SAMPSON, MAGNUS JOHN

Magnus John Sampson (May 17, 1900-July 27, 1958), an author of some standing, wrote Gold Coast Men of Affairs and other works.

He was the son of Peter Sampson, a barrister, and was born in 1900. He was educated at Winneba, at Mfantsipim in Cape Coast, and at Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he graduated B.A. in 1922. After graduation, he became a cadet inspector of schools, and taught for a time at the Government Teacher Training College in Accra. A few years later he resigned and became his father’s secretary. But his father died just when he had planned to send Magnus abroad to study law.

Early in 1937, he was invited by the paramount chiefs of the Central Provincial Council to become the secretary of that body. Here, the experience he had gained in law in his father’s chambers helped him when he became secretary-registrar of the judicial committee of the Provincial Council. During this period he also completed a thesis on institutional government for his M.A. from Durham University in England.

His book, Gold Coast Men of Affairs, is an invaluable source of material for biographies of eminent citizens of the country. He also wrote A Political Retrospect of the Gold Coast 1860-1930, and edited the speeches of J. E. Casely Hayford, published as West African Leadership (1940). In his writing he carried on the tradition of the early nationalists, who found time to write to educate their countrymen. His writings not only show familiarity with English history and literature, but also a deep understanding of African nationalism and culture.

In 1946 he visited England as the guest of the British Council. In 1949 he was a member of the Coussey Committee on Constitutional Reform. He was the territorial member of the Legislative Assembly from 1951 to 1954, and was also a member of the boards of governors of the Adisadel and Aggrey Memorial Colleges, a member of the Achimota School and Teacher Training Councils, and of the University College Council. He died in 1958.

J. EDUAM-BAIDEN