Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Joseph Kosoniola Randle MVO MBE (28 July 1909 – December 1956) was a Nigerian businessman and socialite from

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. He was Chef de Mission of the Nigerian Olympic team to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and was connected to various public activities in Lagos. Randle was a social crusader and philanthropist who started the Nigerian arm of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, a member of the Lagos Town Council (though his politics discouraged extreme nationalism) and was a sportsman who was a trustee of a proposed National Stadium.

Life

Randle was born on 28 July 1909; his father was

John Randle John Anthony Randle (born December 12, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was a six-time first-tea ...

, a Saro medical doctor, and his mother came from the Aguda side of Lagos. He was educated at

CMS Grammar School, Lagos The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in ...

and

King's College, Lagos King's College, Lagos (KCL) is a secondary school in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria. It was founded on 20 September 1909 with 10 students on its original site at Lagos Island, adjacent to Tafawa Balewa Square. The school admits only male students ...

. In college, he loved playing football cricket and was a member and first captain of Zik's Athletic club. Born to a well to do father but when his father died, much of his estate was left elsewhere for philanthropic purposes. At the time of his father's death, Randle was in the senior year of King's College and his dream of attending a university became financially infeasible. He worked for a brief period as a junior clerk with the treasury department, in the same office with

Adeniji Adele Oba Sir Musendiku Buraimoh Adeniji Adele II, KBE (13 November 1893 – 12 July 1964) was the Oba (King) of Lagos from 1 October 1949 to 12 July 1964. Life Adele was born in Lagos in 1893 to Buraimoh Adele and Moriamo Lalugbi. His grandfather ...

. Randle later moved to

Ilesha Ilesa () is an ancient town located in the Osun State, southwest Nigeria; it is also the name of a historic kingdom (also known as Ijesha) centred on that village. The state is ruled by a monarch bearing the title of the Owa Obokun Adimula of Ij ...

to try his luck in gold mining. He was not successful in the mining business and returned to Lagos and engaged in trade, contract and business promotion where he earned some income. He held the

chieftaincy A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

title of the Lisa of Lagos. It was given to him by Oba

. He was also a founding member and later chairman of the Island club. A sports enthusiast, he was vice president of the Nigerian Olympic and British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association and a trustee of the proposed National Stadium. Randle was the Chef de Mission of the Nigerian Olympic team to the 1956 Summer Olympics. He was awarded the medal of the Victorian Order. He took ill on his flight from Melbourne, and later died at Lagos General Hospital in December 1956. He was chairman of the Lagos Race Club in 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randle, J.K. Businesspeople from Lagos 1909 births 1956 deaths Nigerian philanthropists King's College, Lagos alumni 20th-century Nigerian businesspeople J.K. CMS Grammar School, Lagos alumni People from colonial Nigeria 20th-century philanthropists Nigerian socialites Yoruba businesspeople