Gaston Thierry

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Gaston Thierry
Born(1866-07-17)17 July 1866
Munich
Died16 September 1904(1904-09-16) (aged 38)
Mubi
Buried
Garoua
AllegianceGermany
Service/branchArmy
Years of service1886-1904
RankCaptain
UnitInfantry Regiment No. 88
Lieutenant Gaston Thierry, posing in African clothing on the coast of German-Togo in June 1899

Gaston Thierry (born 17 July 1866 in Munich, † 16 September 1904 near Mubi) was a German officer and civil servant in Togo and Cameroon.

Life[]

Thierry was the son of a tradesman. After attending the Gymnasium, he joined the Infantry Regiment No. 88 in 1886. In the same year, he became Portepee-Fähnrich (ensign with sword-knot) and in 1887 Sekondeleutnant (second lieutenant). In 1891 he retired from the army and became a member of the First See-Bataillon. In 1894, after the suppression of the mutiny of the police force, he was temporarily ordered to Cameroon. In 1894 he was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned on 12 September 1895 from the Marine Infantry and entered into the Grenadier Regiment of King Frederick William II (1st Silesian) No. 10.

In June 1896 he was made à la suite of the regiment and ordered to serve at the Foreign Office. Thierry was first used in German-Togo, where he served as station director of Sansanné-Mango and district manager in Yendi, and was involved in the occupation of the north. He led several military expeditions against local communities, including the Kabiye in January 1898 together with and , and one against the Moba in 1899.[1]

In 1902 he was transferred to the German colonial territory in Cameroon, stationed first in and after his promotion to captain (12 September 1902) in 1903 was appointed head of the station in Yaoundé. In 1903 he accompanied Governor Jesko von Puttkamer on his trip to Chad and on this occasion was appointed first Resident of the colonial province of Adamawa on 20 September 1903.

Death and legacy[]

Thierry was mortally wounded in an expedition he led against Jeremia Issa and his followers in Mubi. He died succumbing from a poisoned arrow on 16th September 1904.[2] He was buried in Garoua.

A year after his death, in 1905, the case of Thierry’s brutality against Africans was brought back to the spotlight as parliamentary debates on colonial affairs took place after several scandals involving officers and missionaries in German-Togo hit the headlines in the German press. The official parliamentary indulgence stipulated that Captain Thierry had shot down the father of the pupil of the Catholic mission in Lomé, after he had climbed up a tree to flee from the officer. Furthermore, the pupil reported that Thierry would shoot down local people as one would shoot game, and that his acts of cruelty were grounds for his notoriety in the entire protectorate.[3]

A species of West African lizard, Chalcides thierryi, was named in his honor.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ Sebald, Peter (1988). Togo 1884-1914 : eine Geschichte der deutschen "Musterkolonie" auf der Grundlage amtlicher Quellen : mit einem Dokumentenanhang und 5 Karten. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. ISBN 3-05-000248-4. OCLC 18442196.
  2. ^ "Deutsches Kolonialblatt 15 (1904)". University of Hamburg (in German). German Foreign Office. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  3. ^ Erzberger, Matthias (1906). Die Kolonial-Bilanz. Bilder aus der deutschen Kolonialpolitik auf Grund der Verhandlungen des Reichstags im Sessionsabschnitt 1905/06 (in German). Berlin: Verlag und Druck der Germania. p. 81.
  4. ^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Thierry", p. 264).

Sources[]

  • Ergebnisse der Untersuchung über den Tod des Hauptmanns Thierry, in: Deutsches Kolonialblatt 16 (1905), p. 161 (in German).
  • Manfred Maximilian Ulbrich: Offizier-Stammliste des Grenadier-Regiments König Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1. Schlesischen) Nr. 10 1808-1908, Berlin 1907, p. 499f. (in German).
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