Ghana–United Kingdom relations

Ghanaian – British relations

Ghana	United Kingdom
Diplomatic mission
High Commission of Ghana, London	British High Commission, Accra
Envoy
High Commissioner Iain Walker	High Commissioner Papa Owusu-Ankomah

Ghana–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, historical and trade relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom. Modern state Ghana-UK relations began when Ghana became independent from the UK in 1957.

Overview[]

People have been migrated between the area today known as Ghana and the UK since 1555. In 1880-1919 there were 150 Ghanaians living in the UK. The 1961 census recorded 10,000 Ghanaians living in the UK, the largest number of British Ghanaians moved to the UK between 1957-1980 due to the economic climate in Ghana.^[1] Ghana was the first African nation to gain independence from the UK in 1957. In 2001, there were 56,112 British-/Ghanaians lived in the UK, in 2011 there were 95,666 British/-Ghanaians according to the UK census, with the Office for National Stastistics reporting a rise to 114,000 in 2019. The majority of these live in Greater London and Manchester. With the completion of Brexit, both countries signed the Interim Trade Partnership Agreement on 2 March 2020, worth around £1.2 billion.^[2]

History[]

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn (1776)

Early contact with the area known today as Ghana began in 1555 when John Lok brought back 5 Ghanaians to encourage trade relations with Western Africa.^[1] The English by then were interested in the Gold coast for trading pepper, spice and gold, appointing the first English Governor in 1621, although relations between the UK and Ghana were limited in the 17th century. In the later half of the 17th century the British participated in the Transatlantic slave trade, the British crown first showing interest with the inception of the Royal African Company in 1660, which drastically affected the local and West African coastal populations over the next 250 years. The British, unlike the local groups, practised Chattel Slavery.

The Ashanti Empire (1701-1957) had resisted attempts by Europeans, chiefly the British, to subjugate them. However, the British annexed neighbouring areas, together with the Fante. The Ashanti allied themselves with the Dutch against the British, who allied themselves with the Fante. Disputes between the Fante and Ashanti often lead to European involvement in local disputes, the first of which began in 1806 when the Ashanti–Fante War, also known as the Ghana War, broke out with the Ashanti being victorious, capturing the Assin chief Kwadwo Otibu who was charged with harbouring Oyoko grave robbers on charges by the Asantehene Osei Bonsu. Otibu had been held under British occupation at Anomabu fort, and was eventually surrendered to the Ashanti King with other captives as slaves by Colonel George Torrance when the Ashanti stormed the fort, killing 8,000 local Gold Coast residents outside the fort. A successive series of conflicts between the Ashanti and British took place from this time on. In 1811 the Ga–Fante War saw the defeat of the Ashanti by the Fante, with the Ashanti and Ga-Adangbe people successfully capturing the British fort of Tantamkweri. In 1814 the Ashanti launched an invasion of the Gold Coast, warring against the tribes and federacies allied with the British, which launched renogiations between the Ashanti and British, Dutch, Polish, and Danish authorities in the area. In 1817 the ACoM signed a new agreement accepting Ashanti reign in the Gold Coast, in accession for British control over nearby local Gold Coast residents to British Forts. A British delegate, Joseph Dupuis then arrived at Cape Coast in January 1819 who set out on the 9th of February 1820, and on the 28th arrived at Kumasi . After several meetings with the local king, a treaty was drawn up, which acknowledged the sovereignty of Ashanti over the territory of the Fanti, and left the Fante open to attack by the Ashanti. J. Hope Smith, the governor of Cape Coast, disowned the treaty, as betraying the Fante interests under British protection. Under Smiths advice, from 1821-1824 with the dissolution of ACoM the British in the Gold Coast began taking direct control of forts and dropped Dupuis treaty, once more supporting the Fante.^[3]

