Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard

The Lugards in Abinger

» St James' Churchyard [O] » St James' Churchyard [L] » The Lugards in Abinger The Lugard family were Protestants who left Central Europe for Holland, where Paulus Jacobus Luegert is recorded as a "Sadelmaker uyt Bohemen" in 1632. An English Branch became established in the late eighteenth century, when John Lugard is recorded as serving with the 60th Inniskilling Dragoons. He became Adjutant and Secretary of the Royal Military School, Chelsea. His sons both served in India, one as a priest and one as a soldier. General Sir Edward Lugard took part in the Relief of Lucknow in the Indian Mutiny; his portrait is one of those on the Outram Shield displayed in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The first member of the family to live at Abinger was Flora Shaw. Born in 1852, she determined to make a career as a writer, and supported not only herself but at least two sisters, with elegant economy. Through George Meredith she had an introduction to W. T. Stead, as a woman "with the reasoning capacity of a man", and became a valued member of the outside staff on the Pall Mall Gazette. In May 1890 she submitted to The Times an article on Egyptian Finance, simply signed "F. Shaw". It was printed immediately, and though it was a shock to the proprietor, Mr. Buckle, to discover that his correspondent was a woman, she soon became a regular member of the staff, writing principally on Colonial matters and travelling widely (she covered the Klondyke Gold Rush).

In 1883 she was visiting a friend at Abinger and in the course of a walk came upon two small cottages in the woods on Leith Hill. There lived two widowed sisters-in-law, both Mrs Elms, and they were happy to rent Flora a room as a country retreat. Flora was a vigorous walker, despite early ill-health, and often walked over to Flint Cottage on Box Hill to visit the Merediths. She would write an article for The Times in the waiting room at Charing Cross before catching the train to Gomshall, to walk on, sometimes in the dark, up to Leith Hill. In all her subsequent travels the beloved Abinger woods were the yardstick against which all landscapes were measured. In 1902 Flora Shaw married Sir Frederick Lugard, nephew of Sir Edward, and the two old cottages, now acquired, became one wing of a larger house, Little Parkhurst. Frederick Lugard had begun a military career in India, but in 1887, equipped with his favourite .450 rifle and 50 gold sovereigns won by stalking and shooting a man-eating tiger, he was granted leave on half pay and set off as a deck passenger on a timber ship down the East Coast of Africa. He was engaged first by the African Lakes Company to lead a hazardous but successful expedition against the Arab slave traders in the interior, and in 1889 the British East Africa Company asked him to command an expedition to Uganda to bring order to an area riven by dissension between rival Christian groups, Muslims and pagans. This he did, with a force of 50 Sudanese and Somali soldiers, also mapping hitherto uncharted areas.

At the time of his marriage he was High Commissioner for Northern Nigeria, where he suppressed the slave trade and established peace under British authority. In Nigeria he introduced his system of Indirect Rule, government through existing native institutions and traditions. From 1907-1912 he was Governor of Hong Kong, at a time of great upheaval in China; here his great achievement was the foundation of the University. He came back from China to govern Nigeria till 1919. In retirement he wrote extensively, setting out his theory of colonial government in "The Dual Mandate", and served for 14 years on the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. He was raised to the peerage in 1928 and took the title Baron Lugard of Abinger, the last hereditary peer to link his name to the village. He died in 1945, when Little Parkhurst was sold.

In 1924 his brother, Major Edward Lugard, came to Abinger with his wife Nell, building their house, Furzen Wood, in 3 acres at the northern end of Abinger Common village. Edward had first tried farming in Manitoba, gone on to live as a soldier in India, and in 1896, with his wife, son aged two, and a nursemaid called Rose, joined his brother in exploration of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. Later he ably seconded his brother's work in Nigeria, and during the First World War he served in Naval Intelligence. He was a notable botanist, collecting plants for Kew in India and Africa, and at Abinger established an important shrub garden. Nell Lugard was a professional artist, specialising in miniatures, whose skills were adapted to botanical illustration for Kew.

Both Edward and Nell were active in Abinger Church life, and Nell did much work for the Common School. Edward represented Abinger North on the Rural District Council from 1925 to 1935, and played a major part in establishing the Leith Hill Preservation Scheme. He was for many years Treasurer of the St James' P.C.C. A meticulous worker, his final years were largely devoted to preparing his brother's archive for transfer to Rhodes House in Oxford.

The two brothers were joined at Abinger by their sisters Agnes Roper and Charlotte Lugard, who lived at Furzen Lodge through the Second World War. Mrs Roper died in 1960 aged 103 and still active.

