Sir Godfrey Yeatman Lagden (1 September 1851 – 26 June 1934) was a British colonial administrator in Africa.

Early life

Lagden was born at

Yetminster, Dorset Yetminster is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies south-west of Sherborne. It is sited on the River Wriggle, a tributary of the River Yeo, and is built almost entirely of honey-coloured limestone, which gives ...

, the son of Reverend Richard Dowse Lagden of Balsham House,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and was educated at

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

. He joined the British civil service as a clerk in the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

where he worked from 1869 to 1877, when he decided to move to South Africa.

Career in Africa

There he was introduced to the South African High Commissioner Sir

Bartle Frere Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for Sout ...

who sent him to the

Transvaal Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result of the Second ...

which had been newly annexed by Sir

Theophilus Shepstone Theophilus Shepstone Sir Theophilus Shepstone (8 January 181723 June 1893) was a British South African statesman who was responsible for the annexation of the Transvaal to Britain in 1877. Shepstone is the great-great-grandfather of internat ...

. There he would be initially appointed to its executive council. He entered the colonial secretary's office in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

and was private secretary to the new Administrator of the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

, Sir Owen Lanyon, 1878–81. Lagden and Lanyon were in Pretoria when the town was besieged during the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

. After the war, Lanyon was recalled to London, but Lagden remained and was briefly private secretary to Sir Evelyn Wood before returning to England in 1882. There he was engaged as war correspondent for the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, covering the British campaign against the

‘Urabi Revolt The ʻUrabi revolt, also known as the ʻUrabi Revolution (), was a nationalism, nationalist uprising in the Khedivate of Egypt from 1879 to 1882. It was led by and named for Colonel Ahmed Urabi and sought to depose the khedive, Tewfik Pasha, and e ...

. He was one of a small party that entered

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

ahead of the main force to demand its surrender. He took part in the charge at

Kassassin Kassassin () is a village of Lower Egypt by rail west of Ismailia, a major city on the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea throu ...

and would deliver information essential to

Sir Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

in his efforts to harass the army of

Ahmed ʻUrabi Ahmed Urabi (; Arabic: ; 31 March 1841 – 21 September 1911), also known as Ahmed Ourabi or Orabi Pasha, was an Egyptian military officer. He was the first political and military leader in Egypt to rise from the ''fellahin'' (peasantry). Urabi p ...

and its eventual fall at the

Battle of Tell El Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

. On his return in 1883, he was appointed Assistant Colonial Secretary in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

but was sent to do some brief work in the Gold Coast. On the completion of the work there he was ordered to return to Sierra Leone by the Governor Sir Samuel Rowe. He decided to take leave instead and visited

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 ...

, the first by a white man in twenty years, where he was captured and tried and he then escaped after being sentenced to die. After that, he fell out with the governor Rowe, and was sacked by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

. However, a friend he had made in Pretoria,

Marshal Clarke Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Marshal James Clarke (24 October 1841 – 1 April 1909) was a British colonial administrator and an officer of the Royal Artillery. He was the first Resident Commissioner in Basutoland from 1884 to 1893; Resident Commiss ...

, had just been appointed resident commissioner in

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

in 1884 and insisted that Lagden be re-engaged to work for him as his secretary, which he did and eventually succeeded Clarke as resident commissioner 1893–1901. In Basutoland, he managed to control the infighting between tribes in the country and succeed in establishing

hut tax The hut tax was a form of taxation introduced by European colonial powers in their African colonies on a "per hut" (or other forms of household) basis. Colonised peoples paid the tax variously in money, labour, grain or stock. This benefited the ...

es and their collection. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, which broke out in 1899, Lagden did all he could to keep Basutoland neutral ensuring the war did not draw in black soldiers. When he raised a force of 10,000 Basotho's and refused to use them to ensure the relief of

Wepener Wepener is a town in the Free State, South Africa, located near the border of Lesotho. History The town is named after Louw Wepener, the leader of the Boers in their war with the Basotho chief Moshoeshoe I in 1865. It was founded in 1867 on ...

other than to watch over the

Cape Mounted Rifles The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units. There were two separate successive regiments of that name. To distinguish them, some military historians describe the first as the "imperial" Cape Mounted Riflemen (originally the ...

, who were besieged by Boer forces until they were relieved by other British units. During the war, he raised and commanded the Transvaal Light Infantry. In 1901 he was appointed commissioner of native affairs by

Lord Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and ear ...

in the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

, by then under British control and was also a member of its executive and legislative councils. During 1903 until 1905, he was chairman of the South African Native Affairs Commission and took evidence from all over South Africa and Rhodesia.

Later life

He retired in 1907 after the Transvaal Colony gained self-rule and returned to

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

in England and served on various public bodies including the

Royal Colonial Institute The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote the value of the Commonwealth and the values upon which it is based. The Society upholds the values of the Commonwealth Charter, promoting confl ...

of which he was secretary and later vice-president, serving until 1923.

Marriage

He married Frances Rebekah Bousfield in 1887, the daughter of the Bishop of Pretoria.

Honours

Lagden was appointed CMG in 1894 and knighted KCMG in 1897 for his work in Africa, and appointed KBE in 1927 "in recognition of public services." Lagden played

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

from time to time, including one

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) when a team visited South Africa in 1906.CricketArchive profile of Godfrey Lagden
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Works

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagden, Godfrey Yeatman 1851 births 1934 deaths English cricketers British prisoners sentenced to death British white supremacists Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Sherborne School Resident commissioners in Basutoland Transvaal Colony people Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Prisoners sentenced to death by Ghana