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For his assistance with my research, primarily conducted in 2008 and 2009, I thank my colleague in the field Nana Kwa Nyanfueku Akwa (d. 2015), Anomabo's local historian to whom I am forever indebted. I am also grateful to abusuapanyin Inspector Acquah Harrison and caretaker Paul Norty, who provided valuable family information. I greatly appreciate the valuable comments provided by Robin Poynor and James Essegbey, who read my draft and to the peer-review editors for their useful comments.
Notes
1 The Italianate and Queen Anne styles, the two most popular architectural styles in Britain during the latter half of the nineteenth century, may have been known to Amonoo via direct experience with buildings in Britain, or more likely, pattern books that were distributed across the British Empire. The Italianate, an extension of the classical style, was popular for nearly a century, particularly among the rising middle-class (Sutcliffe Citation2006). Brick or stone masonry, a roof with a shallow pitch, classical architectural detail, bracketed eaves, bay and clustered windows, verandas, and a tall square tower identify the style. The Italianate style in Britain had its peak popularity when Queen Victoria's Osborne House was completed in 1851. The style was “codified, developed and promoted in the rush of architectural pattern books from the beginning of the nineteenth century which served an eager market.” These “books provided knowledge in the form of information and advice which empowered their middle class clients” (Hubbard Citation2003, pp. 56–60).
2 The beginnings of rammed earth construction in Ghana have been extensively researched by anthropologist Vincent Kenneth Tarikhu Farrar and archaeologist Kwesi James Anquandah, principally in the Shai Hills and eastern Accra plains. Their findings revealed that this technology may date to the Neolithic period. It may have been independently invented, or it may have been adapted from either the Mande groups to the north (Western Sudan) or groups to the east such as those from the Dahomey-Yoruba-Benin cultural sphere (modern-day Republic of Benin and Nigeria).
3 The Fante merchant and Methodist George Kuntu Blankson lived in Anomabo for most of his life. Anomabo's 10 asafo companies elected Blankson to be their commander in chief, or tufuhen, in 1863 upon hearing that the Asante had invaded the Assin district. Blankson led the companies to war in Mansu after financing much of the artillery. He led these forces along with the 2nd West Indian Regiment against the Asante at Bobikuma. After these successes, Governor Richard Pine commissioned Blankson as lieutenant colonial of the Native Forces. Blankson successfully negotiated with the asantehene, or head chief of the Asante kingdom, to reopen trade routes in 1866. He joined the short-lived Fante Confederacy (1868–1873), which attempted to diminish European power on the coast (“The Late,” September 3, 1898). During this time, Blankson commissioned an addition to Castle Brew (c. late 1860s–early 1870s) in the same Palladian style and stone construction method employed by Irishman Richard Brew (Castle Brew, c. 1763–1765) and Scotsman Brodie Cruickshank (first addition, c. 1841–1844).
4 The first appearance of Amonoo in the records is a mention in the local newspaper as “Barrister Ata-Amonu” in 1913 (“General,” February 8, 1913, p. 2). It is unknown if he trained specifically as a barrister in England. It is equally likely that he received a general liberal education in England or on the Gold Coast, and qualified as a barrister on the Gold Coast sometime afterward. According to one newspaper report, “There were no trained legal men in those days when mandates were indiscriminately granted to semi-educated men to practice as solicitors and barristers of the Supreme Court. On the constitution of the Supreme Court in 1876 provision was made in the Ordinance constituting the same to examine and admit persons who showed an aptitude to qualify themselves as local practitioners. Those who offered themselves were all, with the exception of a few, men who had received sound liberal education in England. Of this galaxy of brilliant local practitioners may be mentioned, George Blankson Jr…and others who adorned the Gold Coast Bar with remarkable forensic ability.” (“Notes,” The Gold June 1, 1916, p. 4)The Anomabo Traditional Area encompasses an area of roughly 50 square miles and includes 64 villages and towns, counting the city of Anomabo. The chief, or omanhen, of the state of Anomabo resides in the city of Anomabo.
