- Ephemeral biographical material, [1871-1948]
- Correspondence, 1892-1945
- Publications and related material, and lecture notes, 1889-1941
- Papers relating to The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (Edinburgh and London, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1922), [1892-1945]
- Papers relating to the South African protectorates, 1894-1938
- Papers relating to Nigeria, [1892-1944]
- Papers relating to Liberia, 1926-1936
- Papers relating to East Africa, [1894-1943]
- Papers relating to Kenya, [1897-1944]
- Papers relating to Tanganyika, 1920-1936
- Papers relating to Uganda, [1889-1947]
- Papers relating to Ethiopia, 1920-1944
- Papers relating to Sudan, 1898-1940
- Papers relating to British Central Africa, [1888-1944]
- Papers relating to Hong Kong, 1907-1943
- Papers relating to India, [1922-1944]
- Papers relating to slavery, [1888-1945]
- Papers relating to the Permanent Mandates Commission, [1919-1943]
- Papers relating the Mandate of Iraq, 1924-1937
- Papers relating to the Mandate of Syria and the Lebanon, [1922-1937]
- Papers relating to the Mandates of Palestine and Jordan, [1921-1940]
- Papers relating to British West African mandates, 1921-1929
- Papers relating to French and Belgian mandated territories, [1922-1937]
- Papers relating to South-West Africa, 1921-1936
- Papers relating to Pacific mandated territories, [1909-1936]
- Papers relating to German claims to colonies, 1922-1940s
- Papers relating to the League of Nations Union, [1923-1944]
- Papers relating to minor committees and issues, [1893-1949]
- Papers relating to La Socit Anonyme des Huileries du Congo Belge, [1888-1955]
- Miscellaneous notes and newspaper cuttings, 1899-1930s
- African, family and official group photographs, [1897]-20th century
- Maps of Africa and African regions, [1888-1969]
- Maps of the Pacific Islands, [20th century]
Papers of Frederick Dealtry Lugard, Baron Lugard of Abinger: 1871-1969
Archive Collection
- For more information, email the repository
- Advice on accessing these materials
- Cite this description
- Bookmark:http://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb161-mss.lugard
- This material is held at
- ReferenceGB 161 MSS. Lugard
- Dates of Creation1871-1969
- Language of MaterialEnglish.
- Physical Description164 boxes
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Frederick John Dealty Lugard (1858-1945), soldier, administrator and author was born in Madras, India but raised at Worcester and educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Entering the Army, he received his commission in 1878 in the 9th Foot (the Norfolk Regiment), joining the second batallion in India. In 1884 he secured secondment to the Military Transport Service, which was dispatched the following year to support the campaign for the relief of Khartoum in the Sudan. For this and his service in Burma in 1886 he was awarded the DSO.
In c1888, after being placed on medical leave and after a couple of abortive attempts to join the Italian forces in Abyssinia, he signed up with a small force which the African Lakes Company was preparing for the defence of a trading station at Karongwa, Nyasaland. His work in securing the station attracted the attention of Sir William Mackinnon, who gave him the task of opening up a new route from Mombasa (Kenya) to the interior by way of the Sabaki River. He completed this as far as Machakos (near Nairobi), when he received orders to proceed to Uganda, where, over a period of two years, he established order and a favourable state of affairs for the company in Buganda and the Bunyoro, Toro and Ankoli chiefdoms. He was also instrumental in persuading the British government to adopt Uganda as a protectorate in 1894.
In 1894, he was given the task of obtaining a treaty for the Royal Niger Company with Borgu on the western border of Nigeria. He then accepted an offer from the British West Charterland Company to explore a mineral concession near Lake Ngami in Bechuanaland. In 1897 he was recalled to West Africa as Her Majesty's Commissioner for the Hinterland of Nigeria, where he was also responsible for raising the West African Frontier Force. After the declaration of a protectorate over Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1900, he assumed office as High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria. He was appointed KCMG in 1901 and held the temporary rank of Brigadier-General from 1900 to 1907.
In 1907 he became Governor of Hong Kong, where he was largely responsible for the creation of the University of Hong Kong in 1911. He was appointed GCMG in the same year. In 1912 he returned to Nigeria as Governor of the two protectorates, and was made Governor-General 1914-1919. During this period, he laid down in the form of political memoranda the system of indirect rule which is associated with his name.
After his retirement, he spent a period in Ethiopia on behalf of the Abyssinian Corporation . He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1920, then devoted himself to the preparation of The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (Edinburgh and London, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1922). From 1922 to 1936 he was a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. He was a member of the international slavery committees of 1924-1925 and 1932, served on the Colonial Advisory Committee on Education, 1923-1936 and from 1926 onwards was chairman of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures. In 1930 and 1931 he was an active member of the parliamentary joint select committee on closer union in East Africa.
He was commander of the Legion of Honour, 1917 and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium, 1936. He received honorary degrees of the Universities of Oxford, Durham, Cambridge, Glasgow and Hong Kong. He was also a gold medallist of the Royal Geographical Society, Royal African Society and Royal Empire Society, and a silver medallist of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 1902 he married Flora Louise Shaw.
Access Information
Bodleian reader's ticket required.
Note
Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.
Other Finding Aids
A handlist, Papers of Frederick Dealtry Lugard, Baron Lugard of Abinger 1858-1945 in Rhodes House Library Oxford, compiled by Patricia Pugh (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1989).
Conditions Governing Use
No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.
Custodial History
Lord Lugard had been donating a number of his books, official publications, pamphlets, etc. to the library during his lifetime. The first major donation of manuscripts (ref. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 30-90) was made in 1961. Over the intervening c25 years a number of successive deposits was received, though no attempt was made to list them until the collection was as complete as possible. A portion of his papers was also kept for specific reasons by Margery Perham. During this period many of his papers became absorbed in her own. This necessitated a great deal of work in distinguishing, extracting and arranging them once both collections were donated to the library. Further information on the history and arrangement of the collection can be found in Papers of Frederick Dealtry Lugard, Baron Lugard of Abinger 1858-1945 in Rhodes House Library Oxford, compiled by Patricia Pugh (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1989).
Bibliography
Lugard...The life of Frederick Dealtry Lugard, etc.. by Dame Margery Perham, (London, Collins, 1956); Encyclopaedia of Africa south of the Sahara, ed. John Middleton (London, Simon ∧ Schuster; New York, C. Scribner's Sons, c1997)