The Scot who has been forgotten in his homeland

Despite having earned a remarkable reputation as ‘the peacemaker’ in Ghana, Banffshire’s George Maclean has long been forgotten in his native land. 

There are names in history that have been lost in the folds of time, and while George Maclean may be remembered in foreign lands, the same cannot be said for him back in his native Scotland.

A fleeting yet influential figure in the history of West Africa, George hailed from Banffshire and was born in 1801. The son of a minister, Reverend James Maclean, and Elizabeth Tod, daughter of George Tod of Elgin, George went on to become Governor of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, from 1829 to 1843, laying down the foundations for British rule and instating more peaceful trading conditions.

At the age of just 14 and at the height of Napoleon’s reign, George joined the regiment of the 27th Foot, beginning his military career in a quiet French town.

The next ten years of his career were somewhat sporadic, and come the end of the Napoleonic Wars he returned to his hometown, Keith. Finding himself with little to do at home, his boredom led him to apply to become a Lieutenant in the Royal African Colonial Corps – a position few would have been envious of at the time.

Before he knew it, he was setting off for Freetown, Sierra Leone, during Christmas 1826. The area was known particularly for its source of prized-metal, so merchants from competing nations constructed a string of forts as bases from which to conduct trading businesses. It was here that George began to show his potential as a future leader.

With the slave trade still decades from abolition and tribal wars coming to a head, Maclean found himself in a dire setting of violence and squalor, and the number of British soldiers was falling rapidly. Ghana was, at that time, considered part of the West African region with Sierra Leone, and with the British government threatening to withdraw from the area, George strived to understand the local culture during a particularly tumultuous time.

He negotiated with tribes and steered away from a policy of intervention, putting the brakes on further tribal violence. A community understanding was formed, and although it wasn’t a formal arrangement, he made moves to protect the tribes that had been altered by Imperial rule.

As the British presence lessened, he maintained a system in which tribes could defend themselves without the aid of British troops, giving them hope of a peaceful future without intervention. During Maclean’s time, there were no attacks from northern tribes, and they were not only willing to work with George, they were also – in his own words – willing to pay ‘allegiance’ to him.

Illness struck in 1828, forcing George to return home, during which time conditions in the Gold Coast deteriorated once more, leading the British government to withdraw from the area. With British merchants on the coast strongly opposed to this decision, George was brought back in and was appointed president of the Council of Government in 1829.

Though his duties were strictly bound to managing the mercantile community and forts, George realised that trade would only improve in conjunction with improved relations with neighbouring African states.

As such, he began acting as an arbiter in disputes between chiefs of the Fanti people, encouraging cooperation rather than conflict, and gradually established an informal protectorate in the area. He settled a treaty with the Ashanti in 1831. As part of this agreement, George asked that two princes (Prince Owusu Ansah and Owusu Nkwantabisa) were delivered to the British in Cape Coast Castle. He was keen to educate these two young boys as ambassadors for peace and the extension of British culture.

The first Wesleyan Methodist missionary arrived in 1834, and under his influence the two princes became Christians.

George took the two princes with him to London to continue their education. After a five-year stay, they were brought back to Cape Coast in July 1841, after having been taught the ways of traditional Christian life.

Together, the princes helped spread Christianity in Ghana, with one prince becoming the Methodist minister for his community. George had successfully instilled within the princes of Ghana a reluctance to take part in international slave trade and a desire to take full advantage of the natural resources of the Gold Coast.

While on a trip back to Britain, George encountered the fiercely independent poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon, whom he married on 7 June 1838.

A friend of theirs, Emma Roberts, wrote: ‘No one could better appreciate than L. E. L. the high and sterling qualities of her lover’s character; his philanthropic and unceasing endeavours to improve the condition of the natives of Africa; the noble manner in which he interfered to prevent the horrid waste of human life by the barbarian princes in his neighbourhood; and the chivalric energy with which he strove to put an end to the slave-trade.’

In October 1838, Letitia was found dead in her room, slumped against the door with an empty bottle of prussic acid in her hands. The circumstances were never explained.

With more peaceful conditions having been established by George, trading conditions improved, encouraging the British government to assume responsibility of the forts in 1843.

Widely respected for his ability to settle diplomatic and judicial disputes, George Maclean’s success in the Gold Coast has been attributed to his sense of justice and respect for African customs. He was described as ‘a dry, reserved, hard-working Scotchman, of indefatigable activity’.

Despite being an agent of the merchant committee, Maclean took on the colonial responsibility of Britain in a grisly time, giving hope for more positive relations in future, and setting the foundations of the legal system in modern day Ghana.

Unfortunately George did not live long enough to witness the lasting impact of all his efforts as he died on 22 May 1847 after contracting dysentery – aged just 46. He was buried alongside his wife Letitia in Cape Coast Castle.

He passed into the local vernacular as Badayi or ‘the peacemaker’, and after learning of his death, all business was suspended in the Gold Coast for a fortnight.

Despite having been neglected by historians, perhaps due to the fact he was the forerunner rather than the immediate founder of a stable government, his legacy lives on in Ghana to this day. With his efforts to establish transatlantic peace and respect, George deserves to be remembered in his native Scotland too.

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