CUMMINGS, EUSTACE HENRY TAYLOR
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Eustace Henry Taylor Cummings (December 7, 1890 June 16, 1967), a distinguished doctor and educationist, was Mayor of Freetown from 1948-54.
PHOTO CAPTION: Eustace Henry Taylor Cummings. SOURCE: EA Library.
He was the son of a leading Krio (Creole) merchant, the Hon. Emmanuel Henry Cummings, M.Β.Ε. (Member of the British Empire), who was thrice Mayor of Freetown (1915, 1917-18, and 1921-22). Eustace was educated at the Wesleyan Boys’ School (now Methodist Boys’ High School), and from 1909- 11 studied at Fourah Bay College. He then went to Britain, where he became the first African to qualify as a doctor at the University of Liverpool. His medical qualifications were extensive, and were unique for an African at that time. From 1919-20 he was resident medical officer at the Lozelles General Dispensary in Birmingham, before returning to Sierra Leone in 1920 to join the medical service.
Attached to the sanitation department, he made an extensive tour of the Protectorate. In 1936, he was appointed medical officer at Kissy, a suburb of Freetown. Several Europeans on the medical staff resigned rather than be subordinate to an African doctor, but Cummings was unimpressed.
For years, he worked to improve the insanitary conditions of Freetown, advocating a proper drainage system and better ventilation in houses. By the time of his retirement in 1947, he was a senior medical officer. (He was later to return for another two years’ service from 1955-57).
In 1943, he had been a member of the Elliot Commission on Higher Education in West Africa, established by the British government. The commission’s recommendations resulted in the establishment of the university colleges of Ibadan and of the Gold Coast. Dr. Cummings himself advocated that Fourah Bay College be retained as a college of Durham University and be allowed to develop into an autonomous university, as subsequently happened.
In 1948 he became Mayor of Freetown, serving until 1954, and making contributions to both education and public affairs during his term of office as well as later on. Thanks to his representations, the Freetown City Council established the Interim Municipal School (now Regent Square Municipal School), and the colonial government built two new schools in Freetown.
From 1950-53, he was also president of the Fourah Bay College Council, being the first African to hold this position. Subsequently, in 1960, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Durham University for his services. In the same year, he was awarded the decoration of C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire).
Dr. Cummings was an active member of the Methodist Church and was also interested in tennis, football, and cricket. He died at the age of 77.
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