Janus: T.J. Alldridge Sierra Leone collection, 1890s

RCS contains:
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Y3043TT-VV	The Weston Collection: Nursing in West Africa
Y3043U-Y	Sir Walter Buchanan-Smith collection on Nigeria
Y3043WW	Hawkins collection on Nigeria
Y3043Z	Souvenir of the inauguration of the railway bridge over the South Channel of the River Niger by H.E. Sir Frederick Lugard ... January 31st 1916. At Jebba, Nigeria, West Africa
Y30446A-E	James Carmichael Smith Sierra Leone Collection
Y30446F	T.J. Alldridge Sierra Leone collection, 1890s
Y30446G	Postcard views of Sierra Leone, circa 1903
Y30446H	General photographs of Sierra Leone, circa 1965
Y30446I	Principals of Fourah Bay College
Y30446J	Inauguration of President Momoh of Sierra Leone 1986
Y30446K	Sierra Leone: Wallace album
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More information

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T.J. Alldridge Sierra Leone collection, 1890s

Title	T.J. Alldridge Sierra Leone collection, 1890s
Reference	GBR/0115/Y30446F
Creator	Alldridge, Thomas Joshua, 1847-1916
Covering Dates	circa 1890
Extent and Medium	31 images in 1 file; The photographs are generally in good condition.
Repository	Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library

Content and context

Alldridge first came to Sierra Leone in 1871 and was until the following year acting United States Consular Agent. For several years he acted as Randall and Fisher's agent on York Island, an early trading post of the Royal African Company situated in the channel between Sherbro Island and the mainland. He entered government service in 1889, from November of which year he acted as one of the two travelling commissioners appointed to make treaties with the Chiefs of the Protectorate, a move designed to extend British influence and forestall the spread of French power in the colony's hinterland. His first extended trip was made in 1890, setting off from Sulima and travelling north-east through the Mendi country to Pendeme. During his second trip the following year, he succeeded in settling a dispute between Kai London and Momo Babawo of Pendembu. In 1894 he was appointed District Commissioner for Sherbro and saw much of the fighting during the Hut Tax War of 1898. He retired in 1905. In addition to his official duties Alldridge was a lively observer of the peoples and customs of Sierra Leone and consistently interested himself in the commercial potential of the hinterland, being particularly impressed by the quality of the country cloth manufactured. His published works contain detailed ethnological and economic descriptions of the country. His two major works were The Sherbro and its hinterland (1901) and A transformed colony: Sierra Leone as it was and as it is (1910). As honorary corresponding secretary for Sierra Leone to the Royal Colonial Institute he also contributed articles to the Royal Colonial Institute Proceedings and United Empire as well as writing the Sierra Leone section for the Oxford Survey of the British Empire. Some of Alldridge's activities are narrated in: Fyfe, C. (1962), A history of Sierra Leone, London: Oxford University Press. A detailed account of his treaty making expeditions can be found in: Abraham, A. (1978), Mende Government and politics under Colonial rule: a historical study of political change in Sierra Leone, 1890-1937, Freetown: Sierra Leone University Press.

A collection of mounted prints, signed and captioned by Alldridge and measuring approximately 155 x 110 mm. Four prints from the original collection of 35 are missing: 'A young chief, Upper Mendi'; 'A tenketti or hammock bridge over the Sehli River, Kuranko country'; 'A bush path, Upper Mendi'; 'Town drums, Mosaia, Dembella country'.

Access and Use

Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, T.J. Alldridge Sierra Leone collection, 1890s, Y30446F

Further information

The majority of the photographs are used as illustrations in: Alldridge, T. J. (1901), The Sherbo and its hinterland, London: Macmillan and Company. Where this occurs, figure references are noted against each photograph record. All quotations used to describe the photographs are from this volume. His other major work about Sierra Leone is found at: Alldridge, T. J. (1910), A transformed colony: Sierra Leone as it was and as it is, London: Seeley and Co.

A portrait of T.J. Alldridge can be found in the Royal Colonial Institute Portrait Volumes (vol. .3/164).

Indexed

This collection level description was entered by KS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

This collection is available on microfiche: Africa, fiche numbers 60-61.

