Sir William Robert Wolseley Winniett (b. 2 March 1793, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. - d. 4 Dec. 1850, Accra -

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 ...

) was the Governor General of

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 ...

Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast Castle ( sv, Carolusborg) is one of about forty "slave castles", or large commercial forts, built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana) by European traders. It was originally a Portuguese "feitoria" or trading post, establish ...

(

). He worked to abolish the slave trade on the

Slave Coast of West Africa The Slave Coast is a historical name formerly used for that part of coastal West Africa along the Bight of Benin that is located between the Volta River and the Lagos Lagoon. The name is derived from the region's history as a major source of A ...

Royal Navy

Winniett joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

in 1807 on . While aboard ''Cleopatra'', under the command of

Samuel Pechell Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel John Brooke Pechell, 3rd Baronet CB, KCH, FRS (1 September 1785 – 3 November 1849) was a prominent British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century. Although he served in several celebrated naval actions of ...

, Winniett fought in the

action of 22 January 1809 The action of 22 January 1809 was a minor naval engagement fought off the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was fought as part of the blockade of Guadeloupe and neighbouring Martinique by a large British Ro ...

and the

Invasion of Martinique (1809) The invasion of Martinique was a successful British amphibious operation against the French colony of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the West Indies campaign of 1804–1810 of the Napoleonic Wars. Mart ...

. He also served on the flagship under Sir

Alexander Cochrane Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captai ...

Commander-in-Chief, North American Station No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles: English language * ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses) * A determiner in noun phrases Alphanumeric symbols * No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script * No symbol, displayed � ...

(1814-1815). During that time, Winniett was involved in the

Battle of Lake Borgne The Battle of Lake Borgne was a coastal engagement between the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on December 14, 1814 on Lake Borgne. The British victory allowed them to disembark their tro ...

, in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

in December 1814 and the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...

on 8 January 1815. Cochrane created a proclamation that invited Black slaves to freedom by joining the crews of the Royal Navy. On 24 December 1818, he was assigned to ''Morgiana'', which was on the African coastal patrol to suppress the slave trade. He commanded (1837), ''Firefly'' (1839) and ''Lightning'' (1842).

British Governor

On 24 October 1845 Winniett became lieutenant governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana), under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Sierra Leone. He went to the capital of Abomey (

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

) to try to abolish the slave trade (1847). (The

Slave Trade Act Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade. The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the conce ...

outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807 and the

Slavery Abolition Act The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire. It was passed by Earl Grey's reforming administrati ...

of 1833 outlawed slavery altogether.) In 1848 he led the

West India Regiments The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

and others to stop the murdering of Africans and Europeans by deposing Kaku Aka, the king of Amanahia pollonia(also known as Kwaku Akka). With Thomas Birch Freeman as his secretary, that same year, he went to the Kingdom of Ashanti to persuade

Ghezo Ghezo, also spelled Gezo, was King of Dahomey (present-day Republic of Benin) from 1818 until 1859. Ghezo replaced his brother Adandozan (who ruled from 1797 to 1818) as king through a coup with the assistance of the Brazilian slave trader F ...

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of the Dahomey, in present-day

(also known as King Kwaku Dua; Gizu the King of Dahomi) to stop the slave trade and abolish human sacrifice. (At the time the King exported 8,000 slaves a year.) He also purchased Dutch fortresses on the Slave Coast to end Dutch slave trade. He was knighted by Queen Victoria on 29 June 1849 at Buckingham Palace. He died 4 December 1850 at

Jamestown/Usshertown, Accra Located directly east of the Korle Lagoon, Jamestown and Usshertown are the oldest districts of Accra, Ghana and emerged as communities around the 17th century British James Fort and Dutch Ussher Fort on the Gulf of Guinea coast. These distric ...

and was interred in the cemetery at

Fort Christiansborg Osu Castle (also known as Fort Christiansborg or the Castle) is a castle located in Osu, Ghana on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa. A substantial fort was built by Denmark-Norway in the 1660s, thereafter the fort changed ownership ...

(

Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu The Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, formerly known as the Basel Mission Church, Christiansborg, is a historic Protestant church located in the suburb of Osu in Accra, Ghana. The church was founded by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in 18 ...

Family

Winniett was the grandchild of Joseph Winniett (d. 1789) and the son of William Winniett (d.1824), both of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. His family had seven boys and six girls. His great aunt Anne Cosby was married to

Nova Scotia Council Formally known as "His Majesty's Council of Nova Scotia", the Nova Scotia Council (1720–1838) was the original British administrative, legislative and judicial body in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Council was also known as the Annapolis Counci ...

member Major Alexander Cosby. She freed her three black slaves in 1788. He was the son-in-law of

William Fenwick Williams General Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet (4 December 180026 July 1883) was a Nova Scotian military leader for the British during the Victorian era. Williams is remembered for his defence of the town of Kars during the Crimean War. He ...

. Winniett was also the maternal grandson of New York Loyalist Joseph Totten, from whose family Tottenville, Staten Island was named.Annapolis Heritage Society - 18th Century
Retrieved May 16, 2020

Legacy

The

Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society is a historical society in Halifax, Nova Scotia that was founded in 1878 and is the second oldest in Canada (The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec is the first.) The Society is a voluntary organizatio ...

placed a memorial at Sir Winniett's home in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in 1880.

Royal Navy

British Governor

Family

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading