the small number of Jewish merchants who settled in Sierra Leone during the nineteenth century and their descendants. These merchants had an important role in promoting legitimate trade and in extending the sphere of British influence to outposts in the hinterland that were previously characterised by participation in the slave trade.6 Furthermore, the descendants of these Jewish merchants often had no less important roles in the development of Sierra Leone. Although this paper provides a broad overview of individual Jewish merchants and their descendants, this article primarily focuses on the Harris and Solomon families in Sierra Leone and the activities of five Jewish merchants in Sierra Leone during the nineteenth century: Nathaniel Isaacs, Philip Lemberg, John Myer Harris, Louis Solomon and Lionel Hart. 6Fyfe, C.H., 'View of the New Burial Ground, Sierra Leone Studies, (New Series), Number 2, (June 1954), pp. 85- 90. Historiography The role of Jewish merchants, colonial officials, and settlers in colonial Africa has been examined in some scholarly publications.7 Scholars have perhaps particularly focused on the role of Jewish merchants and officials in the development of South Africa.8 However, publications such as Selena Axelrod Winsnes’ A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulf Joseph Wulff Biography And Letters 1836‐1842 and Ernst Oppenheim Nobis’ To remember me by: first crusade through Holocaust: facts, fragments, lore and legends have highlighted the role that some Jews had within the colonial strata in West Africa and the fortunes of their African progeny.9 Winsnes examined the diary of Wulff Joseph Wulff, a Danish Jewish colonial official in the Gold Coast and the fortunes of his descendants in Accra. Ernst Oppenheim’s To remember me by: first crusade through Holocaust: facts, fragments, lore and legends focused on the ancestry and relatives of Wulff Joseph Wulff with some information on the fortunes of the Wulff family and their various septs in Ghana.10 However, although there have been several studies focusing on the activities of individual or collective Jewish merchants in West Africa, few, if any of these studies have focused exclusively on Jewry in Sierra Leone. Although the activities of Jewish merchants such as John Myer Harris and Nathaniel Isaacs were extensive in the southern region of modern‐day Sierra Leone and the Northern Rivers of the modern‐day Republic of Guinea, these merchants have featured more in studies on 7Arkin, Marcus, ‘In the Footsteps of Nathaniel Isaacs: A Bird's Eye Overview of the Economic History of KwaZulu- Natal Jewry,’ Jewish Affairs, Volume 56, Number 3, (Spring 2001), pp. 24-35. 8Arkin, Marcus, South African Jewry: A Contemporary Survey, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 57-63. 9Winsnes, Selena Axelrod, A Danish Jew in West Africa. Wulf Joseph Wulff Biography And Letters 1836-1842, (Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013), pp. 22-13. 10Oppenheim, Ernst, To remember me by: first crusade through Holocaust: facts, fragments, lore and legends, (United Kingdom: Nobis, 2000), pp. 109-112. Oppenheim, Ernst, ‘Ernst Oppenheim Collection: 1861-1999 (Bulk: 1986-1992),’ URL: https://archive.org/details/ernstoppenheimco01oppe. 'Marriage-Steinwehr-Wulff,’ Sierra Leone Weekly News, 24 March, 1900, hereafter the S.L.W.N. Carl Wulff, a telegraphist, and a son of Frantz W.J. Wulff, who was the son of Wulff Joseph Wulff, married Anna (Hannah) Henrietta Steinwehr, the Sierra Leonean daughter of Herr Seigmond Aaron Steinwehr, a German merchant and a Sierra Leonean mother. Liberian and South African history than in Sierra Leonean historiography.11 Furthermore, Jewish merchants