Index Terms

Africa

Sierra Leone

Alldridge, Thomas Joshua (1847-1916)

RCS/Y30446F contains:

T.J. Alldridge as H.M. Travelling Commissioner for the Colony of Sierra Leone, W.C. Africa, 1893. 156 x 113 mm. Showing Alldridge in uniform and wearing a pith helmet. With Alldridge stands a member of the Frontier Police, formed in 1890 and merged in 1901 with other forces to form the West African Frontier Force. Behind the two are a group of bearers holding the Commissioner's canopied hammock 'the advantages of...[which]...are, that it is a protection from the sun and allows one to jot down topographical observations and to take compass bearings' (Alldridge 1901, pp. 54-5).
Good condition, apart from slight fading..

1893

A group of Bundu girls in the Vassa country, Upper Mendi. 157 x 111 mm. A head and shoulders portrait (slightly blurred through movement) of four young Bundu girls their hair elaborately arranged: 'The foundation of the coiffure is most elaborate plaiting, upon which is built up this extraordinary structure; here again we have the bunches of Bundu medicine seeds already mentioned. The hairdressing of this country is ... Done up to present a full and broad front, extending from ear to ear, the high coiffure slanting back at a considerable angle. Three of these girls are wearing rope-like necklaces, which are made from very fine flexible can bugles, dyed red with camwood and threaded. Earrings are worn; they are three pieces of a thin similarly dyed cane, forming a triangle. The forehead of the girl to the right of the picture is heavily dressed with the country wqieh [a substance composed of white clay and animal fat], and each carried over her right shoulder many fetishes belonging to the Bundu order. It is a very interesting group, thoroughly characteristic of this part of the country.' (Alldridge 1901, page 212). A photograph probably taken in February 1891 at Yandahu Vassa on the 21st of which month Alldridge made a treaty with Fabanne, chief of the Vassa country.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Feb. 1891

A group of Tasso men - a secret society - Imperri - Sherbro, W.C. Africa. 155 x 111 mm. Showing a group of four Tasso men of the Poro secret society. Their function and appearance are well described: 'Next in power to the chiefs in the great Poro institution come the heads of the Poro, called the Tassos. Each big chief of a town has his own Tasso man, who, upon very important occasions, attends with his chief. When I photographed the four Tassos ..., it was at the conclusion of a very great and unusual meeting, the installation of a chief, after several years of interregnum. The four Tassos formed part of the chief's bodyguard, and took a prominent part in the ceremony. It is necessary to observe carefully the costumes worn by these men, more particularly their enormous head-gear, which is about three feet in height. It is a great weight, and is consequently removed whenever the men are not actively engaged. These head-dresses are erected on a foundation of plaited cane. The human skulls and the thigh-bones immediately above the part fitting the head are those of defunct Tassos, which can only be renewed from other departed members of the order. The whole is surmounted by a gigantic bouquet of feathers, gathered from all kinds of birds, these bouquets being quite three feet in diameter. The dress of these men is of the usual barbaric description, made up of a network over the body, from which hang various skins of animals, bunches of fibres from the waist forming a short skirt; while attached to the knees are several pieces of hollowed native iron, from which depend rings of similar metal, that jingle as the men move about, making a considerable noise.' (Alldridge 1901, pp 131-2).
Fair condition, some fading and yellowing at edges..

Mendi woman playing the Seghura, the national musical instrument for women throughout the Mendi Country, W.C. Africa. 154 x 112 mm. Showing a group of Mendi women playing seghuras, with a crowd of spectators in the background: 'In some of the large towns I was regularly serenaded about six o'clock in the evening by three or four of the younger wives of the chief in front of my hut ... The national music of the women is the seghura, which is a small hollow gourd, having over it a loosely fitting mesh of country cotton strung with hard split seeds, the long loose ends of the cotton being gathered up over the bulbous end of the gourd and held in the left hand, the right hand holding the narrow neck. Upon the gourd being shaken and the thread alternately being slackened and tightened, the sound given out by the seeds striking upon the dry wooden casing is very considerable, but it can be modulated at the will of the performer, and is by no means inharmonious. At all native festivities, where women are present, the seghura is to be heard, and when three or four are being shaken together, the noise though loud is not harsh; it is very effective, and is greatly appreciated by the natives.' (Alldridge 1901, page 122).
Good condition..

