William Farquhar Conton (5 September 1925 – 23 June 2003) was a

Sierra Leone Creole The Sierra Leone Creole people () are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are lineal descendant, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Sierra Leone Liberated African, Liberated African slaves who ...

educator, historian and acclaimed novelist.

Background and early life

William Farquhar Conton was born on 5 September 1925 in Bathurst, Gambia, to the union of Cecil Conton (1885–1926) and Olive Conton, née Farquhar. The Contons and Farquhars were first-generation

Sierra Leone Creoles The Sierra Leone Creole people () are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone betwe ...

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

origin who settled in Sierra Leone during the late nineteenth century. Cecil Barger Conton had been born in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

to William A. Conton (b. 1837) and Elizabeth Conton (b. 1857). Olive Farquhar was the daughter of Archdeacon Charles William Farquhar (d. 1928) of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, a missionary in French Guinea.

Education

William Conton was educated at CMS Grammar School in Sierra Leone before proceeding to

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in England, where he read for a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in History, graduating in 1947 as a member of St John's College. Conton also served in the

Officer Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

After graduating in 1947, he taught at

Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-le ...

for the next six years, moving on to become principal of Accra High School in

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 ...

. Returning to

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 ...

, he was principal of two high schools, before rising to be chief education officer in Sierra Leone.

Simon Gikandi Simon E. Gikandi (born 30 September 1960) is a Kenyan Literature Professor and Postcolonial scholar. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor of English and Chair, Department of English at Princeton University. He is perhaps best known for h ...

, "Conton, William", in Gikandi (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of African Literature''. Routledge, 2002. . He subsequently worked for

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Writing

In 1960, Conton's novel ''The African'' was the twelfth book published in the important Heinemann's

African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...

. Partly autobiographical, it revolves around an African student in England from the fictional nation of Songhai, his romance with a white South African woman that ends tragically, and his political determination to bring down the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

system in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Although ''The African'' had widespread acclaim, critics such as

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

were unimpressed with the novel and found the romantic aspects unconvincing, which he referred to as utopian "love optimism", and called the main character, Kamara, an "unbelievable prig". In 1961, Conton published his two-volume work entitled ''West Africa in History'', which covered various aspects of West African history and combined his interests and experience as a historian with his literary flair. In 1987, Conton published ''The Flights'', which is in some respects a sequel to ''The African'', and depicts Saidu, a political exile in England from the same fictional West African country of Songhai, who under psychological stress resorts to hijacking a commercial airliner to force the Songhai government to accede to his demands. Described by literature scholar Oyekan Owomoyela in ''The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English since 1945'' as "Badly written and badly printed", the book has attracted little attention.

Personal life

In 1949, William Conton married Bertha Yvonne Thompson, an educator, principal, and school proprietress, and the couple had five children.

Later years

William Conton died in

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, 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, e ...

, Sierra Leone, in July 2003.

Works

*'' The African'', 1960. Republished in the

Heinemann African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an international audience fo ...

, 1964. *''West Africa in History'', 1961 *''The Flights'', 1987

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conton, William Farquhar 1925 births 2003 deaths 20th-century novelists 20th-century Sierra Leonean writers Alumni of St John's College, Durham Conton family (Sierra Leone) Farquhar family (Sierra Leone) Academic staff of Fourah Bay College Gambian writers People from Freetown Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean educators Sierra Leonean novelists Sierra Leonean people of Barbadian descent Sierra Leonean people of Bermudian descent Sierra Leonean people of British descent Sierra Leonean people of Caribbean descent Sierra Leonean writers