Punishing Okurike, Nigeria, 1893
Captain Edward G. H. Price, Oil Rivers Protectorate Force
Halifax Minster
Captain Edward G. H. Price, Oil Rivers Protectorate Force
Halifax Minster
October 6th, 1893: steaming up a jungle-lined river in the sweltering heat of what is now coastal south-eastern Nigeria, aiming to bring retribution to a mud and timber native village, what would Captain Edwin Price have been thinking? Just over a year earlier he had been a captain in a British regiment, now here he was in one of the most unattractive corners of the British Empire, leading what was mostly a force of irregular native soldiers. What had gone wrong?
Edwin had been born in 1857 in the western Indian city of Cudappah (now Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh), the son of Edwin Thomas Wiseman Price and his wife, Georgina Caroline (nee Davies). His father was a Lieutenant in the 30th Madras Native Infantry, a son of the vicar of Uxbridge in Middlesex. His mother had rather more glamorous family connections, as she was a great-niece of Lord Nelson, being the granddaughter of Nelson’s sister Catherine.
Although his father died in 1865 Edwin’s career seems to have continued on a conventional course. By 1879 he was a lieutenant in the 33rd Foot, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. The following year he saw active service in Afghanistan before returning to England with the regiment and marrying, in 1886, Georgina Frances Sillifant, a vicar’s daughter from Wear Gifford in Devon. With two children born in 1887 (Muriel) and 1890 (Lionel), and a promotion to Captain and Adjutant in 1889, Edwin’s career seemed set fair, but something happened.
1892 was the key year, although 1891 poses a query. The regiment’s depot was in Halifax, but in April 1891 Edwin and Georgina are living nine miles away, in a terraced house on New Hey Road in Huddersfield, next door to The Bay Horse pub in Lindley. It does not quite match the image of an army officer.
The following year offers some clarification though, and suggests a sad story. Firstly, in January, his mother Georgina died, but the probate for her estate of £395 was not granted to her son. Instead it was granted to her brother and brother-in-law, both retired major-generals. Then later in the year Edwin retired from his regiment “with a gratuity”. This was unusual, and coupled with what appears to be a disagreement with his mother, implies that Edwin had problems of some sort. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, to discover that in 1893 a petition of bankruptcy was filed against him.
Nightmare. Edwin had a wife and two young children, he had lost his army career, and now he was bankrupt. Presumably a military post in West Africa offered a way out.
The part of what is now Nigeria that Edwin went to was known then as The Oil Rivers Protectorate, so called from the palm oil it produced, not the petroleum for which it is now noted. The Protectorate had been established in 1884, but it was, despite the prominent presence of Presbyterian missionaries, a fairly wild and lawless place. It was nevertheless significant economically, because of the palm oil and also because rubber and ivory were traded along its waterways in exchange for British goods. To bring stability to the region an experienced British administrator, Sir Claude Macdonald, was appointed Commissioner, and in 1893, the year Edwin arrived, Macdonald was given an opportunity to enforce his authority.
There had been an incident in the town of Okurike (now Okurike-Iwuru), in the Cross River region. A group of five traders from the Afikpo people, paddling their canoe, laden with goods, on the river past Okurike, had been attacked, killed and beheaded. All trade in the area stopped, the Afikpo demanded revenge, and Sir Claude Macdonald became involved.
In October 1893 Macdonald took the gunboat Beecroft and one hundred and fifty men, including Captain Edwin Price, to Okurike to demand the surrender of the town’s chief. The demand was refused and so the Beecroft began to shell the town. In response the men of Okurike moved into the nearby jungle and from its cover opened fire on the ship. Thus it was that the great-great-nephew of Britian’s greatest naval hero was shot and killed. In anger Macdonald relayed a message, promising that if the chief was not surrendered then the British would raze the town to the ground, completely destroy it. The chief was given up, and a few days later taken to the Afikpo’s township, where he was hanged. Edwin Price was buried in a now-unknown grave.
By the end of 1893 The Oil Rivers Protectorate had become The Niger Coast Protectorate, and would soon become part of Southern Nigeria, the scene of more British deaths as the Empire tried to consolidate its power. Sir Claude Macdonald was to go on to gain fame and plaudits as the man in charge of the defence of the legations in Peking during the Boxer rebellion.
As for Edwin Price’s direct family, it just petered out. His sister, Georgina Catherine, died, unmarried, in 1917. His wife, Georgina, outlived him by over forty years, dying in a nursing home in West Malling, Kent, in 1938. She left effects worth £197 to her daughter, Muriel, who herself died, also unmarried, at Crediton in Devon in 1936. She left almost four thousand pounds in her will. Edwin’s son Lionel became an officer in the Royal Army Service Corps, serving in the First World War and then in Waziristan, being awarded an MBE for his service there. He eventually became a Captain in the Territorial Army, but then disappears from the histories. The story can be traced through family trees on Ancestry and a brass plaque in Halifax Minster, placed there by the fellow-officers Edwin Price left behind when he departed The Duke of Wellington's Regiment.
Edwin had been born in 1857 in the western Indian city of Cudappah (now Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh), the son of Edwin Thomas Wiseman Price and his wife, Georgina Caroline (nee Davies). His father was a Lieutenant in the 30th Madras Native Infantry, a son of the vicar of Uxbridge in Middlesex. His mother had rather more glamorous family connections, as she was a great-niece of Lord Nelson, being the granddaughter of Nelson’s sister Catherine.
