The Gold Coast Regiment in the African Campaigns During the First World War 1914-18

by Hugh Clifford

A famous African regiment during the Great War
The First World War was, of course, principally fought in Europe. The established European nations had by the turn of the 20th century expanded their influence across the globe, thus gaining advantages in commerce and colonisation, Germany, comparatively new to nationhood, was a late comer to global imperialism but nevertheless maintained colonies in the wider world particularly in west and east Africa. When war broke out the forces in the colonies of both sides which had hitherto lived as neighbours now became enemies. Both Germany and Britain recruited troops from local populations and the subject of this book, the Gold Coast Regiment, were among them. The Gold Coast (now Ghana) in West Africa, together with Nigeria, provided excellent, strong, resourceful soldiers for the British Empire. It was logical that these troops would be most effective in African campaigns and the Gold Coast Regiment was accordingly dispatched to fight in the Cameroons and in the campaigns in East Africa. There they did fine service in actions which are described in detail in these pages. The side-show theatres of the Great War have always been of special interest to students of this period and so this book is essential reading on the subject. Contains maps and illustrations not present in original versions of this text.

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2018

About the author

Sir Hugh Charles Clifford GCMG, GBE was a British colonial administrator and writer. He was born in Roehampton, London, the sixth of the eight children of Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Clifford and his wife Josephine Elizabeth, née Anstice; his grandfather was Hugh Clifford, 7th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh.

Clifford intended to follow his father Henry Hugh Clifford, a distinguished British Army general, into the military but later decided to join the civil service in the Straits Settlements, with the assistance of his relative Sir Frederick Weld, the then Governor of the Straits Settlements and also the British High Commissioner in Malaya. He was later transferred to the British Protectorate of the Federated Malay States. Clifford arrived in Malaya in 1883, aged 17.

He first became a cadet in the State of Perak. During his twenty years there and on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula in Pahang, Clifford socialised with the local Malays and studied their language and culture deeply. He came to sympathise strongly with and admire certain aspects of the traditional indigenous cultures, while recognising that their transformation as a consequence of the colonial project which he served was inevitable. He served as British Resident at Pahang, 1896–1900 and 1901–1903, and Governor of North Borneo, 1900–1901.