Edna Elliott-Horton (13 September 1904 – 26 March 1994) was the second West African woman from a

British colony The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

to receive a university degree after the

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

physician

Agnes Yewande Savage Agnes Yewande Savage (21 February 1906 – 1964) was a Nigerian medical doctor and the first West African woman to train and qualify in orthodox medicine. Savage was the first West African woman to receive a university degree in medicine, graduat ...

, who received a medical degree from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1929. A

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

an, Elliott-Horton became the first West African woman to complete a Bachelor of Arts, BA degree in the

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

, after graduating from Howard University in 1932, where Dr.

Edward Mayfield Boyle Edward Mayfield Boyle (24 June 1878 – 21 November 1936) was a Sierra Leone Creole medical doctor who attended Harvard Medical School. Boyle, was one of the first West Africans to attend Howard University College of Medicine and was the maternal ...

, her maternal uncle, had graduated as a

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. Elliott-Horton was a political activist who challenged the colonial authorities in Sierra Leone through her participation in the

West African Youth League The West African Youth League (WAYL) was a political organisation founded by I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson in June 1935.. The group was a major political force against the colonial government in West Africa, especially in the Gold Coast (British colony), ...

which was formally established in her living-room.

Background

Edna Elliott-Horton was born on 13 September 1904 in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, Sierra Leone, to a prominent Creole family of African-American Settler stock. Both sides of Horton's families were descended from the original African-American founders of Sierra Leone known as the ''Settlers'' or Nova Scotian Settlers who were the original founders of the 1792

Sierra Leone Colony The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crow ...

. Elliott-Horton's mother was descended from the

Easmon family The Easmon family or the ''Easmon Medical Dynasty'' is a Sierra Leone Creole medical dynasty of African-American descent originally based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Easmon family has ancestral roots in the United State ...

, while through her paternal ancestry she was also a direct descendant of the original Nova Scotian settler, Reverend Anthony "Papa" Elliott (1775–1856) of Zion Methodist Church, Wilberforce Street. The Elliotts resided on Little East Street in the heart of Settler Town, Sierra Leone, the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

district of

. She was elected as assistant organising secretary of the

.Murray Last, Paul Richards;

Christopher Fyfe Christopher Fyfe (9 November 1920 – 26 August 2008) was a Scottish historian most noted for his work on Sierra Leone in West Africa. Biography Christopher Hamilton Fyfe was born in England in 1920 to a family of Scottish ancestry. His father ...

(eds)
''Sierra Leone, 1787-1987: Two Centuries of Intellectual Life''
(special edition of ''

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

'', journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 57, No. 4),

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

, 1987, p. 443.

Personal life

Edna Elliott-Horton was married to Moses Horton, a Creole of

Liberated African The liberated Africans of Sierra Leone, also known as recaptives, were Africans who had been illegally enslaved onboard slave ships and rescued by anti-slavery patrols from the West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy. After the British Parliament ...

, and

Jamaican Maroon Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensl ...

descent and the couple had a daughter, Dr Regina Mosena Horton.

References

Sources

*Adell Patton, ''Physicians, Colonial Racism and Diaspora in West Africa'', Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott-Horton, Edna Sierra Leone Creole people 1904 births 1994 deaths Easmon family (Sierra Leone) People educated in Freetown, Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean people of African-American descent Sierra Leonean people of British descent