Emmanuel Cole (1908–1972) was a Sierra Leonean soldier who organised a strike against poor treatment in 1939. Cole's efforts led the British to provide improved conditions of service to Sierra Leonean soldiers of the

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognit ...

and for other RWAFF soldiers throughout

British West Africa British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. British West Africa as a colonial entity was orig ...

Early life

Emmanuel Cole was born in 1908 in

Freetown 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 an ...

, the capital of

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 ...

to poor Sierra Leone Creole people, Creole parents. After he graduated from secondary school in 1926, he immediately joined the

at the age of eighteen. He was attached to the Royal Artillery at the heavy battery in Murray Town Barracks in Freetown.

Protest

In January 1939, Cole convinced a group of his fellow Sierra Leonean soldiers to join him in sending a letter of protest to their commanding officer, complaining that their pay was not enough to meet expenses. Cole and his fellow soldiers also demanded to be treated in the same way as white soldiers of the same rank and most significantly they demanded boot and other forms of footwear. The

Inspector-General An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory of ...

of the West African Frontier Force had recommended boots for the soldiers as early as 1903, but their white officers preferred the African soldiers to remain barefoot. When the commanding officer ridiculed the soldiers' demands, Cole asked bluntly: "Is our flesh different from that of the white gunners?," and when their demands received no consideration, Cole organised a strike. They refused to dress properly or to come to parade until their demands were accepted. Cole and his fellow soldiers were charged with mutiny, a crime carrying severe punishment under the military code. Throughout the court martial proceedings, Cole remained defiant. The military court sentenced Emmanuel Cole to fifteen years in prison and his fellow soldiers to period ranging down to eighty-four days, but Labour MPs in Britain protested at the sentencing, until Cole and the others were pardoned. Soon after the mutiny, Cole's demands for boots and improved conditions of service were officially enacted, applying to both Sierra Leonean soldiers and other soldiers throughout

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20071214153102/http://www.sierra-leone.org/heroes7.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Emmanuel 1908 births 1972 deaths Sierra Leone Creole people British colonial army soldiers Sierra Leonean military personnel