Africa miscellanea

Edward William Bovill (1892-1966) was born on 25 December 1892, and educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served in the First World War with the 10th Royal Hussars and the W.A.F.F. He was Director, Matheson & Co. Ltd, 1936-1945, and Chairman of R.C. Treatt & Co. Ltd, 1942-1961. Bovill was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He died on 19 December 1966.

Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858-1945), Baron Lugard, was born on 22 January 1858 at Fort St George, Madras. He attended Rossall School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned in the Norfolk Regiment in 1878. He served in the Afghan War, 1879-1880, Sudan, 1885, and Burma, 1886-1887. In 1889 he joined the British East Africa Company, and the following year he was sent to Uganda, where he secured a treaty with the Kabaka of Buganda. Lugard returned to England in 1892, and in 1894 he helped to persuade the British government to establish a protectorate in Uganda. He was made British Commissioner in the Nigerian hinterland in 1897, where he established the West African Frontier Force, and was High Commissioner in Northern Nigeria, 1900-1906. Lugard was the Governor of Hong Kong, 1907-1912, and played a key role in the founding of Hong Kong University in 1911. He returned to Africa in 1912 as Governor of North and South Nigeria, and was Governor-General of the united Nigeria, 1914-1919. Lugard was a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, 1922-1936, and of the Colonial Advisory Committee on Education, 1923-1936. He was created baron in 1928. He died on 11 April 1945 at Abinger Common, Surrey.

A letter enclosing a copy of Bovill's 'Caravans of the old Sahara'. Bovill comments on the importance of Lady Lugard's 'A tropical dependency' and the need for fresh material to be incorporated. He also writes about his own happy recollections of Nigeria.

Presented by Major E.J. Lugard, 1945.

The R.C.S. Manuscripts Collection includes other material relating to Lord Lugard, RCMS 113/3, 113/89, 150/8/3 and 181. Images of Lord Lugard can be found in the R.C.S. Photograph Collection.

Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), p. 88. Indexed