Professor Eldred Durosimi Jones (6 January 1925 – 21 March 2020)''Africa Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 537. was 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 academic and literary critic, known for his book ''Othello's Countrymen: A Study of Africa in the Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama''. He was a principal of

Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-le ...

. Jones died in

Freetown, Sierra Leone 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 po ...

, around 1am on Saturday 21 March 2020.

Biography

Eldred Durosimi Jones was born on 6 January 1925 to

Sierra Leone Creole The Sierra Leone Creole people ( kri, Krio people) are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are lineal descendant, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Sierra Leone Liberated African, Liberated Af ...

parents. On his maternal side, Jones descended from the

Jamaican Maroons 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 ensla ...

. Jones attended the

CMS Grammar School, Freetown The Sierra Leone Grammar School was founded on 25 March 1845 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by the Church Mission Society (CMS), and at first was called the CMS Grammar School. It was the first secondary educational institution for West Africans with ...

, and

(1944–47), completing a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. He studied in England at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

(1950–53) and the main campus of the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

(1962). His critical works include ''Othello's Countrymen: A Study of the African in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama'' (Oxford University Press, 1985), ''The Writing of Wole Soyinka'' (Heinemann, 1973), and ''The Elizabethan Image of Africa'' (University of Virginia for the Folger Shakespeare Library, 1971). Jones was also the author of ''The Freetown Bond: A Life under Two Flags'' (James Currey, 2012) with the help of his wife Marjorie Jones. Eldred Jones died on 21 March 2020, at the age of 95.

References

External links

Review of ''The Freetown Bond: A Life under Two Flags''
by Jane Plastow, ''

Leeds African Studies Bulletin Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS) is an interdisciplinary centre at the University of Leeds that was established in 1964, and has members from a variety of faculties who share an interest in African Studies. The English, Geography ...

'', 75 (2013/14), 30 July 2013. *

Kole Omotoso Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso (born 21 April 1943), also known as Kole Omotoso, is a Nigerian writer and intellectual best known for his works of fiction and in South Africa as the "Yebo Gogo man" in adverts for the telecommunications company Vodacom ...

"Eldred Durosimi (Pause For Breath) Jones 1925 – 2020"
''The Guardian'' (Nigeria), 19 April 2020. 1925 births 2020 deaths Sierra Leonean writers Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leoneans of Jamaican Maroon descent Linguists from Sierra Leone People educated at the Sierra Leone Grammar School Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Fourah Bay College faculty Fourah Bay College alumni {{SierraLeone-writer-stub