PORTER, ARTHUR THOMAS
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Arthur Thomas Porter (1834-1908) was a wealthy businessman who plied a dubious but profitable trade in supplying indentured labour from Freetown to the Zaire (present-day Congo). He became the consular agent for the Congo Free State, but his appointment was terminated after protests mounted in England concerning his activities.
He was born in 1834, the son of an Afro-West Indian father who became manager of the village of Kent at Cape Shilling, near Freetown, in the 1830s, and a mother of Maroon descent. His career started modestly as an artisan, employed as a mason in the building of Samaria Church during the 1850s. Two decades later he had become a highly successful businessman.
After the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, and following the successful maneuvers of King Leopold of Belgium for the recognition of his Congo Free State by the great powers at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the way was open for the export of indentured labourers to work there. With a flow of immigrants into Freetown from the interior, private contractors were well placed to expedite ‘indentured labourers’ after signing a contract with them before a magistrate.
Given the conditions in which contract labourers worked in the Congo, these contractors were in reality nothing more than slave traders, operating with the blessing of the colonial administration. Porter was one of the biggest exporters of labour to the Congo. He had a flourishing business at Gibraltar Wharf, below Kissy Street, supplying contract materials for military installations. He found it more profitable, however, to ship labourers without official sanction.
In 1891 complaints were made that labourers shipped to the Congo were being badly treated, and Porter was sent to investigate. He found much dissatisfaction, but also evidence that some of their complaints were exaggerated. In consequence, no official protest was made by the Colonial Office in London. Instead, Porter was appointed consular agent for the Congo Free State in 1893.
Earlier, in 1892, Porter had built an imposing stone hotel in Wilberforce Street, called Porter’s Royal Hotel. It was modelled on his recollections of establishments seen in Europe, which he had first visited in 1887, and had an European manageress. The recruiting of labour for the Congo aroused protest in England.
The United States ambassador in London made accusations that Porter was to all intents and purposes reviving the slave trade, and it was reported that he had been contacted to supply labour for the South African mines. When the Congo government terminated his appointment as consular agent, the Freetown administration took stringent measures to restrict the export of labourers. Thereafter effective control was imposed to end a scandalous situation.
After this reversal of fortune, Porter became a devout churchman. On December 7, 1895, he was reported to be among cathedral members signing an address to E.G. Ingham, bishop of Sierra Leone. By the time he died in 1908, he had become a member of the prestigious Anglican denomination, and was described as an ardent churchman and Treasurer of the Native Pastorate church.
ARTHUR ABRAHAM
