Alexander Grant (colonial governor)

Sir Alexander Grant (* 1775 ; † September 29, 1827 ) was a British captain of the Royal African Corps and is considered the first administrator of the Gambia colony in West Africa .

life and career

From Gorée Grant was sent with two officers in March 1816 to reoccupy Fort James in the Gambia River to protect the British rights to trade in the Gambia and to control the slave trade . He commanded a group of 50 men from the Royal African Corps and was accompanied by 24 artisans. However, he soon discovered that the fortress could no longer be repaired and suggested that his superiors occupy Banjul Island instead . Together with Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Brereton, he negotiated the cession of the island to the King of Kombo for payment terms of about £ 25 per year and took formal possession of the island on April 23, 1816. He named her in “St. Mary's Island “around and founded the city of Bathurst (today Banjul), he was responsible for the basic structure of the city, which is still recognizable in the streets today. He had the Government House (now the State House) and parts of the barracks that are still used as government buildings built in the first section . He used all his might to stop the river slave trade and encouraged the missionary activities of the Quakers and the Wesleyan Church . In 1823 he negotiated the acquisition of Lemain Island (renamed MacCarthy Island , now Janjanbureh Island ) and ordered the construction of a fort, Fort George , which he then manned with a dozen soldiers.

Grant also served as acting governor of Sierra Leone in 1820 and again in 1821. On the occasion of his reinstatement as governor of Sierra Leone , he was also promoted to Knight Bachelor in 1821 . He was promoted to major in the second West India Regiment and was in command of a Gambian garrison in April 1822. He held this position until August 1826, when he was replaced by Captain Alexander Findlay (Findley was also later appointed as the first lieutenant governor of Gambia in December 1829).

literature

• Died, at Woodside, near Elgin ... (obituary). In: The London Courier and Evening Gazette . October 15, 1827.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d e} Arnold Hughes, David Perfect: Historical dictionary of The Gambia Scarecrow Pr, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8108-5825-1

predecessor	Office	successor
-	Commandant of James Fort 1815–1821	-
-	Governor of Gambia 1821–1826	Alexander Findlay