Mid December of 1822, a biracial African-British sergeant from the Royal African Corps who acted as the agent between the British and the Asante was said to have shown 'disrespect' to the Asante King Osei Tutu Quamina. Captain Laing offerred to retrieve the Sergeant but was denied by McCarthy. Therefore at the Kings request, the Sergeant was captured and left in prison in Kumasi until the 1st February 1823, when again at the behest of the King, killed the Sergeant with orders 'to send the jawbone, skull, and one of the arms ... to [Osei]' by the following day from Anomabu, such actions being considered a declaration of war by the British.^[4] With this a small British group under the guidance of McCarthy went ahead to talk with the Ashanti, but instead 10 were killed, 39 wounded and led to a British retreat. The Ashanti then tried to negotiate with MacCarthy over claims for Fante land which as the Fante fell under British protection, such claims were rejected leading to the first in 1824. McCarthy who led the initial British attack of 500-1000 men, died in Accra when the Ashanti with a force of 10,000, won the battle and took McCarthy's skull, and encrusting it with gold they used it as a spoil of war. After the British victory at the Katamanso War, Accra and British prestige rose in the area, with the British no longer paying rent in the forts. With the MacClean treaty of 1831, all British territory became south of the River Prah. Kwaku Dua I encouraged trade with MacCleans administration but by 1852 disputes between the Ashanti and Fante began anew.^[3]

A large number of Yoruba people in this period had resettled in the British colony of Sierra Leone, which was established to home Africans who had escaped the slave trade. In 1838 a number of Egba people returned with a knowledge of English and Christianity, helping to spread the Anglican and particularly Methodist presence in the Gold Coast. Egba cooperation against the neighbouring kingdom of Dahomey, which was a prominent player in the slave trade, particularly of Egba peoples who had fought against their enslavement by the Dahomenians between 1842-1853 was greatly assisted by Anglican missionaries who persuading the Egba to end the siege in exchange for their armed support against Dahomey. The export of West Africans to the Americas had decreased with the banning of slavery in Brazil in 1850 and the bombardment by the British of Lagos in an anti-slave raid. The British continued providing assistance to Gold Coast tribes who had been enslaved, but this would begin to be used as a pretext for British military presence and the eventual British annexation of the Gold Coast. In 1853 the British opened a consulate in Lagos, annexing the area as a British protectorate in 1861 after heightened tensions and British involvement in local disputes between neighbouring Gold Coast leaders.^[5]

In 1863-1864 the second Anglo-Ashanti war (or Incident more accurately as no fighting took place) was fought. The war began when the British Governor refused to hand over Kwasi Gyani who turned to the British either because he had stolen a chunk of gold or because he an indentured servant of the Asantehene, to which the Ashanti took offence to Pines actions because Pine regarded Gyani as innocent, whilst under Ashanti law he was guilty of having not returned the nugget, which the Ashanti took to break their treaty with the British^[6] In 1864 with the invasion by Dahomey of Abeokuta, the British began increasing their military presence in the Gold Coast, splitting the area they governed at the Yewa River between themselves and the French.^[5]

The Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867) was signed, redistributing power over to the British from a withdrawal of Dutch presence in the Gold Coast. In 1872, Britain expanded outwards again when they purchased the Dutch Gold Coast from the Dutch, including Elmina fort which caused by financial dispute between the British and the Ashanti. The Dutch, the original renters, signed the Treaty of Butre(1656) with the Ahanta which was unchanged for 213 years. After greivances over rent payments, the Ashanti invaded the new British protectorate and in 1873-1874 the third Anglo Ashanti war took place. Garnet Wolseley commanded an expedition to the Ashanti, making all his arrangements at the Gold Coast before the arrival of the troops in January 1874, completing the campaign with remarkable speed, returning to Britain in under 2 months. At the Battle of Amoaful on 31 January Wolseley's expedition faced the numerically superior Chief Amankwatia's army in a four-hour battle. They advanced and after five days' fighting, ending with the Battle of Ordashu, entered the capital Kumasi, which Wolsely ordered be burned. The British were impressed by the size of the palace and the scope of its contents. The Ashanti then signed the Treaty of Fomena in July 1874 marking the end of the war and human sacrifice under Kofi Karikari's rule. This led to a great establishment of trade between the Gold Coast and Britain. From the 18th century to 1874 a large number of Gold Coast residents were sailors who lived in the London docks, a number came from Accra and Sekondi and in turn migrated from Liberia. From 1880-1919 there were 150 Ghanaians in Britain, many who came to study in London, some pursuing business.

