Peter Canham albums of the Gold Coast [i.e. Ghana]

Peter Holmes Canham was born on 24 August 1914 and educated at St. Paul's School and Pembroke College, Oxford; BA (Hons). In 1938 he was appointed a Cadet in the Gold Coast Administration and arrived in the Colony on 10th August. His posts were ADC, Mampong, 1938-39, Acting D.C. Kumasi, 1940-42 and D.C. Bekwai, 1942-45, all in Ashanti. In this work in the field, he developed his rapport with Africans and his knowledge of the language (see note on Y30448O/89).

After two years as Senior Assistant Colonial Secretary, he was posted to Whitehall for a further two year in the African Department of the Colonial Office. Returning to the Gold Coast in 1950 he was, for a few months, in charge of the Kumasi district with special responsibility for the General Election under the Coussey Constitution but most of his remaining service, up to the Independence of the Gold Coast as Ghana in 1957, was in central administration - general secretariat duties, 1951-53, regional office, Cape Coast 1953-54, and Secretary to Sir Charles Arden-Clarke, the last Governor of the Gold Coast, 1955-57.

Peter Canham left the Overseas Civil Service on Ghana's Independence; he remained in the country in educational work for a time but later went to Headmasterships of secondary schools in Southern Rhodesia and Uganda, to principalships of teacher training colleges in Western and Northern Nigeria, and finally to teaching Third World Studies in the Institutes of Education under the Universities of London and Cardiff. He retired from Cardiff in June 1981 but his retirement was soon clouded by ill-health and he died in October 1984.

Ronald Wraith regards Canham as one of the last 'generalists' and comments:

'The generalists - the 'heaven-born' - were later to be regarded with some disapprobation. It is true that we could not have gone on like that in the post-War social climate but in the twilight of Empire the point did not arise. But the generalists served their day and generation well. Canham was not 'typical' of them, for contrary to much loose thinking they were not types but individuals. Each was unique but some, to coin a phrase, were more unique than others, and Peter Canham was one of these'.

A collection of albums relating to Canham's career in the Gold Coast. Like his papers, it is a partial collection.

Y30448O is an album of snapshots of his early days in the Colony.

Y30448P includes some photographs relating to his career and also some cuttings and other historical items.

Y30448Q is chiefly of official photographs of the period of Sir Alan Burns' Governorship, 1941-47.

Y30448R is of the last stages to Independence and of Governors Creasy (1948-49) and Arden-Clarke (1949-57). There is also a group of photographs of the funeral of Asantehene in 1970.

Y30448P-R are all albums with transparent film across each page, and since this method was not in use during Canham's career in the Gold Coast, these three presumably represent a re-arrangement of his collection during his later career or retirement. This theory is supported by the fact that a number of photographs have dark paper adhering to their backs, suggesting that they were removed from other albums, and Y30448P/23 was probably a mounted photograph removed from a frame. Canham annotated some of the photographs on the back; there are a few inscriptions in other hands, and some official photographs have typed captions on the back or below. The photographs have all been removed from their albums, examined and returned, and the source of captions is given in each album entry. Photographs taken by various official bodies, indicated by stamps on the backs, are described as 'Official'; where reference numbers are visible, these have been noted.

Ronald Wraith wrote a six-page appraisal of Canham's life, a photocopy of which, supplied by Alan Bell, Librarian of Rhodes House, has been inserted in Y30448O, and was drawn upon for the biographical information provided in this catalogue.

Given by Mrs. Jennifer Irvine, Peter Canham's sister, through Ronald Wraith CBE, in April 1990.

Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Peter Canham albums of the Gold Coast [i.e. Ghana], Y30448O-R

Use was also made, both in the biographical information and the other catalogue notes, of the Gold Coast Staff Lists of 1938 and 1956-57, the Colonial Office List and Who's Who.

Ronald Wraith deposited Canham's papers, which do not provide a systematic coverage of his career, in Rhodes House, Oxford.

Indexed

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