Group of Imperri Chiefs photographed at Bambaia, Imperri, Sherbro, 4½ months before the native rising of 1898. 156 x 109 mm. Showing a large group of chiefs and villagers at Bambaia, about 25 miles by water from Bonthe (see following two prints). Identified beneath the print are the Sokong, the Prime Minister and 'a principal Kruba' (military leader) with the following remark: 'all of whom were tried for murder and hanged at Bonthe, Sherbro, 7th November 1898'. Governor Cardew's decision to levy the Hut tax in 1898 led to a confrontation between Protectorate forces and the men of Chief Bureh of Kasse which spread to neighbouring areas, culminating in a general rising on April 27. Alldridge himself (who steadfastly maintained that the reasons for the war were the power of secret societies allied to a desire to continue the trade in slaves) took part in several punitive expeditions during the campaign, on one of which he destroyed the town of Bambaia (July 26 1898) after finding it deserted while looking for the chiefs photographed here. 96 participants in the rising were later hanged.
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

1898

Street Scene, Bonthe, Sherbro, W.C. Africa, January 1899. 158 x 113 mm. A view looking along a road at Bonthe, the seat of Government for the Sherbro district and situated at the east end of Sherbro Island, towards a group of small thatched houses set among trees. With a stream in the left foreground.
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

Jan. 1899

Street Scene, Bonthe, Sherbro, W.C. Africa, January 1899. 157 x 112 mm. Showing a thatched wooden house set among banana trees, with a small covered roadside fruit stall to the right and a family group posing for the camera in the middle ground of the print.
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

Jan. 1899

Colonial cricket as played on the main road at Bonthe, Sherbro, January 1899. 156 x 112 mm. Showing a group of variously dressed Africans playing cricket on a makeshift pitch on the main road under mango trees at Bonthe. As Alldridge remarks: 'Cricket ... has 'caught on'. I saw the game being played on the main road in Bonthe, about five o'clock one afternoon, and the team kindly stood in position long enough for me to photograph them.' (Aldridge 1901, page 44).
Good condition..

Jan. 1899

Group of Bundu girls in dancing costume, Jowati, Upper Mendi, Front view. 152 x 108 mm. A group portrait of five Bundu dancing girls in traditional costume: '...The dancing costume consists of a netting of country cotton worn over the body. Long bushy branches of palm-leaf fibre are suspended from the thickly plaited bangles of the same fibre round the arms and wrists: various sebbehs or gree-gree charms hang from the neck, and short knickerbockers of country cloth tied above the knees with country string complete the toilet. To these knickerbockers are fastened small pieces of hollow iron with little rings loosely hanging from them, which, as the dancing goes on, jingle not unpleasantly, for country iron gives out a somewhat rich sound. The chief feature of the get-up is, however, the dressing of the girls' faces with ... wojeh, composed of white clay and animal fat. The girls dance to the music of the seghura [see print 4] ... and also to the sangboi or tom-tom of the men. The girls not only dance together in a miniature ballet but execute very excellent pas seuls (a one person dance) in the most creditable and pretty manner ... At the conclusion of the entertainment the girls are escorted back to their place of concealment - the whole affair being conducted in the most orderly and decorous fashion.' (Alldridge 1901, pp. 138-9).
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

Group of Bundu girls in dancing costume, Jowati, Upper Mendi. Back view. 154 x 110 mm. A back view of the girls seen in the preceding print.
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

