John Hope Smith (died 15 March 1831) was an English Colonial Head of the Gold Coast (now

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

) as Governor of the Committee of Merchants of the Gold Coast from 19 January 1817 until 27 March 1822. "Respectably born and educated", John Hope Smith, aged fourteen, was placed by his father as a writer at

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

.'John Hope Smith, Esq.', ''

New Monthly Magazine ''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845. History Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Uni ...

'', Vol. 33, No. 125 (May 1831), pp. 233–234 He was appointed to be Governor in Chief of the Gold Coast aged 30. During his reign at Cape Coast Castle, the biggest fort in Fante territory, the

African Company of Merchants African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

dispatched two missions to Asante. He thought the castle could be a protective force against Ashanti, while the two diplomats sent, his nephew

Thomas Edward Bowdich Thomas Edward Bowdich (20 June 179110 January 1824) was an English traveller and author. Life Bowdich was born at Bristol and educated at Bristol Grammar School. In 1813, he married Sarah Bowdich Lee, Sarah Wallis, who shared his subsequent car ...

1817 and Joseph Dupuis 1821 thought otherwise. In August 1817 Smith found an Ashanti man guilty of striking a sentry who had required him to remove a cloth from his shoulder. When the man was found hanged next evening, Smith had no problem believing the guard's claim that he had hanged himself, although he conceded that "it must have been by the most determined resolution that he succeeded in strangling himself. Disagreements with Charles MacCarthy led to his resignation. A cold caught in

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led to his early death aged forty-four. John Hope Smith was married to an African woman from the Fante tribe. Her name was Fannie Smith. The Asante of Africa believed that they were receiving hostility from the British because Fannie was manipulating her husband against the Asante. This goes to show that African wives could have advantages as political advocates.

References

19th-century Ghanaian politicians 1780s births 1831 deaths Governors of the Gold Coast (British colony) {{Ghana-politician-stub