John Edward "Chiripula" Stephenson (born 1873 or 1876) was a figure in the expansion of British colonial control in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

(now

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and surrounding areas during the early part of the 20th century. Stephenson was born in northern England and raised along the Tyne. In 1896 he came to

Kimberley, South Africa Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its ...

. By 1898 he had gone to

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

, where he became a telegraph clerk.

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

appointed him the joint leader of an expedition into previously unexplored territory. He was accompanied on this trip by 120 porters and his pet baboon. The expedition claimed for the Company large areas of what are now the Zambian copper fields. He eventually left the Company and built his mansion in the remote bush where he became a revered figure by the local community. He was given the name Chirupula ("he who smites") by the local tribe who regarded him a god. On his journey to

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

he fell ill will malaria. Later, while in Blantyre area he married Loti, a Ngoni woman. He later worked in the British South African Company extension of power into

Chipata The city of Chipata is the administrative centre of the Eastern Province of Zambia and Chipata District. It was declared the 5th city of the country, after Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone, by President Edgar Lungu on 24 February 2017. The c ...

under

Robert Edward Codrington Sir Robert Edward Codrington (6 January 1869 – 16 December 1908) was the colonial Administrator of the two territories ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which became present-day Zambia. He was Administrator of North-Eastern Rho ...

. With Francis Jones, he later led the expansion of British colonial power among the speakers of the

Lala-Bisa language Lala-Bisa is a Bantu language of Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at ...

. During this period Stephenson became polygamous, marrying Mwape-Chiwali, a princess of the Lala royal family, and taking a total of three African wives (concurrently), including a slave girl he rescued; he fathered a total of nine children. He published his own cyclostyled magazine called “Chiripula’s Gazette “. which ran for fifty-two numbers during 1948 and 1949. This was written "in the most incomprehensible English, tortuous, full of parentheses, exclamation marks, dots and irrelevancies. But hidden away in its mass of verbiage are valuable sidelights on the history of Northern Rhodesia - but it is agony to dig them out."Extract from 'Generation of Men' by W Vernon Brelsford He also wrote an autobiography, "Chirupula's Tale" Stephenson founded the city of

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

. In an obituary after his death in 1957, the Central African Post recorded "Africa said farewell to one of her greatest adopted sons, the telegraph clerk who 60 years ago answered Cecil Rhode's call to go North."

References

Sources

*Kathleen Stevens Rukavina. ''Jungle Pathfinder, the Biography of Chirupula Stephenson''. Hutchinson, 1952 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, John Edward Chiripula 1874 births Settlers of Zambia British expatriates in South Africa City founders Year of death missing