After Nell Lugard's death in 1939 Edward Lugard joined his brother at Little Parkhurst, and Furzen Wood was occupied by the family of his son Cyril, who had returned from ten years' coffee farming in Kenya to serve again in the Army through the War. Cyril Lugard and his wife Kitty were active members of the Abinger Community, Kitty acting for many years as Secretary of the P.C.C. and as President of the Abinger W.I. She was a great gardener, and had helped her father-in-law in his work on the flora of Mount Elgon in northern Kenya. Cyril Lugard died in 1969, the last male member of the family, and Furzen Wood was sold in 1981, when Kitty died.

The Dutch Lugards continue to flourish.

Chambers Biographical Dictionary has the following entry:

LUGARD Frederick John Dealtry, Baron Lugard (1858-1945). British soldier and colonial administrator, born in Fort St.George, Madras, to a clerical and missionary family. In 1878 he was commissioned as an army officer, serving in Sudan against Mohammed Ahmed, the Mandi(1885), and in Burma after the fall of King Thibaw(1886), and commanded an expedition against slavers in Nyasaland(1888). His activities in the rough-and-ready Uganda peacekeeping led to its being made a British protectorate in 1894, in which his Rise of our Fast African Etnpire(1893) was also influential. Appointed commissioner in the Nigerian hinterland by Joseph Chamberlain(1897), he kept a French challenge at bay and kept the peace. Britain having declared a protectorate over Northern and Southern Nigeria, Lugard was high commissioner for the North(1900-07), and established administrative paternalistic control with minimum force. He was governor of Hong Kong from 1907, helping to establish its University in 1911. He returned to Nigeria as governor of the two protectorates, becoming Governor-General (1914-1919) on their amalgamation. His principle was one of use of existing tribal institutions as infrastructure for British rule. He served on the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations (1922-36), published another influential book in The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922) and was active on a Parliamentary Select Committee on closer union in Fast Africa (1930-31).

By Sheila Meade (nee Lugard) - Abinger & Coldharbour Parish News, June 2000

Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard, GCMG, CB, DSO, PC (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945) was a British soldier, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong (1907–1912) and Governor-General of Nigeria (1914–1919).

Early life and education

Lugard was born in Madras (now Chennai) in India, but was raised in Worcester, England. He was the son of the Reverend F. G. Lugard, a British Army Chaplain at Madras, and Mary Howard (1819–1865), the youngest daughter of Reverend John Garton Howard (1786–1862), a younger son of Yorkshire landed gentry. Lugard was educated at Rossall School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Military career

Lugard was commissioned into the 9th Foot (East Norfolk Regiment) in 1878, joining the second battalion in India, and serving in the following campaigns:

• Afghan War (1879–1880)
• Sudan campaign (1884–1885)
• Third Burmese War (1886–1887)

In May 1888, Lugard took command of an expedition organized by the British settlers in Nyasaland against Arab slave traders on Lake Nyasa, and was severely wounded.

Post-military career

After he left Nyasaland in April 1889, Lugard joined the Imperial British East Africa Company. In their service, he explored the Sabaki river and the neighbouring region, in addition to elaborating a scheme for the emancipation of the slaves held by Arabs in the Zanzibar mainland.

In 1890, Lugard was sent by the company to Uganda, where he secured British predominance of the area and put an end to the civil disturbances. The efforts came with severe fighting, chiefly notable for an unprovoked attack by the French on the British faction.

After the successful efforts to end disturbances, Lugard became Military Administrator of Uganda from 26 December 1890 to May 1892. While administering Uganda, he journeyed round Ruwenzori to Albert Edward Nyanza, mapping a large area of the country. He also visited Albert Nyanza, and brought away some thousands of Sudanese who had been left there by Emin Pasha and H. M. Stanley during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

When Lugard returned to England in 1892, he successfully persuaded Prime Minister William Gladstone and his cabinet from abandoning Uganda. In 1894, Lugard was despatched by the Royal Niger Company to Borgu, where he secured treaties with the kings and chiefs acknowledging the sovereignty of the British company, while distancing the other colonial powers that were there.

From 1896 to 1897, Lugard took charge of an expedition to Lake Ngami on behalf of the British West Charterland Company. From Ngami he was recalled by the British government and sent to West Africa, where he was commissioned to raise a native force to protect British interests in the hinterland of Lagos and Nigeria against French aggression.

In August 1897, Lugard organized the West African Frontier Force, and commanded it until the end of December 1899, when the disputes with France were composed.

