Possessed: A History of the Crown Colony of Lagos 1861-1906

Lagos was already POSSESSED by Britain when in 1862, Henry Pelham-Clinton, Duke of Newcastle and Secretary of State for Colonies agonized; he worried that “the original sin of taking possession of Lagos” would lead to meddling by force of arms of the British government. He couldn’t have realized how prophetic his concerns would be. From 1851 up till 1906, the British Imperial Navy and its collaborators would use force and random justice to achieve this possession, and more – it would ultimately lead to a forced amalgamation of the Lagos Colony, firstly to a Niger coast (Southern) protectorate, and then with the Northern protectorate, in 1914. Along the way, the story of brave individual and collective struggle against imperial control reveals the heroism, courage, and defiance of the Lagos Africans in order to resist domination at first, and then to survive its consequences – The Crown Colony of Lagos. This is a new and revealing view of hidden accounts, court evidence, testimony, and papers of inquiry, showing how colonization employed “law and justice” to achieve its pernicious objectives – changing the course and African society.