List of people from Freetown

Below is a list of notable people from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Please only include entries with a Wikipedia article.

Academics and educators[]

• Edward Wilmot Blyden III, diplomat, political scientist and educator.
• Violet Showers Johnson, academic, author and historian.
• Aaron Belisarius Cosmo Sibthorpe, nineteenth century historian.
• Victor Okrafo-Smart, author and genealogical researcher.
• Noah Arthur William Cox-George, academic and economist.
• Bertha Conton, teacher, educator, and founder of Leone Preparatory School.
• Eustace Palmer, academic, author and public orator.
• Lemuel A. Johnson, academic, poet, and author.
• Lati Hyde-Forster, first Sierra Leonean woman to graduate from Fourah Bay College.
• William Farquhar Conton, educator, historian, and author.
• Hannah Benka-Coker (born Hannah Luke), educator and founder of Freetown Secondary School for Girls.
• Abiodun Williams, academic and former president of The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
• Akintola Josephus Gustavus Wyse, academic, author and historian.
• Arthur Thomas Daniel Porter III, academic, author and historian.
• Edna Elliott-Horton, first West African woman to complete a BA degree in the Liberal Arts.
• James Thomas Roberts, educator and former principal of Methodist Boys High School.
• Edward Fasholé-Luke, academic and theologian.
• Harry Alphonso Ebun Sawyerr, writer and Anglican theologian.
• Eldred Durosimi Jones, academic and literary critic.
• Enid Rosamund Ayodele Forde, academic, earth scientist, geographer and first Sierra Leonean woman to earn a PhD.
• Trudy Morgan, first African woman to be awarded a Fellowship of the Institute of Civil Engineers.
• Reginald Akindele Cline-Cole, academic, earth scientist and developmental geographer.
• Thomas Frederick Hope, first Engineer-in-Chief, Guma Valley Water Company and first chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

Activists/writers/artists[]

• Adelaide Casely-Hayford, was an advocate, nationalist, and educator.
• Patricia Piccinini, Australian artist.
• FannyAnn Eddy, gay rights activist.
• Farid Raymond-Anthony, Sierra Leonean writer, author and poet.
• Syl Cheney-Coker, poet, novelist, and journalist.
• Thomas Decker, writer, poet, journalist, and linguist.
• Eyamide Ella Lewis-Coker (Eyamide Ella Smith), writer and book author.
• Gaston Bart-Williams, journalist, novelist and film director.
• Emmanuel Bankole Timothy, journalist and biographer.
• Raymond Caleb Ayodele Charley, playwright and writer.
• Yulisa Amadu Maddy (Pat Maddy), composer, journalist and writer.
• Clifford Nelson Fyle, composer of the Sierra Leone National Anthem.
• Alphonso Sylvester Lisk-Carew, prominent photographer appointed for the visit of the Duke of Connaught.

Actors/actresses[]

• Jeillo Edwards
• Desmond Finney
• Adetokumboh McCormack

Military personnel[]

• Brigadier-General Arthur Nelson-Williams, The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces spokesman
• Brigadier-General Tom Carew was in the Sierra Leonean army and Chief of Defence Staff of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces from April 2000 to November 2003
• Emmanuel Cole, soldier and hero of the "Gunners Revolt"
• John Henry Clavell Smythe, former Royal Air Force navigation officer, barrister and Attorney General of Sierra Leone

Religious leaders[]

• George Gurney Mather Nicol, clergyman and first African graduate of Cambridge University.
• Daniel Coker, missionary and founder of the West African Methodist Church.
• Thomas Sylvester Johnson, educator and former bishop of Sierra Leone.
• Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Sierra Leonean-Nigerian clergyman and first Anglican Bishop of West Africa.
• Moses Nathanael Christopher Omobiala Scott, clergyman and Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone who later became Archbishop of the Province of West Africa.

Musicians[]

• Ebenezer Calendar, musician who created and popularized Creole gumbe music and maringa music.
• Oloh Israel Olufemi Cole (Dr. Oloh), musician.
• Daddy Saj (Joseph Gerald Adolphus Cole), rapper.
• Bunny Mack (Cecil Bunting MacCormack), singer.
• Emmerson
• Reuben Koroma

Judges and lawyers[]

• Nicholas Colin Browne-Marke, judge in the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
• George Gelaga King, judge presiding at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
• Patrick Omolade Hamilton, Supreme Court judge of Sierra Leone.
• Frances Claudia Wright, first Sierra Leonean woman to be called to the Bar in Great Britain and to practice law in Sierra Leone.
• Jamesina Essie Leonora King, jurist and first Sierra Leonean sworn in as Commissioner of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.
• Ade Renner Thomas, barrister and one-time Chief Justice of Sierra Leone.
• James Blyden Jenkins-Johnston, barrister and human rights defender.
• John Rosolu Bankole Thompson, jurist, judge and academic.
• Stella Thomas, Nigerian of Sierra Leonean descent who was the first West African to qualify as a lawyer.
• Gershon Beresford Onesimus Collier, former Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, educator and diplomat.
• Christian Frederick Cole, first African barrister to practice in the English courts.
• Augustus Boyle Chamberlayne Merriman‐Labor, barrister, writer and munitions worker.
• Dame Linda Penelope Dobbs, first non-white person to be appointed to the senior judiciary of England and Wales.