Asantehene Prempeh's Subjugation (1896)

In the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War, also known as the "Second Ashanti Expedition", lasted only from December 1895 to February 1896. The Ashanti turned down an unofficial offer to become a British protectorate in 1891, extending to 1894. The Ashanti refused to surrender his sovereigntyand the British aiming to keep French and German forces out of Ashanti territory (for its gold), began planning to conquer the Ashanti kingdom. Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was unwilling to pay the 50,000 gold oz. ransom, so the British arrested, deposed and exiled him, whilst he was forced to sign a treaty of protection, and with other Ashanti leaders was sent into exile in the Seychelles. The British force left Kumasi on 22 January 1896, arriving back at the coast two weeks later, with the area becoming a British protectorate in 1897.

In the on 25 March 1900, the British representative, Frederick Mitchell Hodgson committed a political error by insisting he should sit on the Golden Stool, not understanding that it was the Royal throne and very sacred to the Ashanti. He ordered a search be made for it and the Ashanti, enraged by this act, attacked the soldiers engaged in the search, leading to fighting between the British and Ashanti. On 14 July a British force of 1,000 made it to Kumasi, relieving the besieged Hodgson on 15 July. The remaining Ashanti court, inculding Yaa Asantewaa not exiled to the Seychelles had mounted the offensive against the British and Fanti troops resident at the Kumasi Fort, but were defeated. The Ashanti territories became part of the Gold Coast colony on 1 January 1902, on the condition that the Golden Stool would not be violated by British or other non-Akan foreigners. In September the British sent flying columns out to visit neighbouring peoples who had supported the rebellion, resulting in more fighting. The Ashanti claimed victory as the Golden Stool was safe, found by accident in 1920. King Prempeh I returned from exile in 1924, travelling to Kumasi by a special train.

Following frequent disfavour with British rule, Ghanaians began to garner support for independence from the UK, prominently under the leadership of the United Gold Coast Convention in 1947 and the Convention People's Party from 1948. This was won with the independence of Ghana the UK under Harold Macmillan and Kwame Nkrumah recognised the state of Ghana in 1957, becoming a Dominion through the Ghana Independence Act 1957. With the 1960 Ghanaian constitutional referendum, monarchy in Ghana was abolished and thus ended Ghana's status as a Dominion. With a change in the head of state in Ghana however, diplomatics relations resumed between the two countries. In 1981, Ghana left the Commonwealth following the 31 December takeover by Jerry Rawlings. Ghana reentered the Commonwealth in 1993.^[7] With this, an increased exchange of Ghanaian and British immigrants brought their culture and ideas to the UK, such as Afrobeat. In 2019, this has been represented by figures such as the politicians Abena Oppong-Asare and Bell Ribeiro-Addy. In February of 2021 Ghana and the United Kingdom signed a post-Brexit trade agreement, this agreement allows the United Kingdom and Ghana to be much closer economically than would have been allowed had the United Kingdom remained in the European Union.^[8]

Chronology of Ghanaian-British relations[]

Early

• 1555 - John Lok a London merchant brought 5 Ghanaians, Binne, Anthonie and George, to London from Sharma to become interpretors to assist the English with trade in West Africa and in Gold with Ghana^[1]
• 1596 - Elizabeth I notes the presence of Blackamoores, the most common word for Black Britons in use at the time
• 1621-23 - William St John, the first Gold Coast governor is appointed
• 1688 - Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is published whose name perhaps derives from the Yoruba names of the Coromantee enslaved peoples at the time living in Dutch Surinam
• 1748 - William Ansah Sessarakoo arrives in England on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the Fante people
• 1752-1821 - The African Company of Merchants begins operations, building trading posts such as Fort Tantumquery and Fort Komenda and operated from Cape Coast Castle
• 1753 - The ACoM abducted 2 boys, Acqua and Sackee, bringing them to London as hostages in a bid to begin trade with the Gold Coast, whilst in London they were educated for the next 2 years, with a farewell banquet being held upon their return in 1755^[1] and Fort William is built
• 1754 - Philip Quaque is brought to England by Rev Thomas Thompson, being educated and studying Theosophy at Oxford, returning to the Gold Coast in 1766-1816 with a salary of £50 annually
• 1765 - Quaque became the first African ordained as a minister within the Church of England
• 1772 - Ottobah Cugoano is taken to England by Alexander Campbell where he became a leading abolitionist and writer
• 1786 - Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor occurs
  

