PARKES, JAMES CHARLES ERNEST

James Charles Ernest Parkes (1861-August 10, 1899) was head of the Department of Native Affairs during the period of preparation for the British Protectorate, declared in 1896. A highly educated Krio (Creole) with extensive knowledge of the interior of Sierra Leone, he wished to establish a co-operative partnership between the British and Krios in the administration of the Protectorate. His ideas, however, did not find favour with the British, who preferred the tougher authority of district commissioners backed by armed forces.

Parkes was born in Freetown in 1861, the son of a disbanded West Indian soldier and his part-Nova Scotian wife. He was educated at the Church Missionary Society Grammar School, after which he worked in the Queen’s Advocate department before going to Britain to study law. Illness cut short his studies there, and on his return home in 1882 he was appointed assistant clerk to the commandant of Sherbro. In 1884, he was transferred to the Aborigines Department of the colonial secretary’s office and became involved in ‘native affairs.’

His knowledge of this subject was gained almost entirely from Thomas George Lawson, the long-serving government interpreter. The two men cooperated in preparing a long account of the districts and peoples in the vicinity of the Colony and their relations with the colonial administration. Lawson provided the material from his rich accumulation of knowledge and Parkes worked on the compilation. Both men were highly acclaimed for their work.

When Lawson first indicated in 1886 that he wanted to retire, there were doubts as to whether Parkes had gained sufficient respect and trust from the people of the interior to replace such an outstanding predecessor. At the same time, Parkes, dissatisfied with his low salary of £100 per annum, asked to be transferred to another area in British West Africa where he believed he would be better paid.

But as Lawson’s retirement became imminent, everything was done to retain Parkes’ services. Before he finally retired in 1888, Lawson recommended him as his successor. He was appointed superintendent of the Aborigines Department at a salary of £150 a year. The department was moved from the colonial secretary’s office and placed directly under the governor’s control. Parkes’ work extended rapidly. He was involved in formulating and implementing new policies of treaty-making, and with the construction of a frontier road, linking important produce-growing areas in the interior. In 1891 the Aborigines Department became known as the Department of Native Affairs with Parkes as secretary. Once again he demanded a higher salary commensurate with the work he was doing, and in 1893 it was increased to £250 with annual increments of £20.

In 1890 the Frontier Police Force was created with duties to guard the frontier road and keep the peace in the interior. It quickly became a rival to the Department of Native Affairs, Parkes and Captain E.A.W. Lendy of the Frontier Police vying with each other as to which agency should advise the administration on interior affairs; especially concerning the activities of Samori Touré, the Mandinka empire builder. Parkes was also openly critical of the Frontier policemen in their dealings with chiefs and their people. They tended to act as ‘little despots,’ he said, when not under official observation.

In November 1892, Parkes suggested that a protectorate should be declared over the area of British influence, and five Krio ‘political agents’ appointed to administer the different subdivisions. Their role would be to ‘advise and direct’ chiefs on such matters as clearing roads, implementing new agricultural schemes, and settling disputes. They would also prevent the imposition of severe punishment and see that treaty provisions were honoured.

Parkes’ suggestion of Krio administrators was intended to reduce the influence of the Frontier Police Force, and its rejection was a personal setback for him. The role of the Force increased, whilst that of Parkes and the Department of Native Affairs was correspondingly reduced. The clash between Parkes and Lendy continued over the question of Samori. Parkes advised the administration to maintain friendly relations with him, but Lendy claimed that, following reports from Frontier policemen, military action was necessary. The conflict between the two men reached its height when Lendy made various unfounded accusations against Parkes, one of which was that he was in receipt of bribes from Samori and that his reports were therefore unreliable. He also claimed that Muslim members of the Department of Native Affairs were acting as Samori’s arms-buying agents in Freetown.

Lendy continued to press for military action, and having persuaded the War Office in London to sanction it, a military expedition was launched. It resulted in the unfortunate events at Waima near the eastern frontier on December 23, 1893, when British and French forces, each mistaking the other for Samori’s Sofa troops, fired on each other with many fatal casualties, including Lendy himself.

In spite of Parkes’ total denial of Lendy’s allegations, Lord Ripon, Secretary of State, ordered an enquiry to be held. This was conducted by the Executive Council in 1894 and it resulted in Parkes being ‘unanimously and fully acquitted,’ and his public image completely reinstated. In 1894, Sir Frederick Cardew took up his appointment as governor, embarking on a series of three extensive tours of the interior, accompanied by Parkes. These were in preparation for the declaration of a protectorate which eventually took place in 1896.

Parkes and the governor held different views on taxation in the Protectorate. Accepting the need for taxation, Parkes held that a poll tax was preferable to a house tax and suggested a payment of 20 cents per head. He was also anxious that Frontier policemen should have nothing to do with tax collection since they roused fears of intimidation. Cardew, however, opposed the idea of a poll tax believing that it could be too easily evaded.

Realising that the collection of house tax would probably provoke opposition, Parkes suggested that district commissioners should find out the taxable values of the different chiefdoms and leave it to the chiefs to collect the amount, rather than doing it directly with the assistance of Frontier policemen. In this way, friction might be avoided. But this suggestion was also rejected, and Cardew’s scheme for collection went ahead as planned, resulting in the widespread war of resistance of 1898.

After the appointment of officers of the Frontier Police Force as district commissioners, Parkes’ influence speedily declined. His duties were limited to receiving communications from district commissioners, approving payments of stipends to chiefs, recommending the appointment of minor officials such as messengers and interpreters, and making transport arrangements. He was ignored by some district commissioners who wrote directly to the colonial secretary, although the letters were referred to him for comments.

His declining importance was underlined by Cardew in his evidence before the Chalmers inquiry commission, set up after the 1898 War of Resistance. Cardew stated that he regarded district commissioners as being better able to become cognisant of what is going on in the Protectorate than our official here’ (meaning Parkes). He also felt that with uniforms and armed men at their disposal, they commanded more respect, he might have added, induced by fear.

Parkes became ill in early 1899 and applied for leave, but various duties prevented him from going on leave. He died of nephritis on August 10, at the early age of 38. With his death, the Native Affairs Department was absorbed into the colonial secretary’s office. But it was in his work also Lawson’s that later administrators of the Protectorate were able to set up an effective and efficient system of administration.

AKIWANDE J. LASITE