Obadiah Johnson (1849–1920, born in

Freetown, Sierra Leone 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 ...

) was a Saro who was both the second

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

to qualify as a medical doctor and the co-author, with his brother the Reverend

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, of ''A History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate''.

Life

Johnson was of a

liberated African The liberated Africans of Sierra Leone, also known as recaptives, were Africans who had been illegally enslaved onboard slave ships and rescued by anti-slavery patrols from the West Africa Squadron of the Royal Navy. After the British Parliament ...

or ''recaptive'' family that was originally from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and was an

Omoba ''Oba'' ('King' in the Yoruba language, Yoruba language) is a pre-nominal honorific for kings in Yorubaland. Traditional rulers with dynasties of Yoruba origin, across the modern republics of Benin, Nigeria, and Togo, frequently make use of it. ...

of the Kingdom of Oyo as a descendant of Alaafin Abiodun. He graduated from the

University of Edinburgh Medical School The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinar ...

with an M.B., C.M. degree in 1886 and his M.D. in 1889. From 1890 to 1897 he was the Chief Medical Officer in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. Although this achievement of his was a milestone in history, he became famous only for tackling another monumental undertaking. In 1897 his older brother, the Reverend Samuel Johnson, completed a major work on the history of the Yorubas but, in Dr. Johnson's own words, "A singular misfortune...befell the original manuscripts of this history, in consequence of which the author never lived to see in print his more than 20 years of labour." The manuscripts were sent to an English publisher in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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, through a missionary society in 1899 but, "nothing more was heard of them". In 1900, Johnson visited England and called on the publisher who told him he had misplaced the manuscripts and, "that they could not be found, and that he was prepared to pay for them." Although Dr. Johnson smelt a rat immediately, he and his brother decided to "let the subject rest there." The original author, Samuel Johnson, died a year later on 29 April 1901. Thus, Dr. Obadiah Johnson had "to rewrite the whole history anew from the copious notes and rough copies left behind by the author". In August 1901, Dr. Johnson was appointed an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of the Colony of Lagos. He then acted as an unofficial adviser, as in 1903 when there was a crisis over the payment of the tolls that were collected from traders by native rulers, although Europeans were exempted. The alternative was to replace the tolls by a subsidy. Governor

William MacGregor Sir William MacGregor, (20 October 1846 – 3 July 1919)R. B. Joyce,', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 158–160. Retrieved 29 September 2009 was a Scottish colonial administrator who was ...

requested views from

Christopher Sapara Williams Chieftain, Chief Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams (14 July 1855 – 15 March 1915) was the first indigenous Nigerian people, Nigerian lawyer, called to the English bar on 17 November 1879. In addition to his legal practice, he came to play ...

, Charles Joseph George and Obadiah Johnson as indigenous opinion leaders. All were in favor of retaining the tolls to avoid upsetting the rulers. Dr. Johnson died in London in 1920 and the book, ''A History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate'', was published in 1921, first in London by George Routledge and Sons and then in Lagos by the

Church Mission Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

. This book is recognized worldwide as a pioneering historical study and a book of great merit, which sealed the two Johnsons' places in history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Obadiah 1920 deaths 1849 births Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate people Fourah Bay College alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of King's College London Sierra Leone Creole people Yoruba physicians 19th-century Nigerian medical doctors 20th-century Nigerian people Yoruba royalty Saro people Abiodun family History of Lagos People from colonial Nigeria