Mode of travelling through the bush by track paths too narrow for the 4 man hammock. Subu Country, Mendi, W.C. Africa. 158 x 110 mm. Showing Alldridge lying rather precariously in a hammock slung beneath a pole carried by two bearers on a jungle track: 'The little hammock ... also has its advantages: you can see it from the tops of trees [unlike the covered four man hammock], orchids, birds, and so on; still it is extremely uncomfortable, as it fits you like a shroud. But in going under the sun, or in a very narrow path through dense and spinous vegetation, a loose country cloth is thrown across the pole and falls over your head, blocking out all view. You, however, make up time; your two bearers are always on the trot, and even when changing, practised hands will not stop, but will somehow heave the pole on to the shoulders of the fresh men who are running beside them.' (Alldridge 1901, page 54). The disadvantages of the hammock could also be more painful than mere discomfort: 'When travelling in the little hammock the occupant must be carefully on the look out if he would avoid the thorny vines which hang down from the high trees. I still remember one of these vines catching me in the left nostril, slitting it up and partially lifting me out of the hammock, and had my boys not instantly stopped, I might have been very seriously damaged. One cannot be too cautious when travelling through dense vegetation' (Alldridge 1901, page 55).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

A fetish dwarf, Upper Mendi, W.C. Africa. 105 x 155 mm. Showing a dwarf holding a long sword: 'The male dwarf ... belonged to another big chief a considerable distance away [from Juru, where Alldridge had photographed a female dwarf in the retinue of the late chief Mendegra]. This dwarf was also regarded in the same light as the other [viz. 'treated with every mark of respect']. Although small, he is a strong healthy and well proportioned man. He is wearing a gree-gree (charm or fetish) round his neck and upon his right arm. When I asked him if he were married, he stated with considerable pride that he had two wives - one of whom he brought to see me. She was a fine young woman, more than a head taller than himself, and apparently very proud of her husband, notwithstanding his diminutive stature.' (Alldridge 1901, page 121). Alldridge signed a treaty with Batti Kakka, who succeeded Mendegra on March 19 1890 at Juru, and this photograph was probably taken a short time later.
Fair condition, some overall fading and yellowing..

Mar. 1890

Petty trading by Sierra Leone women on the open street, Benthe, Sherbro, W.C. Africa. 153 x 108 mm. Showing a group of women and a youth posed at the roadside beside their wares which consist of patterned cloth and bottles and small boxes with unidentified contents.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Beating the Sangboi or tom-tom, national musical instrument for men throughout Mendi country, W.C. Africa. 155 x 107 mm. Showing a group of Mendi drummers with villagers standing behind them in the background: 'Mendis never tire of beating this drum - it is their one delight. I have known them up-country play through the entire night, and when gangs of men are sent out by the chief to work upon the roads they are invariably accompanied by the tom-tom beater who plays while they work, and so urges them to greater exertion.' (Alldridge 1901, page 105).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Landscape with cattle grazing outside the town of Sinkunia, Dembella country, Protectorate of Sierra Leone. 157 x 112 mm. A view looking across pastureland, on which cattle are grazing, towards forest and distant hills. Alldridge recalls Sinkunia, situated west of Falaba about 150 miles from Freetown as the crow flies, as 'a picturesque and open town with high hills near. The sight of cattle grazing recalled many a pretty scene of pastoral English landscape'. (Alldridge 1901, page 290).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Town of Sinkunia, Dembella country, Protectorate of Sierra Leone. 158 x 105 mm. A view looking across open ground toward the stockade and circular thatched huts of the village.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

A forest of oil palms, 1000 yards inland from Sulima, Sherbro District, Sierra Leone. Photographed January 1898. 154 x 110 mm. Showing a forest of oil palms near Sulima, with two policemen and a group of bearers on the path in the foreground.
Good condition, apart from slight fading..

Jan. 1898

A princess of Dama Country, Upper Mendi. 111 x 156 mm. A full length portrait of a Mendi girl, dressed in a skirt of patterned cloth and wearing bracelets and a necklace.
Good condition..