  Olaudah Equiano, member of the Abolitionist Sons of Africa
• 1787 - Sons of Africa are known to be active with Cugoano among them publishing his Thoughts and sentiments on the evil and wicked traffic of the slavery and commerce of the human species.
• 1807 - The British Slave Trade Act 1807 is passed, however English and American slave ships still operate under Spanish flags until 1833^[5]
• 1814 - Charles MacCarthy, an avid advocate of the suppression of the slave trade, is appointed Governor of Sierra Leone, taking over the territory of the British Gold Coast in 1821
• 1816 - Thomas Edward Bowdich signed a treaty with the Asante recognising fort rents and British protection of Gold Coast residents
• 1819 - Bowdich after working for the ACoM in which he successfully made a study of Asante court life in Kumasi, convinced the British government to assume direct control over the area

British Gold Coast

• 1821 - The British form the Gold Coast Colony & The ACoM is disbanded, in part for its failure to suppress and participation in the slave trade in West Africa
• 1823 - MacCarthy declares war on the Asanti after disagreements between them and the Fante, the British engaged the Asante along a tributary of the Pra River and the majority killed, with MacCarthy's head taken a trophy of war, he was succeeded by Charles Turner
• 1824 - After the Katamanso War, the British stopped paying rent for coastal forts to the Asante
• 1828 - The British decided to reduce their presence in the Gold Coast, only maintaining Cape Coast and Accra forts at the request of local merchants
• 1831 - George Maclean established a treaty with the Asante which effectively in return for gold allowed the Asante to continue in the slave trade, one of their primary trades at the time^[5]
• 1833 - The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 is passed, with 2 British ships sent initially to cover the 20,000 mile long coastal waters of Western Africa to prevent slave ships passing to the Americas
• 1835 - Methodist Church Ghana is founded
• 1836-1841 - In a bid of fidelity to the April 1831 Maclean Treaty, two Asante Princes who had been taken hostage 5 years earlier; Prince Owusu-Ansa (1823-1884) and his cousin Prince Nkwantabisa (?-1859); travelled to England to learn English and to engage with the Fante as ambassadors between the Fante and Asante peoples^[9]
• 1840 - Through persistent writing, from July James Stephen prompted the Colonial Authorities in a bid to prevent the slave trade found to be operating under Macleans treaty the year prior, to place the Gold Coast forts authority from the Sierra Leone colonial authority and to become a colony in their own right,^[10] and under Macclean imports to England dramtically increased tenfold from 1830, Cowrie shells replacing Gold as currency
• 1841 - Under the behest of the new Asantehene Nana Kwaaku Dua (?-1867), Prince Osuwu Ansah and Prince Nkwantabisa were taken before Queen Victoria before returning to the Gold Coast, returning with the Niger expedition of 1841 to Kumase with a £100 annual allowance from the British in order to help the Missionary society in the Kumase area, leading to the establishment of 9 Methodist churches under Thomas Birch Freeman that year^[9]
• 1842 - Maclean is investigated for charges of by Richard Robert Madden, who found that Maclean had unfairly imprisoned 91 local people, some up to 4 years, on dubious grounds and without trial. Madden's enquiries, and subsequent parliamentary select committee, concluded Maclean lacked formal powers to act effectively against the slave trade, and the Colonial Office became involved with Maclean relinquishing his post in 1844
• 1844 - Henry Worsley Hill Bond Treaty is signed established British law in the area, including the abolition of human sacrifice and panyarring

