James Bannerman (12 March 1790 – 18 March 1858) was a lieutenant and acting governor of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

(modern

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

) from 4 December 1850 to 14 October 1851.

Life

James Bannerman was born a native of the Gold Coast in 1790 to a Fanti mother and a British father from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Bannerman was educated in the Gold Coast and in Europe. Returning to the Gold Coast as a merchant, he was appointed a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and was Civil Commandant of Christiansborg, Accra, from 1850 to 1857. He succeeded Governor

William Winniett Sir William Robert Wolseley Winniett (b. 2 March 1793, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. - d. 4 Dec. 1850, Accra - Ghana) was the Governor General of Gold Coast at Cape Coast Castle (Ghana). He worked to abolish the slave trade on the Slave Coast of ...

, who had died, as Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, and helped to introduce the

Legislative Council of the Gold Coast The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana. History Legislative representation in Ghana dates back to 1850, when the country was a British colony known as Gold Coast. The body, called the Legislative Council, ...

.Michael R. Doortmont, ''The Pen-Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities by Charles Francis Hutchison: A Collective Biography of Elite Society in the Gold Coast Colony'', Brill, 2005, p. 118. He married an Ashanti princess, Yaa Hom or Yeboah, daughter of

Osei Bonsu Osei Bonsu (born 1779 – 21 January 1824) also known as Osei Tutu Kwame was the Asantehene (King of the Ashanti). He reigned from 1804 to 1824. During his reign the Ashanti fought the Fante confederation and ended up dominating Gold Coast tra ...

, who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Katamanso in 1826. Together they had six children including Charles (who in 1857 founded the '' Accra Herald'', later called the '' West African Herald''),Dhyana Ziegler, Molefi K. Asante
''Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa''
Africa World Press, 1992, p. 12.

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

and James Junior. Thomas Hutton-Mills, Sr., was a grandson, and Charles Edward Woolhouse Bannerman a great-grandson.

Life

References

External links