Early colonial services

After he relinquished command of the West African Frontier Force, Lugard was made High Commissioner of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, a position he held until 1906. At that time, the portion of Northern Nigeria under effective control was small, and Lugard's task in organizing this vast territory was made more difficult by the refusal of the sultan of Sokoto and many other Fula princes to fulfil their treaty obligations.

In 1903, British control over the whole protectorate was made possible a successful campaign against the emir of Kano and the sultan of Sokoto. By the time Lugard resigned as commissioner, the entire Nigeria was being peacefully administered under the supervision of British residents. There were however uprisings that were brutally put down by Lugards troops. A Mahdi rebellion in 1906 at the Satiru, a village near Sokoto resulted in the total destruction of the town with huge number of casualties.

Governor of Hong Kong

About a year after he resigned as High Commissioner of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, Lugard was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, a position he held until March 1912. During his tenure, Lugard proposed to return Weihaiwei to the Chinese government, in return for the ceding of the rented New Territories in perpetuity. However, the proposal received less than warm receptions, and it was not acted upon. Some believed that if the proposal was acted on, Hong Kong might forever remain in British hands.

Lugard was largely remembered for his efforts to create the University of Hong Kong in 1911, despite the cold receptions from the imperial Colonial Office and most local British companies, such as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

"The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa"

"The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa" is one of Lugard's works regarding indirect rule in colonial Africa. In this work, Lugard outlines the reasons and methods that should be employed in the colonization of Africa by Britain. Some of his justifications included spreading Christianity and ending barbarism. He also saw state sponsored colonization as a way to protect missionaries, local chiefs, and local people from each other as well as from foreign powers. Also, for Lugard, it was vital that Britain gain control of unclaimed areas before Germany, Portugal, or France claimed the land and its resources for themselves. He realized that there were vast profits to be made through the exporting of resources like rubber and through taxation of native populations, as well as importers and exporters. In addition, these resources and inexpensive native labour (slavery having been outlawed by Britain in 1834) would provide vital fuel for the industrial revolution in resource depleted Britain as well as monies for public works projects. Finally, Lugard reasoned that colonization had become a fad and that in order to remain a super power, Britain would need to hold colonies in order to avoid appearing weak.

Lugard pushed for native rule in African colonies. He reasoned that black Africans were very different from white Europeans. Therefore, natives should act as a sort of middle manager in colonial governance. This would avoid revolt because, as Lugard believed, the people of Africa would be more likely to follow someone who looked like them, spoke their languages, and shared their customs. The technique was employed successfully by European colonial leaders.

Post-governorship

In 1912, Lugard returned to Nigeria as Governor of the two protectorates. His main mission was to complete the amalgamation into one colony. Although controversial in Lagos, where it was opposed by a large section of the political class and the media, the amalgamation did not arouse passion in the rest of the country. From 1914 to 1919, Lugard was made Governor General of the now combined Colony of Nigeria. Throughout his tenure, Lugard sought strenuously to secure the amelioration of the condition of the native people, among other means by the exclusion, wherever possible, of alcoholic liquors, and by the suppression of slave raiding and slavery.

From 1922 to 1936 he was British representative on the League of Nation's Permanent Mandates Commission.

Personal life

Lugard married Flora Louise Shaw in 1902. Flora was a distinguished writer on colonial subjects for "The Times". Lugard died on 11 April 1945.

Honours

Lugard was created Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1895. He was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1901 and raised to Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) in 1911. He was appointed to the Privy Council, entitling him to style himself "The Right Honourable", in the 1920 New Year Honours. [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=1 |supp=yes]

Published works

• In 1893, Lugard published "The Rise of our East African Empire", which was partially an autobiography. Also, Lugard was the author of various valuable reports on Northern Nigeria issued by the Colonial Office.
• "The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa", 1926.

Places named after him

• The Lugard Road at The Peak in Hong Kong
• Lugard Tower (the Faculty of Education Building in University of Hong Kong)
• Lugard Hall (a dormitory complex in the University of Hong Kong)
• Lugard Avenue Ikoyi Lagos, Nigeria
• Lugard Hall, Kaduna, Nigeria. Currently used by Kaduna State Nigerai House of Assembly. Pictures available
• Lugard Avenue Entebbe, Uganda
• Lugard House Rossall School, Fleetwood
• Many school dormitories, guest houses etc. in East Africa and West Africa are named Lugard House
• The fictional Lord Lugard's College, a preparatory school in Chinua Achebe's "Anthills of the Savannah", where three of the central characters were educated

Other References

• Wikipedia contributors. "Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.