The cemetery at Waima, showing the graves of the British officers and men who fell when the place was attacked by the French under Lieut. Moritz, December 1893. Lieut. Moritz is also buried in the first enclosure. 158 x 112 mm. Showing the graves, surrounded by neat fencing in a clearing at the edge of the village, with huts and a banana plantation in the background and a clump of pumpkin plants in the foreground. Alldridge visited Waima on this occasion in the company of the Governor of Sierra Leone, Sir Frederick Cardew, during the latter's tour of the hinterland in March - May 1894. 'It was on the 16th of April that we arrived at Waima. This was about four months after the unfortunate collision between the French and the English had occurred. Many of the huts were riddled with bullets. It will be sufficient for the purpose of this narrative to mention the kindly care which the Governor bestowed upon the graves of French and English, officers and men alike, who fell in this much-to-be-regretted action. By his orders the burial ground was cleared and the graves fenced in before we took our departure from that melancholy town, with its sorrowful surroundings and its most painful associations. Figure 71 [i.e. this print] shows the cemetery after it had been put in order, and was taken late in the afternoon under a drizzling rain and with an exposure of thirty seconds.' (Alldridge 1901, page 247). In 1893 the French Government had sent an expedition into French Guinea to explore the territory south of Kissidougon and examine the natural boundaries for the extent of French and English influence in the area. On December 1, Lieutenant Gaston-Maxime Maritz made treaties with six Konno chiefs at Waima in what, by the Paris agreement of 1889, had been agreed as a British sphere, although the area was unvisited by British officials. When he returned to the town on December 23, a British force under Colonel Ellis and Captain Lendy had taken occupation and, both sides mistaking the other for Sofa war-boys in the early morning light, an exchange of fire took place which lasted for about 40 minutes. Two British officers, a sergeant-major and four private soldiers were killed. On the French side, Maritz and 10 of his men died.
Good condition..

Mar. 1894-May 1894

A country loom, Massaia, Warra Warra Limba Country, Protectorate of Sierra Leone. 157 x 111 mm. Showing a Mendi man standing beside a large wooden loom, the framework construction serving as a frame to hold the cotton which is fed into the weaving apparatus in the foreground. Alldridge was much impressed by the quality of material manufactured in the Sierra Leone hinterland: 'The Gallinas in Lower Mendi undoubtedly take the first honours in artistic treatment of colours. The up-country people appear to know only blue and white, or black and white, and have no designs beyond stripes. I am sure if these cloths were known in England they would be much appreciated and used ... This is a native industry which if encouraged by the British would give employment to thousands of people. A very primitive method of treating indigo produces the most beautiful light and shade that is a real pleasure to the artistic sense...'. The weaving of the cloth is entirely the work of the men, the women's part ceasing with the ginning and the spinning ... They then set up the loom in some convenient spot, as shown in Figure 31 [i.e. this print], and proceed with the work, which takes a long time; but when once completed these cloths are of endless wear. They are accepted as currency, the price ranging from 2s to as much as two heads of money, £6.' (Alldridge 1901, pages 99-100).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Native carriers bringing down produce, packed in palm leaf hampers carried on their backs. Mendi Country. 113 x 159 mm. Showing a line of bearers carrying produce (probably palm kernels) along a jungle track in the Sherbro hinterland. The hampers are long cylindrical baskets made of palm leaves attached to a wooden framework. Transport difficulties were one of the main impediments to opening up the country for trade before construction work started on the railway in the mid 1890's: Alldridge estimated that it took 30 men to transport a ton of palm kernels in the manner seen here.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Dancing women in Upper Mendi, wearing a musical appendage called the Bunjue. Jowati, Upper Mendi. 109 x 152 mm. A full length portrait of three girls, taken from the rear and in profile showing the Bunjue tied round their waists: 'Figure 67 [i.e. this print] shows three women having round their waists a musical instrument called the 'Bunjue'. This consists of a foundation of palm-leaf rope, from which depends a quantity of short pieces of rattan cane. Fixed to the other end of the cane are several halves of hard shells of large seeds. As the women dance, which they do with great energy, the sound of these half-shells and the cane all rattling together, creates a noise which is quite in keeping with the native taste and is warmly applauded. I was very fortunate in obtaining this photograph, for, curiously enough, I have never seen a similar dance since.' (Alldridge 1901, page 244). A photograph taken at the town of Befuin (?Bafeihun) near Juru, to which Alldridge was going to witness the crowning of Batte Kakka, paramount chief of the Gaura country in succession to Mendingra (or Mendegra), a ceremony which took place on April 1 1891.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Mar. 1891