Although his father died in 1865 Edwin’s career seems to have continued on a conventional course. By 1879 he was a lieutenant in the 33rd Foot, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. The following year he saw active service in Afghanistan before returning to England with the regiment and marrying, in 1886, Georgina Frances Sillifant, a vicar’s daughter from Wear Gifford in Devon. With two children born in 1887 (Muriel) and 1890 (Lionel), and a promotion to Captain and Adjutant in 1889, Edwin’s career seemed set fair, but something happened.
1892 was the key year, although 1891 poses a query. The regiment’s depot was in Halifax, but in April 1891 Edwin and Georgina are living nine miles away, in a terraced house on New Hey Road in Huddersfield, next door to The Bay Horse pub in Lindley. It does not quite match the image of an army officer.
The following year offers some clarification though, and suggests a sad story. Firstly, in January, his mother Georgina died, but the probate for her estate of £395 was not granted to her son. Instead it was granted to her brother and brother-in-law, both retired major-generals. Then later in the year Edwin retired from his regiment “with a gratuity”. This was unusual, and coupled with what appears to be a disagreement with his mother, implies that Edwin had problems of some sort. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, to discover that in 1893 a petition of bankruptcy was filed against him.
Nightmare. Edwin had a wife and two young children, he had lost his army career, and now he was bankrupt. Presumably a military post in West Africa offered a way out.
The part of what is now Nigeria that Edwin went to was known then as The Oil Rivers Protectorate, so called from the palm oil it produced, not the petroleum for which it is now noted. The Protectorate had been established in 1884, but it was, despite the prominent presence of Presbyterian missionaries, a fairly wild and lawless place. It was nevertheless significant economically, because of the palm oil and also because rubber and ivory were traded along its waterways in exchange for British goods. To bring stability to the region an experienced British administrator, Sir Claude Macdonald, was appointed Commissioner, and in 1893, the year Edwin arrived, Macdonald was given an opportunity to enforce his authority.
There had been an incident in the town of Okurike (now Okurike-Iwuru), in the Cross River region. A group of five traders from the Afikpo people, paddling their canoe, laden with goods, on the river past Okurike, had been attacked, killed and beheaded. All trade in the area stopped, the Afikpo demanded revenge, and Sir Claude Macdonald became involved.
In October 1893 Macdonald took the gunboat Beecroft and one hundred and fifty men, including Captain Edwin Price, to Okurike to demand the surrender of the town’s chief. The demand was refused and so the Beecroft began to shell the town. In response the men of Okurike moved into the nearby jungle and from its cover opened fire on the ship. Thus it was that the great-great-nephew of Britian’s greatest naval hero was shot and killed. In anger Macdonald relayed a message, promising that if the chief was not surrendered then the British would raze the town to the ground, completely destroy it. The chief was given up, and a few days later taken to the Afikpo’s township, where he was hanged. Edwin Price was buried in a now-unknown grave.
By the end of 1893 The Oil Rivers Protectorate had become The Niger Coast Protectorate, and would soon become part of Southern Nigeria, the scene of more British deaths as the Empire tried to consolidate its power. Sir Claude Macdonald was to go on to gain fame and plaudits as the man in charge of the defence of the legations in Peking during the Boxer rebellion.
As for Edwin Price’s direct family, it just petered out. His sister, Georgina Catherine, died, unmarried, in 1917. His wife, Georgina, outlived him by over forty years, dying in a nursing home in West Malling, Kent, in 1938. She left effects worth £197 to her daughter, Muriel, who herself died, also unmarried, at Crediton in Devon in 1936. She left almost four thousand pounds in her will. Edwin’s son Lionel became an officer in the Royal Army Service Corps, serving in the First World War and then in Waziristan, being awarded an MBE for his service there. He eventually became a Captain in the Territorial Army, but then disappears from the histories. The story can be traced through family trees on Ancestry and a brass plaque in Halifax Minster, placed there by the fellow-officers Edwin Price left behind when he departed The Duke of Wellington's Regiment.
Sources
Photo of Plaque in Halifax Minster - by BereniceUK from victorianwars.com
Military
'Of God and Maxim Guns: Presbyterianism in Nigeria 1846-1966' - Godfrey Johnston, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo (Ontario), 1988
'The Abolition of the Slave Trade in South-eastern Nigeria 1885-1950) - Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, University of Rochester Press, Rochester (New York), 2006
British and Foreign State Papers - (HM Stationery Office, London, 1888)
www.soldiersofthequeen.com
The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Queensland) 13th January 1894 - available on www.trove.nla.gov.au
'Nigeria Under British Rule' - Sir William N. Geary, Routledge, London, 2013 (first publish ed1927)
Wikipedia
Genealogy
www.ancestry.co.uk
© Jonathan Dewhirst 2017
Photo of Plaque in Halifax Minster - by BereniceUK from victorianwars.com
Military
'Of God and Maxim Guns: Presbyterianism in Nigeria 1846-1966' - Godfrey Johnston, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo (Ontario), 1988
'The Abolition of the Slave Trade in South-eastern Nigeria 1885-1950) - Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, University of Rochester Press, Rochester (New York), 2006
British and Foreign State Papers - (HM Stationery Office, London, 1888)
www.soldiersofthequeen.com
The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Queensland) 13th January 1894 - available on www.trove.nla.gov.au
'Nigeria Under British Rule' - Sir William N. Geary, Routledge, London, 2013 (first publish ed1927)
Wikipedia
Genealogy
www.ancestry.co.uk
© Jonathan Dewhirst 2017
