Sierra Leone Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1893-1961

The United Society Partners in Gospel (USPG) is a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation that operates around the world. During the 18th, 19th, and early-20th centuries, the USPG went by the name of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG)

This collection contains letters and supplementary material compiled by its various West African branches during the period 1700-1850. Material from the collection coalesces around British West Africa, which contains the modern day nation-states of Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Guinea. The collection also includes the papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson, the first governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone, who was appointed in the wake of the outlawing of the slave trade in British colonies. Overall, against the backdrop of British expansionism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, this collection paints a vivid picture of the interaction between indigenous cultures and colonial-driven Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries

Further information on the Annual Departmental Reports relating to Sierra Leone can be found in the guide to the microfilm edition, written by David C. Doward. 

The naming of some 2,000 specimens from a country so insufficiently known as Sierra Leone, has taken a long time. The index of native names at the end, may, I hope, be of some service, to future workers in the same field

Report by G. F. Scott Elliot and Miss Catherine A. Raisin, Natural Resources, 1893-1961; Agricultural Research 1893 -1938; img 3-4

Key Documents

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Insights

Annual Departmental Reports differ from Blue Books of Statistics because they include explanations of why the statistics are at the levels recorded.
These reports are arranged by the departments which they cover within Sierra Leone. Comparing the data in them shows how each area of government has developed over the years.
These papers cover World War One and World War Two as well as the social services in this colony before independence.
Managing Sierra Leone's natural resources came with many challenges for the government. The range of research reports demonstrates both the number of challenges they met with and their commercial goals.
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