The Bundu Devil peculiar to the Mendi Country. 112 x 157 mm. Showing a Bundu Devil in characteristic costume and mask standing in front of a palm-thatched hut. 'The Bundu devil is a medicine woman who is believed to be capable of casting spells for good or evil over the men. There is generally a Bundu devil in any large town belonging to an important chief; but she does not appear in her peculiar costume unless she is especially called out to look into some misbehaviour on the part of the men, or upon some gala occasion, or upon the visit of strangers whom it is wished to honour ... Her distinctive costume is unvarying, all Bundu devils being similarly attired, except as regards their head-piece, which admits of some slight variation. No part of the body may be visible, consequently the cloth casings of the arms and legs are sewn up at the extremities, and in each covered hand the devil carries a little bunch of twigs with which she goes through a sort of dumb show - as she never does any talking. Her dress is of long shaggy fibre, dyed black, and over her head she wears a grotesque wooden mask. Occasionally she indulges in a dance, but, owing to the great heat produced by dancing in so heavy a dress, a little goes a long way ... I have had the honour of shaking the covered hand of a good many of these devils, whose fetish power is very great.' (Alldridge 1901, pages 141-141).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing and fading..

The Bundu Devil attended by her satellites, a country institution common throughout Mendi Land. 110 x 157 mm. Showing the Bundu Devil seen in the preceding print standing among a group of her acolytes, with palm thatch houses in the background. One of the group carries the large mat behind the cover of which the devil may remove her mask to obtain a little fresh air, hidden from the eyes of villagers. Several of the other acolytes, or 'digbas', hold the seghura which is played when the devil appears on festive occasions, but not when she is investigating a misdemeanour. After leaving the Bundu bush the girl if she likes can attain distinction in the higher degrees of Bunduism, of which there are three grades:. Digbas, the lowest or first degree. Normeh, the Bundu devil or second degree, and. Soweh, the headwoman, third degree. '... If the girl wishes she can simply become a Digba; she then has the great privilege of holding the mat before the devil at any function. She must not assume too much familiarity; she must remain medicinally at a respectful distance, the mat being between her and the devil. All large towns in Mendi have devils on hand ready to take up the cudgels against the mere man who may violate the stringent Bundu laws and interfere with the Bundu girls ... The devil never talks, but gesticulates with the bunch of twigs; but whenever it is necessary to explain anything, it is a digba who does it. The considerable power of the devils allowed them, in conjunction with the chief of the village, to impose punishments and extract fines from miscreants.' (Alldridge 1901, pages 142-3).
Good condition, apart from slight fading and yellowing..

Native warboys, Bombari Country, Upper Mendi. 104 x 153 mm. Showing a group of three 'war-boys', dressed in loin-cloths and armed with swords and bows and arrows. This term for Mende mercenaries was coined by Sir Samuel Rowe (Governor of Sierra Leone 1877-81 and 1884-88).
Good condition, apart from slight overall yellowing..

Group of Bundu girls, Yandahu, Vassa, Upper Mendi. 107 x 150 mm. A full length portrait of six Bundu girls standing in front of a thatched hut. Several of the girls' faces are decorated with 'wojeh' but the purpose of the photograph is evidently to illustrate the elaborate coiffure of the women. 'The first occupation of a native woman in the early morning is to adorn her forehead with numerous strange devices of white or coloured clay and animal fat, that must be put on fresh every day ... But the longest operation is the hair-dressing, which may take some days. A woman may be seen lying on the ground with her head in the lap of the operator, who after combing out the wool with a strong, native wooden comb, with long prongs, - joins on other pieces of wool that are most elaborately plaited, and continually added to until the required height is obtained. There are numerous designs in this hair-dressing... The inside is stuffed with some soft material and as this coiffure is to remain up for a considerable time, a silver or cane skewer readily available, is frequently seen stuck through this mound, the reason for which can easily be imagined.' (Alldridge 1901, pages 113-4).
Good condition..

