Tom von Prince (9 January 1866 – 4 November 1914) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

and plantation owner in

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colonial empire, German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Portugu ...

. He most notably, as a captain in the

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned a ...

, led the first action by German forces in East Africa during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

by seizing Taveta on 15 August 1914, and was then killed in November at the

Battle of Tanga The Battle of Tanga, also known as the Battle of the Bees, was an unsuccessful invasion of the Port of Tanga in German East Africa by the British Indian Expeditionary Force "B" on 3–5 November 1914 during World War I. Under the command of th ...

Early life

He was born on 9 January 1866, at Port Louis, Mauritius, son of Thomas Prince, police superintendent of the British island colony of Mauritius and Mary Luisa Ansorge, who had been born in Bengal to German missionaries. His father died at Mauritius in 1869 and his mother died there in 1879. After he was orphaned, Prince's maternal grandparents took him to Germany, where he was enrolled at the Königliche Ritterakademie at Liegnitz (now Legnica in Poland). He continued his education at the Kassel Military Academy (''Kadettenanstalt Kassel''), where he was a classmate of his future superior

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964), popularly known as the Lion of Africa (), was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force ...

. He met his future wife Magdalene von Massow at Liegnitz in 1884.

Military career

In 1887 he joined the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

and served in the Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 99, which was stationed near Strasbourg. He reached the rank of

Leutnant () is the lowest junior officer rank in the armed forces of Germany ( Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High German «locum ...

before leaving the army in 1889. In January 1890 he joined the ''Kaiserliche Schutztruppe fur Deutsch-Ostafrika,'' then still called the ''Wissmann-Truppe''. Prince initially participated in the suppression of the Abushiri revolt, and in 1891 he took part in Wissmann's campaign to Kilimanjaro. In the following years, he participated in military expeditions to quell the

Hehe people The Hehe (Swahili language, Swahili collective: Wahehe) is a Bantu ethnolinguistic group based in Iringa Region in south-central Tanzania, speaking the Bantu Hehe language. In 2006, the Hehe population was estimated at 805,000, up from the jus ...

. The Hehe, under Chief Mkwavinyika Mkwawa, had won the battle of Lugalo in 1891, where they killed Commander

Emil von Zelewski Emil von Zelewski (13 March 1854 – 17 August 1891) was a German military officer who served as commander of the Schutztruppe in German East Africa. He led German forces against an uprising by the Hehe people, and was killed at the Battle of L ...

and many of his men. In 1893-94 Tom Prince was sent far inland to

Lake Nyassa Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is ...

, with a civilian representative of the Antislavery Committee, Wynecken. In September 1894, Prince joined the expedition led by Governor Friedrich von Schele which attacked and captured Mkwawa's fortress at Kalenga, although Mkwawa and most of his warriors escaped. Prince interrupted his service in Africa with several stays in Germany due to being afflicted with

tropical diseases Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by for ...

. There, on 4 January 1896, he married Magdalene von Massow, who returned with him to Africa. In 1896, he was promoted to the rank of

Hauptmann () is an officer rank in the armies of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It is usually translated as ''captain''. Background While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has, and originally had, the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literall ...

and in August 1896 he established the German military station at Iringa, a short distance from Mkwawa's fortress at Kalenga. Faced with resistance from the

, he had Mkwawa's brother Mpangile tried for treason and hanged on 21 February 1897, then sent patrols to chase Mkwawa and his last supporters. As the fighting continued, Prince deliberately starved the rebels to break their will to fight. On 19 July 1898, closely pursued by the Germans, the Hehe chief shot himself. Soldiers brought the head of Mkwawa back to Hauptmann Prince in Iringa. Prince had one of Mkwawa's teeth set in gold as a chain pendant, which was kept in the family. The skull of Mkwawa was allegedly sent to Germany and despite its alleged return in 1954, many doubt its authenticity. In August 1900, Prince left the protective force and colonial administration to settle as a landowner in East Africa. Together with his wife, he founded a plantation near Sakkarani in the

Usambara Mountains The Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania in tropical East Africa, comprise the easternmost ranges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The ranges are approximately long and about half that wide, and they are situated in the Lushoto District ...

. In December 1906, Tom Prince was raised to the

German nobility The German nobility () and Royal family, royalty were status groups of the Estates of the realm, medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain Privilege (law), privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the Ger ...

and so became Tom von Prince.

World War I and Tanga

At the outbreak of the First World War Prince returned to active military service and commanded two European companies of the German

. He was recalled to active duty as ''Hauptmann'' (captain) and given command of the

Askaris An askari or ascari (from Somali, Swahili, and Arabic , , meaning 'soldier' or 'military', also 'police' in Somali) was a local soldier serving in the armies of the European colonial powers in Africa, particularly in the African Great Lakes, ...

of the 13th Field Company and of the 7th and 8th ''Schützenkompanien'' (rifle companies composed mainly of the sons of German settlers). Prince's exploits earned him the nickname ''Bwana Sakarani'' — the wild one — from his Askaris. On 15 August 1914, in the opening move of the war in East Africa, von Prince seized the

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n town of Taveta on orders from the commander of German forces,

. The objective was to take and hold a key point that would strengthen German defences in the north of their colony and protect the

Usambara Railway The Usambara Railway () was the first railway to be built in German East Africa and what is today Tanzania. History German East-Africa A railway company was created in 1891 with the aim of connecting the port of Tanga at the Indian Ocean wit ...

. Tom von Prince was one of nine German officers to be killed in the

on 4 November 1914. He had been ordered to lead his troops into the centre of the town and was killed in fighting against the British 2nd

Loyal North Lancashire Regiment The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (until 1921 known as the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Lancashire Re ...

that had landed as part of the British

Indian Expeditionary Force The Indian Army, also called the British Indian Army, was involved in World War I as part of the British Empire. More than one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom more than 60,000 died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army ...

. His funeral took place together with twelve other German officers in Tanga.

In popular culture

A thinly fictionalized version of Tom von Prince appears, under the name Erich von Bishop, in

William Boyd William, Willie, Will or Bill Boyd may refer to: Academics * William Boyd (educator) (1874–1962), Scottish educator * William Boyd (pathologist) (1885–1979), Scottish-Canadian professor and author * William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (1842–1928), ...

's 1983 satirical anti-war novel ''

An Ice-Cream War ''An Ice-Cream War'' (1982) is a black comedy war novel by Scottish author William Boyd. It was nominated for a Booker Prize in the year of its publication. The title is derived from a quotation in a letter (not included in the American edition ...

''.

References

Works

* Tom von Prince: ''Gegen Araber und Wahehe – Erinnerungen aus meiner ostafrikanischen Leutnantszeit 1890–1895''. Mittler, Berlin 1914. English translation:
Fighting the Arabs and the Hehe: The Memoirs of a German Military Officer in Tanzania, 1890-1895
' (2021).

Literature

* Herbert Viktor Patera: ''Der weiße Herr Ohnefurcht – Das Leben des Schutztruppenhauptmanns Tom von Prince''. Deutscher Verlag, Berlin 1939. * Hans Schmiedel: ''"Bwana Sakkarani – Der Schutztruppenhauptmann Tom von Prince und seine Zeit"''. Handschriftliches Manuskript {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Tom 1866 births 1914 deaths 20th-century German landowners German Army personnel of World War I German mass murderers German military personnel killed in World War I German people in German East Africa German people of Scottish descent German untitled nobility German war criminals Schutztruppe personnel