Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies

James Pinson Labulo Davies (August 14, 1828 – April 29, 1906) was a 19th-century African merchant-sailor, naval officer, influential businessman, farmer, pioneer industrialist, statesman, and philanthropist who married Sarah Forbes Bonetta in colonial Lagos.

James Pinson Labulo Davies was born to James and Charlotte Davies in the village of Bathurst, Sierra Leone, then a British colony. His parents were recaptive Yoruba people liberated by the British West Africa Squadron from the Atlantic Slave Trade, and whose origins were in Abeokuta and Ogbomoso respectively.

Davies was first married to Matilda Bonifacio Serrano, a Spanish lady from Havana, who died in 1860, 9 months after their marriage. In August 1862, Davies married Sara Forbes Bonetta, a protegée of Queen Victoria. Sarah Forbes Bonetta, originally named Princess Aina, was a slave freed by Captain Forbes of the Bonetta after a meeting with King Ghezo of Dahomey. (Aina's village in Okeadan was raided by Dahomean warriors who killed her parents, West African royalty, when she was five; she became a slave in King Ghezo's court.) Sarah died of tuberculosis in 1880, and Davies married Catherine Kofoworola Reffle in 1889.

Davies was also a close associate and friend of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Both men collaborated on a couple of Lagos social initiatives such as the opening of The Academy (a social and cultural center for public enlightenment) on October 24, 1866 with Bishop Crowther as the first patron and Davies as its first president.

In April 1859 Davies provided Reverend Thomas Babington Macaulay with the seed funding to establish the CMS Grammar School, Lagos: £50 (purchasing power of ₦1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment. With the seed funds, Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on June 6, 1859.

In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (purchasing power of ₦2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund.[16] Other contributors to the CMS building fund were non-Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo, AKA Taiwo Olowo, who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40.

• Born James Pinson Labulo Davies August 14, 1828 Bathurst, British Sierra Leone
• Died April 29, 1906 (aged 77) Lagos, British Nigeria
• Resting place Ajele Cemetery
• Residence Lagos, British Nigeria
• Nationality Nigerian
• Other names Captain Davies, J. P. L. Davies
• Citizenship Nigeria
• Education Church Missionary Society Grammar School
• Occupation British Naval officer, merchant, sailor, businessman, farmer and philanthropist.
• Years active 1848–1906
• Employer Royal Navy
• Known for Financing CMS Grammar School, Lagos and pioneering cocoa farming in West Africa
• Home town Abeokuta

Spouse(s)

• Matilda Bonifacio Serrano (m. 1859; died 1860)
• Sara Forbes Bonetta (m. 1862; died 1880)
• Catherine Kofoworola Reffle (m. 1889–1906)

Children Victoria Davies (daughter)

• Arthur Davies (son)
• Stella Davies (daughter)

Parent(s) James Davies (father) Charlotte Davies (mother)

• Relatives John K. Randle (son-in-law)

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References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pinson_Labulo_Davies
• https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=8mLPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA123
• https://books.google.com.ng/books?id=5rsMAQAAIAAJ&q=Catherine+Kofow...