Politicians[]

• Sir Samuel Lewis, first mayor of Freetown and first West African to receive a knighthood.
• Sir Emile Fashole Luke, former Chief Justice and Speaker of Parliament.
• Sir Ernest Beoku-Betts, jurist and one-time mayor of Freetown.
• Sir Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston, Governor-General of Sierra Leone from 1962 to 1967
• Christopher Elnathan Okoro Cole, one-time Governor-General and Chief Justice of Sierra Leone
• Andrew Juxon-Smith, former commander of the Armed Forces and Head of State of Sierra Leone.
• Valentine Strasser, Head of State of Sierra Leone from 1992-1996
• Herbert George-Williams, former mayor of Freetown
• Winstanley Bankole Johnson, former mayor of Freetown
• John Henry Malamah Thomas, mayor of Freetown from 1904 to 1912
• Eustace Henry Taylor Cummings, mayor of Freetown from 1948-1954
• Ade Renner Thomas, current Chief Justice of Sierra Leone
• Isaac Wallace-Johnson, a Sierra Leonean journalist and a politician
• Siaka Probyn Stevens, Head of State of Sierra Leone from 21 April 1971 – 28 November 1985
• Ernest Bai Koroma Is the current Head of State of Sierra Leone and the fourth since 2007
• Joseph Saidu Momoh, Head of State of Sierra Leone from 1985 - 1992.
• Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, third Head of State of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.
• Johnny Paul Koroma former Head of State of Sierra Leone and indicted war criminal.

Physicians and surgeons[]

• Abioseh Davidson Nicol, academic, medical doctor, author, and discoverer of the breakdown of insulin in the human body.
• William Broughton Davies, first West African to qualify as a medical doctor.
• Irene Ighodaro (Irene Elizabeth Beatrice Wellesley-Cole), first Sierra Leonean woman to qualify as a medical doctor.
• Edward Mayfield Boyle, medical practitioner and one of the first West Africans to attend Howard University College of Medicine.
• William Robert Gorham Ebun Priddy, medical practitioner and Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
• James Africanus Beale Horton, surgeon, scientist and political thinker who worked towards African independence a century before it occurred.
• Ulric Oduma Emmanuel Jones, first Sierra Leonean neurosurgeon.
• Robert Benjamin Ageh Wellesley Cole, medical practitioner and first West African to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
• Olayinka Koso-Thomas, medical doctor known internationally for her efforts to abolish female genital mutilation.
• John Augustus Abayomi-Cole, medical doctor and herbalist.
• George Bernard Frazer, medical practitioner and gynaecologist.

Sports figures[]

Football (soccer)[]

Other sports[]

• Eugenia Osho-Williams, former sprinter and first woman to represent Sierra Leone at the Olympics.
• Eunice Barber, former athlete competing in heptathlon and long jump.
• Horace Dove-Edwin, retired sprinter who specialized in the 100-metre dash.
• Denton Guy-Williams, sprinter at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
• Josephus Thomas, sprinter at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
• William Akabi-Davis, sprinter at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
• Modupe Jonah, middle-distance runner at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
• Rudolph George, sprinter at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
• Pierre Lisk, sprinter at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
• David Sawyerr, sprinter at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
• Rachel Thompson, middle-distance runner at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
• B. J. Tucker, American football player of the San Francisco 49ers (NFL)
• Madieu Williams, American football player of the Cincinnati Bengals
• Hawanatu Bangura, Sierra Leonean sprinter
• Israel Cole, boxer at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
• Joshua Wyse, swimmer at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
• Frank Williams, cyclist at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
• Egerton Forster, boxer at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
• Michael 'Joko' Collier, swimmer at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Criminals[]

• Issa Hassan Sesay, convicted war criminal who served in the Sierra Leonean army and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).
• Brima Bazzy Kamara, rebel leader and convicted war criminal.
• Santigie Borbor Kanu, rebel leader and convicted war criminal.
• Jamil Sahid Mohamed, former businessman in Sierra Leone, convicted for assassination plot.