Danish Gold Coast

• 1850-7 - James Bannerman is appointed as a justice of the Peace in the Gold Coast and the Gold Coast government separates from that of the Sierra Leonean government
• 1852-1861 - Poll Tax Ordinance of 1852 occurs
• 1852-64 - The British implement a new poll tax among the Asante, causing widespread rioting when only 8% went towards maintenance of the Gold Coast
• 1858 - Benjamin Pine established municipal Ordinance that gave towns the right to elect a council from chiefs and merchants for local government with courts for civil litigation and criminal misdemeanors^[5]
• 1863 - The Anglo-Ashanti war of 1863 begins
• 1866 - In January Lieutenant-Governor Colonel Conran demanded he would be suing the Asante for peace, angering Kwaku Dua I who broke off further negotiations with the British until they surrendered Gyani to the Asante,^[11] in turn John Aggrey (1808-1869) denounced British rule over the area being exiled to Sierra Leone in 1867-1869
• 1867 - Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867) redistributed forts along the Dutch and British Gold Coasts in order to assimilate both areas of influence. All forts to the east of Fort Elmina were now British, and all forts to the west Dutch, with the Denkyira, and rejecting the Dutch presence leading to further wars between the Kommenda and Dutch at Elmina Castle; The Akwamu freed W.H.Simpson after he attempted to settle the Asantehene stooling dispute of Kofi Karikari to avoid war with the British and the Gold Coast Colony was officially created
• 1868 - Fante Confederacy takes place, and Africanus Horton publishes West African Countries and Peoples, in which he suggested British influenced self-government, with a Fante kingdom and republic of Accra, recommending the abolition of slavery, the introduction of industrial schools and a resident at Kumasi be introduced
• 1872 - Elmina Castle, in a cession of talks stemming from 1869 were succeeded from the Dutch to the British
• 1873 - On 2 October, Garnet Wolseley became Governor of the British West African Settlements, and the Gold Coast on which he commanded an expedition to the Ashanti.
• 1874 - Wolseley made all his arrangements at the Gold Coast before the arrival of the troops in January, completing the campaign in 2 months and returned to Britain, which made him well-known in Britain. At the Battle of Amoaful Wolseley's expedition faced the numerically superior Chief Amankwatia's in battle. After 5 days' fighting, ending with the Battle of Ordashu, Wolseley entered Kumasi, which he burned
• 1881 - arrives in London, travelling to Liverpool in pursuance of his fathers goods winning his case, publishing African Trading; or the trials of William Narh Ocansey that year
• 1887 - John Mensah Sarbah becomes the first British-Ghanaian to be called to the bar
• 1891 - Thomas Hutton-Mills Sr. travelled to London to study at Cambridge
• 1893 - J. E. Casely Hayford travels to London to study law at Cambridge being called in 1896
• 1897 - Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is formed
• 1900 - Yaa Asantewaa famously was defeated by the British War of the Golden Stool, albeit protecting the Golden Stool instead
• 1901 - Frederick Victor Nanka-Bruce travels to Edinburgh graduating in 1906
• 1916 - Association of West African Merchants (AWAM) is formed
• 1917 - National Congress of British West Africa, one of the earliest Pan-African formal organisations, forms
• 1918 - Kobina Sekyi the Ghanaian nationalist and anti-colonialist writer studied Law at the University of London being called to the bar in 1918, with the founding of the African Progress Union by John Richard Archer
• 1920 - Samson Oppong and W.G.Waterworth began proselytizing, baptizing eventually around 10,000 new Wesleyan converts to Christianity
• 1925 - West African Students' Union is founded
• 1928 - Desmond Buckle enters university in London, only to began his political career as the first 'African communist' in Britain in the 1930's
• 1931-1951 - League of Coloured Peoples is founded
  

  50 Carnaby Street was the Florence Mills Social Parlour in 1936 run by Amy Ashwood as a Pan-African meeting place, visited by J. B. Danquah
• 1945-1947 - Kwame Nkrumah resides in the UK founding the West African National Secretariat, Kojo Botsio and Joe Appiah also travel to study in England
• 1948 - Accra Riots, caused by a dispute over Veteran pay, occur in the leadup to the events which started the Ghanaian Independence movement and the arrest of the Big Six
• 1949 - Coussey Committee is formed to enable writing the draft of a constitution for Ghanaian self-rule in the Gold Coast, leading to the formation of the Convention People's Party by Nkrumah
• 1956 - British Togoland is incorporated into what is now Ghana

