Campaign Groups and Pairs 323
Family Group:
Pair: Major W. F. W. Fosbery, C.M.G., O.B.E., Royal Defence Corps, also a distinguished Political Officer in West Africa, who was severely wounded during the Niger Coast Expedition against the Nibo in 1898, and was Mentioned in Commissioner R. Moor’s Despatch for his services in the Ishan and Ulia countries to the north-east of Benin City, March - May 1901. Fosbery eventually rose to be High Commissioner for Southern Nigeria, and later served as Consul for the Cameroons East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, 1899 (Political. Offr: W. F. W. Fosbery. Niger. C. P. Fce.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 3 clasps, S. Nigeria, S. Nigeria 1902, S. Nigeria 1902-03 (Mr. W. F. [sic] Fosbery, S. Nigeria Rgt.) mounted as worn, generally good very fine, scarce
India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1919-21 (Lt. F. C. W. Fosbery. R.E.) minor edge nicks, good very fine (3)
£2,000-£2,400
C.M.G. London Gazette 30 June 1905 (Senior Divisional Commissioner, Protectorate of Southern Nigeria). O.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919.
Widenham Francis Widenham Fosbery was born in Liverpool in October 1869. He joined the Colonial Service, and was appointed a Consular Agent for the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893. Fosbery was appointed District Commissioner of Southern Nigeria in 1896, before serving as Political Officer for the Central Division Expedition of 1898. He was severely wounded during the latter, and further detail is added by the following article which appeared in the Liverpool Press in 1898:
‘AFFAIRS IN WEST AFRICA FIGHTING IN THE NIGER PROTECTORATE.
THE SIERRA LEONE RISING. (REUTER'S TELEGRAM )
The mail steamer Bakana which has arrived in Liverpool from the West Coast of Africa brings intelligence of the Niger Coast expedition against the Nibo chief, who has been stopping trade. The Nibo chief was summoned to a palaver, but refused, and the troops attacked the town, which was protected by a thick bush stockade. The stockade was captured and the town demolished under heavy fire. Two British officers, Major Searle and Consul Fosbery, were wounded, and two native soldiers and a number of carriers killed. The chief escaped into the bush, but eventually came in and surrendered. No estimate could be formed of the Nibos killed. At Sierra Leone, the Naval Brigade, consisting of about 800 men, was landed from the warships there, and marched through the town. This is the first time in the history of that colony that such a proceeding has occurred, and the natives seemed greatly impressed. On the basis of information received from Sierra Leone and statistics collected it is computed that the loss of life through the rising in that colony will be found to be very little short of a thousand. No statistics have been received of the native war boys and native rebels killed by the British warships, the West Indian troops, and the Frontier Police, but information received leads to the belief that this list will be found to be an exceedingly heavy one.’
Fosbery was appointed Resident of Benin City in 1898, and served as Political Officer for the Benin Territory Expedition of 1899. He served in the same capacity for the Ishan Expedition of 1901 (for which Fosbery was Mentioned in High Commissioner R. Moor’s Despatch London Gazette 18 April 1902, ‘Mr. Widenham Fosbery, the Political Officer who accompanied the expedition, and assisted in providing carriers and transport, and showed great tact and judgement in dealing with the unfriendly tribes when the military operations were completed’), the Asaba Hinterland Expedition of 1902, and the Igarra Expedition of 1903. Fosbery served as Acting High Commissioner for Southern Nigeria, 1903-04, and as Deputy High Commissioner and Acting Secretary from the latter year. He also served as Provisional Commissioner and Member of the Executive Council and Legislative Council in 1906.
Fosbery, and his wife, were mentioned many times in the correspondence of Mary Slessor, the famous Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Nigeria, from her residence in Use, Southern Nigeria. Fosbery also received favourable mentions for his work as High Commissioner for Southern Nigeria from the author and much respected Africanist Percy Amaury Talbot. In particular in Life in Southern Nigeria which was finished in 1914. Talbot relates the following anecdote of a former District Commissioner -
A.C.Douglas:
"
.....The firm African Association, as I told you, had kept the secrets of the river and the bar to themselves, and rather resented the advent of a Government representative; they had of course the monopoly of all the trade for some years. Thompson their auditor, told me it was by far their most paying factory, and he hoped no opposition would ever come in. MacIver's agent in Opobo was the intruder, and it happened in this way. We were laying the Eket and Oron telegraph line in 1903-4 and ... the Calabar Secretariat started bombarding me with ... missives re getting telegraph material around. I wrote to the agent Twist to charter the steamer; he had a little liver that day, and replied, "the ------- Government could wait; he wanted a load of gin from Calabar first." I was annoyed at this, so went to Opobo that day overland, and just caught the yacht with Mr. Widenham Fosbery, Acting High Commissioner, on board, and got him to sign a contract with MacIver to bring our stuff round, I personally guaranteeing to pilot the vessel in; I also gave him a chart we had in our office, and he reached Eket safely, much to the annoyance and disgust of the agent, who had so long held the key of the situation.’
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