Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage (8 October 1869 – 10 March 1933) was a British colonial officer who served as Governor of the Gambia from 1920 to 1927. He established the Armitage School and the Gambia Department of Agriculture.

Military career

Armitage was an officer with the 3rd Battalion of the

South Wales Borderers The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In ...

. In April 1894, he sailed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, having been seconded from his regiment to serve with the Hausa Constabulary on the Gold Coast. He held the rank of Captain at the time and served in the

Anglo-Ashanti wars The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan people, Akan interior of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African ...

under Sir Francis Scott from 1895 to 1896. Afterwards, he was dispatched to survey a trade route from Geji to

Gambaga Gambaga is the capital of the East Mamprusi Municipal Assembly in the North East Region of Ghana. Once a residence of Mamprusi-kings it is still the capital of East Mamprusi Municipal Assembly, a municipality in the North East Region of Ghan ...

, in the north of the Gold Coast. Upon arriving in Gambaga county, he offered the protection of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to the local chief at

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

. However, that evening, the chief and the residents deserted the village, leaving Armitage and his police officers under siege in Tamale for a week.

Colonial career

In 1899, Armitage became the private secretary to Sir Frederick Hodgson, then the

Governor of the Gold Coast This is a list of colonial administrators in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana) from the start of English presence in 1621 until Ghana's independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. In addition to the Gold Coast Colony, the governor of the Gold Coast ...

. He accompanied Hodgson during the Siege of

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

from April to June 1900, when he was Acting Resident. When the British forces were able to break out of Kumasi, Armitage led the advance force. Armitage later became Commissioner in Ashanti, and in 1910 he was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories, a position he held until 1920. That year, he became Governor of the Gambia, succeeding Sir Edward Cameron. As Governor, Armitage founded the Gambia Agricultural Department in 1924, and also the Armitage School in 1927. Upon his retirement in 1927, Armitage commented to the ''

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'': "I feel very much the severance of the association of almost a lifetime. I have always been absorbed in my official duties in Africa, and now the time has come when I come home, probably for the last time."

Legacy

Armitage is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of West African lizard, '' Chalcides armitagei''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Armitage", p. 11).

Books

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References

External links

Portrait
in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

1869 births 1933 deaths Governors of the Gambia Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Distinguished Service Order {{UK-politician-stub