Although there had been an English/British presence in the region of the Gambia
since the 16th century, it was only in 1816, when the king of Kombo ceded the island
of Saint Mary (= Banjul), that British colonization of Gambia really started.
See below for the separate evolution of the Colony and the Protectorate
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BRITISH ADMINISTRATORS
Governors
1847 - 1851 Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell 1814 - 1881
1851 - 1852 Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy 1810 - 1883
1852 - 1859 Col. Luke Smythe O'Connor 1806 - 1873
1859 - 1866 Col. George Abbas Kooli D'Arcy 1818 - 1885
Administrators
Subordinated to the Governors of Sierra Leone until 1888.
1866 - 1869 RAdm. Charles George Edward Patey 1813 - 1881
1869 - 1871 Alexander Bravo
1871 - 1873 Jeremiah Thomas Fitzgerald Callaghan 1830 - 1881
1873 - 1875 Cornelius Hendricksen Kortright 1817 - 1899
1875 - 1877 Sir Samuel Rowe 1835 - 1888
1877 - 1884 Valerius Skipton Gouldsbury
1884 - 1886 Sir Cornelius Alfred Moloney 1848 - 1913
1886 - 1888 Sir James Shaw Hay 1839 - 1924
1888 - 1891 Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter 1848 - 1927
1891 - 1900 Sir Robert Baxter Llewelyn 1845 - 1919
1900 - 1901 Sir George Chardin Denton 1851 - 1928
Governors
1901 - 1911 Sir George Chardin Denton s.a.
1911 - 1914 LtCol. Henry Lionel Galway 1859 - 1949
1914 - 1920 Sir Edward John Cameron 1858 - 1947
1920 Herbert Henniker*
1921 - 1927 Sir Cecil Hamilton Armitage 1868 - 1933
1927 - 1928 Sir John Middleton 1870 - 1954
1928 - 1930 Sir Edward Brandis Denham 1876 - 1938
1930 - 1934 Sir Herbert Richmond Palmer 1877 - 1958
1934 - 1936 Sir Arthur Frederick Richards 1885 - 1978
1936 - 1942 Sir Wilfred Thomas Southorn 1879 - 1957
1942 - 1947 Sir (1944) Hilary Rudolph Robert Blood 1893 - 1967
The Colony of Gambia covered :
- the already mentioned island of Saint Mary/Banjul and the city of Bathurst,
- the "Rural Area"/British Kombo/Kombo-Saint Mary, a territory surrounding Bathurst,
formed by tracts of land ceded to the British, by different local rulers, between
1820 and 1850.
The Colony was governed by a Commissioner.
The Protectorate of Gambia came de facto into existence in 1889, after the division
of the region into British and French zones of influence.
It was formally organized in 1893. (1)
(1) British authority was only definitively imposed after the killing,in 1901,
of Foday Kaba, last of the islamic religious leaders who dominated the
country in the second part of the 19th century.
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BRITISH AUTHORITIES
Until 1935 British authority was exercised by two Travelling Commissioners, one for
each bank of the Gambiariver.
In 1935 the protectorate was divided into four divisions (Central, MacCarthy Island,
Upper-River and Western) each headed by a Commissioner subordinated to a Senior
Commissioner residing in the Colony.
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NATIVE AUTHORITIES
Native authority was exercised by District Heads("Seyfolu"). Originally 17, their
number later rose to 35.
Although the office - which was not a traditional one - was formally not hereditary,
it soon became the practice to select the incumbents from among the descendants of
the first holders of the office in 1893.
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