Papers of Sir Edward C.F. Garraway

Scope and Content

Correspondence (including letters from Garraway to his family), diaries and papers relating to Southern Africa.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sir Edward Charles Frederick Garraway, KCMG (1922) CMG (1911) LRCSI, was born in Ireland on the 10 March 1865. He was educated in Ireland at Waterford Diocesan School; Medical School (Trinity College, Dublin), and the Royal College of Surgeons.

His career in Africa began in 1888 when he became Assistant District Surgeon in the Knysna area of the southern coast; he was based mainly at a mining camp. In 1891 he accepted the post of District Surgeon at Kuruman in British Bechuanaland and the following year was appointed Surgeon to the Bechuanaland Border Police (1892-1901).

In 1901 Garraway began working for the South African Constabulary, initially as Divisional Medical Officer with the rank of Major (1901-1905) and then as Principal Medical Officer (1905-1908). He became Military Secretary to South Africa in 1908, and Military Secretary to the Governor-General and High Commissioner of South Africa in 1910. In 1914 he was appointed Special Commissioner of the Southern Rhodesian Native Reserves Commission (1914-1916).

After a brief period as Resident Commissioner of Bechuanaland Protectorate (1916-1917), Garraway was appointed Resident Commissioner of Basutoland and Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Basutoland Mounted Police (1917-1926). He served in Matabeleland in 1893-1894 and in 1896, and also in the Boer War, 1899-1902. Garraway died on the 27 June 1932.

Access Information

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Note

Collection level description created by Marion Lowman, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Other Finding Aids

The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room and a handlist is also available for this collection.

Listed as no. 1177 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).

Conditions Governing Use

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.