The late chief Kai Lundu, Luawa Country, Upper Mendi. 109 x 157 mm. A full length portrait of Chief Kai Lundu, dressed in gaily patterned robes and standing in a clearing against a background of trees. Kai Lundu (or Kai London) was born around 1845, and after winning fame as a warrior he joined forces with another chief, Ndawa in the Kpove wars of the 1880's. A subsequent quarrel with Ndawa in which he defeated him formed the basis of the Luawa kingdom which he built up in the north-eastern hinterland, constructing his capital Kailahun on the site of Sexalu in the early 1880's. Kai Lundu was an enthusiastic ally of the English and made a treaty with the Government, through Alldridge, on April 7 1890. Alldridge was immediately impressed with Kai Lundu, remarking after their first meeting: 'He immediately professed great friendship, and I never had any cause to doubt his sincerity. I always found him a true friend.' (Alldridge 1901, page 187). Kai Lundu was at first nervous of being photographed (and indeed looks somewhat suspiciously at the camera in this print), but allowed a photograph of his wife to be taken: 'The next time I visited Kai Lundu's town and showed him a picture of his wife, he consented to have his own portrait taken, which is the one now reproduced. The beautiful gown which he is wearing is entirely of country make. It will be observed in this photograph that he has put on no ornaments. He had a very great objection to any ostentatious display either on himself or on any of his numerous wives...' (Alldridge 1901, page 191). Although loyal to the colonial government, the dismemberment of Kai Lundu's Kingdom came as a result of the Anglo-French agreement of 1894. Despite Governor Cardew's protestations, this agreement placed half of the Luawa Kingdom in Liberian territory and hastened its disintegration back to its original position as a number of petty chieftainships (see (Abraham 1978, pages 202-12)). Sources differ as to the date of his death which took place in either 1895 or 1896. His place of burial is unknown.
Good condition, apart from slight fading..

The Behlanjeh, the national musical instrument of the Mandingos. 158 x 112 mm. Showing two Mandingo or Mandinka men, a Mohammedan group in West Africa, posing for their portraits with their wooden xylophones: 'This instrument is known as the balenjeh, or African piano. It is about three feet long, and consists of some fifteen short pieces of wood, mounted over small hollow gourds, the whole set in a frame and played like a dulcimer, with two small sticks with rubber knobs to them... The effect was very fine, as the tones produced are soft and melodious. Generally the musicians wear over the backs of their hands a small piece of skin or leather to which are fastened hollow iron cylinders; to these again are attached little rings, and as the hands work the strikers, these jingling irons make a pleasant tinkling sound which harmonises well with the music.' (Alldridge 1901, page 289).
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

The beach at Sulima with breaking surf. 158 x 108 mm. Showing surf breaking on the beach at Sulima, a port of entry into the Sherbro at the mouth of the River Moa. Alldridge included this photograph as an illustration of the difficulty of landing at Sulima during the rainy season.
Good condition, apart from slight yellowing..

Sulima. 156 x 110 mm. A view from the beach looking towards the houses of Sulima, the starting point for Alldridge's journeys into the interior.
Good condition, apart from some overall yellowing..

Prempeh, ex-King of Kumasi, Gold Coast Colony. Exiled to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photographed October 1887. 144 x 107 mm. A group portrait showing Prempeh I seated among his entourage, a figure behind the king holding an umbrella above the Asantehene's head. Prempeh (circa 1871-1931) was installed as Asantehene on March 26 1888 at the early age of about seventeen and after a number of succession disputes. On his instalment he assumed the title Osai Kwaku Dua III and six years later, on June 11 1894, he formally acceded to the Golden Stool of Asante, having, after defeating the Brong States to the north, largely restored the old Asante Empire. In the same year the British stepped up moves to place a resident at Kumasi and this being rejected, mounted the campaign of 1896 which resulted in the formation of a protectorate and the exile of Prempeh, first to Elmina, then to Freetown and finally to the Seychelles. After an abortive rising in 1900, Asante itself was annexed and became a Crown Colony in 1902. Prempeh himself was allowed to return as a private citizen in 1924, and was recognised as the Kumasehene in 1926, wielding considerable power under the system of indirect rule until his death in 1931. It has not been determined when Alldridge took this photograph, although his dating on the caption is possibly erroneous. Premeh in this picture looks considerably older than the sixteen years he would be if the photograph were taken in 1887. It seems possible, therefore, that it was taken some time after 1896 (?October 1897) when Prempeh was moved to Freetown.
Good condition..

1887–1897