Sir William Robert Wolseley Winniett (born 2 March 1793,

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia Annapolis Royal is a town in and the county seat of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The community, known as Port Royal before 1710, is recognised as having one of the longest histories in North America, preceding the settlements at Ply ...

. - d. 4 Dec. 1850, Accra,

Gold Coast (British Colony) The Gold Coast was a British Empire, British Crown colony on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa from 1821 until its independence in 1957 as Ghana. The term Gold Coast is also often used to describe all of the four separate jurisdictions that w ...

) was the Governor General of Gold Coast 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 ( ...

(

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 ...

). He worked to abolish the slave trade on the

Slave Coast of West Africa The Slave Coast is a historical region along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the ...

Royal Navy

Winniett joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

in 1807 on . While aboard ''Cleopatra'', under the command of Samuel Pechell, Winniett fought in the action of 22 January 1809 and the

Invasion of Martinique (1809) The British invaded and captured the French colony of Martinique between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the West Indies campaign of 1804–1810 of the Napoleonic Wars. Martinique, like the nearby island of Guadeloupe, was a major threa ...

. He also served on the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

under Sir

Alexander Cochrane Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane, GCB (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admi ...

, Commander-in-Chief, North American Station (1814-1815). During that time, Winniett was involved in the Battle of Lake Borgne, in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

in December 1814 and the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...

on 8 January 1815. Cochrane created a proclamation that invited Black slaves to freedom by joining the crews of the Royal Navy. On 24 December 1818, he was assigned to ''Morgiana'', which was on the African coastal patrol to suppress the slave trade. He commanded (1837), ''Firefly'' (1839) and ''Lightning'' (1842).

British Governor

On 24 October 1845 Winniett became lieutenant governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana), under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Sierra Leone. He went to the capital of Abomey (

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

) to try to abolish the slave trade (1847). (The

Slave Trade Act 1807 The Slave Trade Act 1807 ( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36), or the Abolition of Slave Trade Act 1807, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not automatica ...

outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire and the

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...

outlawed slavery altogether.) In 1848 he led the West India Regiments and others to stop the murdering of Africans and Europeans by deposing Kaku Aka, the king of Amanahia pollonia(also known as Kwaku Akka). With Thomas Birch Freeman as his secretary, that same year, he went to persuade

Ghezo Ghezo, also spelled Gezo, was King of Dahomey (present-day Republic of Benin) from 1818 until 1858. Ghezo replaced his brother Adandozan (who ruled from 1797 to 1818) as king through a coup with the assistance of the Brazilian slave trader F ...

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...

, in present-day

to stop the slave trade and abolish human sacrifice. (At the time Dahomey exported 8,000 slaves a year.) In September 1848, he visited the

Ashanti Empire The Asante Empire ( Asante Twi: ), also known as the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted from 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana and also parts of Ivory Coast ...

to convince

Asantehene The is the title for the monarch of the historical Ashanti Empire as well as the ceremonial ruler of the Ashanti people today. The Ashanti royal house traces its line to the Oyoko (an '' Abusua'', or "clan") Abohyen Dynasty of Nana Twum and ...

Kwaku Dua I to abolish human sacrifice. He also purchased Dutch fortresses on the Slave Coast to end Dutch slave trade. He was knighted by Queen Victoria on 29 June 1849 at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

. He died 4 December 1850 at Jamestown/Usshertown, Accra and was interred in the cemetery at

Fort Christiansborg Osu Castle (also known as Fort Christiansborg or the Castle) is a castle located in Osu, Accra, Osu, Ghana, on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa. A substantial fort was built by Denmark-Norway in the 1660s; thereafter, the fort chan ...

( Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu).

Family

Winniett was the grandchild of Joseph Winniett (d. 1789) and the son of William Winniett (d.1824), both of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. His family had seven boys and six girls. His great aunt Anne Cosby was married to Nova Scotia Council member Major Alexander Cosby. She freed her three black slaves in 1788. He was the son-in-law of William Fenwick Williams. Winniett was also the maternal grandson of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

Joseph Totten, from whose family Tottenville,

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

was named.Annapolis Heritage Society - 18th Century
Retrieved May 16, 2020

Legacy

The Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society placed a memorial at Sir Winniett's home in

in 1880.

Royal Navy

British Governor

Family

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading