EASMON, JOHN FARREL
- 4 Min Read
 John Farrell Easmon (June 30, 1856- June 9, 1900), was a distinguished Sierra Leonean doctor who was chief medical officer of the Gold Coast from 1893- 97.
PHOTO CAPTION: John Farrel Easmon. SOURCE: EA Library
He was the son of Walter Richard Easmon, whose parents were probably members of the contingent of freedmen from Nova Scotia who landed in Freetown in 1792. John’s mother was Mary Ann McCormack, daughter of an adventurous Irish trader, John McCormack, who came to West Africa in 1812. He was educated in Freetown at a Roman Catholic primary school, and then at the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) Grammar School.
He then entered the Colonial Hospital in Freetown as a learner dispenser and nurse, hoping eventually to become a doctor. His father, who spent his life trading at Forecaria in the Northern Rivers area in what is now the Republic of Guinea, had lost his fortune when the French advance was resisted by the Soso, so he could not afford to pay for the education he had wanted to give his children. But his maternal grandfather, John McCormack, left him money on his death, enabling John Farrell Easmon to study in Europe.
He went to England in 1876, and entered University College Hospital in London, where he qualified as a medical doctor in 1879, winning the Liston clinical medal for surgery, and other prizes. After a brief spell of service in Ireland, he went to Brussels, Belgium, where he obtained another medical degree with distinction.
He returned to Freetown in 1880. The following year he was appointed as assistant colonial surgeon in Accra. He took his work seriously, and did much research on black water fever, the results of which were published in 1886. According to one authority, “his work on black water fever was the first original contribution made by an African doctor to European medical science.”
On eight occasions, he acted as chief medical officer in the Gold Coast. In 1893 he was appointed chief medical officer, a post he had failed to obtain in Sierra Leone. When Sir William Maxwell became governor of the Gold Coast (term of office 1895-97), he opposed an African heading the medical department, and advised the Colonial Office against such appointments. Opposition also came from another quarter. In 1894, Dr. B.W. Quartey Papafio, a Gold Coast medical officer, petitioned the British Secretary of State for the Colonies against Easmon’s appointment, on the grounds that Easmon was not a Gold Coaster, and that Papafio himself deserved the position.
PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. John Farrell Easmon and his brother, Albert Whiggs Easmon in Accra, Ghana in 1897. SOURCE: EA Library
The Gold Coast Chronicle, partly owned by Dr. Papafio, published an article attacking Easmon on June 23, 1894. This dispute led the Sierra Leoneans in Accra to found a paper, The Gold Coast Independent, that was published from 1895-98. Governor Maxwell used Easmon’s connection with the Gold Coast independent and the fact that he was carrying on private practice, which was against regulations, to suspend him from his post. But Dr. Quartey Papafio did not get the appointment.
When Easmon went on leave to London in 1897, he defended himself before the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Secretary was apparently quite satisfied, and asked Easmon to return to his post in Accra. But in his absence, Governor Maxwell had appointed Easmon’s deputy, a European, as chief medical officer. On Easmon’s return, he was asked to proceed to Kumase. He refused, and instead moved to Cape Coast, where he set up in private practice, after which Cape Coast merchants offered him a retainer fee of £1,000 a year. He died of pneumonia at Cape Coast in 1900, after a three-days illness.
ARTHUR ABRAHAM