Ghanaian Independence

• 1959 - James Barnor travels to England in time to photograph the Swinging sixties, having established himself at the Daily Graphic and Drum
• 1963 - Nana Kofi Obonyaa, born James Moxon, becomes the first white chief in Aburi
• 1967 - Margaret Busby co-founds Allison & Busby
• 1970 - Messages from Ghana appear in the African Writers Series
• 1981 - Following the 31 December takeover by Jerry Rawlings, Ghana left the Commonwealth
• 1987 - Lynda Chalker, the British minister of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, makes a successful visit to Ghana, securing further Aid for Ghanaian economic reform from the UK^[12]
• 1991 - Ozwald Boateng open his studio on Portobello road
• 1992 - The decentralization of Ghana occurs with a return to British policy theory of separation of central and local governmental institutions^[13]
• 1993 - Ghana is readmitted to the Commonwealth^[12]
• 2002 - Paul Boateng becomes the first black Cabinet Minister, Ghana Awards Music UK established
• 2007 - Freema Agyeman plays Martha Jones in the BBC's Doctor Who
• 2010 - Sam Gyimah is elected
• 2011 - Abrantee Boateng launches his Afrobeats show over the radio
• 2017 - Edward Enninful is appointed Editor in Chief of British Vogue, making him the only Black editor in history to head any of the 26 International Vogue titles, Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah became the first black equerry for Elizabeth II
• 2018 - Aged 11, DJ Zel became the youngest DJ on UK radio at UniAfrik
• 2019 - Abena Oppong-Asare and Bell Ribeiro-Addy were elected to Parliament

Notable Individuals[]

• Nana Richard Abiona
• David Adjaye
• Adam Afriyie
• Harry Aikines-Aryeetey
• John Akomfrah
• Adjoa Andoh
• Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah
• Maxwell Owusu Ansah
• Kwame Anthony Appiah
• Amma Asante
• Bankole Awoonor-Renner
• James Bannerman
• James Barnor
• Rhian Benson
• Isaac Borquaye
• Ozwald Boateng
• Gus Casely-Hayford
• Joe Casely-Hayford
• Peggy Cripps
• Kwasi Esono Danquah III
• Idris Elba
• Afua Hirsch
• Cab Kaye
• Peter Mensah
• Dylan Kwabena Mills
• Bernard Ribeiro, Baron Ribeiro
• Nana Kofi Obonyaa
• Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr.
• Caleb Quaye
• Reggie Yates
• Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

List of High Commissioners in United Kingdom to Ghana[]

British High Commission in Accra

• 1957–1959:
• 1959–1961: Sir Arthur Snelling
• 1961–1964: Sir Geoffrey de Freitas
• 1964–1966: Sir Harold Smedley
• 1967–1970:
• 1970–1975:
• 1975–1978: Frank Mills
• 1978–1983:
• 1983–1986: ^[14]
• 1986–1989: Arthur Wyatt
• 1989–1992: Sir Anthony Goodenough
• 1992–1996: David Walker
• 1996–2000: Ian Mackley
• 2000–2004:
• 2004–2007: Gordon Wetherell
• 2007–2011: Nicholas Westcott
• 2011–2014:
• 2014–2017: Jon Benjamin^[15]
• 2017–present: Iain Walker^[16][17]

List of High Commissioners in Ghana to United Kingdom[]

• Joseph Leo Seko Abbey
• James Aggrey-Orleans
• Seth Anthony
• Kwesi Armah
• Edward Asafu-Adjaye
• Kenneth Dadzie
• Kwaku Danso-Boafo
• Ebenezer Moses Debrah
• James Victor Gbeho
• Kwame Sanaa-Poku Jantuah
• Isaac Osei
• Papa Owusu-Ankomah
• Victor Emmanuel Smith

See also[]

• Foreign relations of Ghana
• Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Black British people
• Black Scottish people

References[]