5 Construction of the impressive two-story structure known today as the Omanhen's Palace began in 1639 or 1640 as a Dutch lodge. It is possible that Heindrick Caerlof, a.k.a. Sir Henry Carlof, a Polish-born mercenary working for the Dutch West Indian Company and others, was responsible for the original design. The company would have employed local Fante builders to assist in the construction. Work was temporarily halted when the English told the Dutch that the Fante territory had been ceded to the English. Yet, after the arrival of the Dutch commander, Arent Jacobsz van der Graeff (1557–1642), the lodge was soon completed under his supervision (Flather, Citation1966; Anquandah, Citation1999). When the second Dutch-Anglo war ended in 1667, the British gained the foothold in Anomabo and began building Fort Charles near the water in the early 1670s. I contend that the town chief inhabited the Dutch lodge during this time and, through appropriate ritual actions, transformed it into his royal palace. Fort Charles was in ruins by the early eighteenth century. The French and British fought for the omanhen's approval for 20 years (1730s–1750s) to build another fort in that location. By the 1750s, the British African Company of Merchants had gained the privilege and began building the fort known today as Fort William, completed in 1759 (Priestley, Citation1969).
6 This technology was transported from Europe to the coast for European structures and is also commonly found in the Caribbean and Brazil.
7 The Ebenezer Rest Stop and Hotel was built in front of the Amonoo residence, leaving only a 12-inch clearance, essentially blocking the entire façade. Thus the house can barely be seen from the coastal highway and town today. When it was first constructed, however, the palace would have been exceptionally impressive.
8 Coastal elite homes once occupied every major port town on the Gold Coast, but today only a few survive in Cape Coast and Anomabo. The Fante are the dominant ethnic group along the coast in the Central Region of Ghana and are a subgroup of the Akan peoples.
9 Numerous courtyard houses were built in Anomabo and generally all across the Fante region. Fante courtyard plans may have a front row of rooms, one or two rooms deep, with rooms behind that enclose a quadrangle space or courtyard. Architect A. D. C. Hyland stated that this type of construction appears to be indigenous to Cape Coast and Anomabo.
10 Other Coastal Elite homes of the period in Anomabo exhibit offbeat phrasing in the plans, altering the space of a borrowed Palladian hall and chamber plan or Afro-Portuguese sobrado, where rooms are arranged alongside a central corridor. Amonoo chose to make this preference visible on the exterior. For more information on the utilization of the sobrado plan on the Gold Coast, see Micots, Citation2015, pp. 42–63. For another example of the African appropriation of the sobrado, see Mark, Citation2002.
11 He also supported the fund in 1917. “In Aid,” The Gold, January 18, 1917, p. 4.
12 Amonoo is listed as one attendee among many coastal elite members at an ARPS war fund meeting held in late September 1914. (“The Gold Coast Aborigines War Fund,” The Gold Coast Nation, Oct. 15–22, 1914, p. 2).
13 C. Woolhouse Bannerman was the great-grandson of James Bannerman (1790–1858), a mixed-race merchant (Scottish and Fante) who became a lieutenant and acting governor of the Gold Coast from 1850–1851. He also helped to introduce the Legislative Council. Doortmont, Citation2005, p. 118.
14 Repeated in The Lagos January 28, 1920, p. 7.
15 Van Hein was also manager of the newspaper The Gold Coast Nation.
16 Although it was decided at this meeting that the correct title was the Conference of Africans of British West Africa, it was not used in future newspaper articles or by academics. The “National Congress of British West Africa” was formed at the close of the Conference (Kimble, Citation1963, p. 383).
17 Caps printed in article. Also, see “British,” The Gold, April 9–17, 1920, pp. 6–7; “British,” The Times of Nigeria, April 12–19, 1920, pp. 6–7. The articles mention that a group photograph was taken on March 24 of the “Conference Body.” See .
18 A meeting was held on July 19 in Saltpond with Amonoo, Brew, and Sekyi giving speeches. “Saltpond,” The Gold Coast Leader, August 14, 1920, p. 7. Delegates from all four British West African countries went to London, including Mills, Van Hien, and Casely Hayford from the Gold Coast (Kimble, Citation1963).
19 Delegates were influenced by American President Wilson's doctrine of self-determination.
20 The Legislative Council debated the formation and goals of the Conference in their meeting on April 25 and 27, 1921. More specifically Casely Hayford led an attack on Nana Ofori Atta, chief of Akyem Abuakwa (reigned 1912–1943), bringing to light Ofori Atta's views that separated the goals of the Conference from those of the chiefs regarding council appointments. “Editorial Notes,” The Gold Coast Leader May 14, 1921, p. 4. Ofori Atta, educated in Basel Missions schools, and Amonoo V both sat on the Legislative Council since 1916; Amonoo V supported Ofori Atta's views and urged that the powers of the chiefs should be increased. For more information about the ARPS, Conference, and the complex internal politics that eventually divided the chiefs and elite class, see Kimble, pp. 358–403. For an image of both men, see the photograph of the Legislative Council of 1919, in Kimble, plate 3b, opp. p. 100.
21 He and Brew returned from Calabar January 29, 1921.
22 The article stated: “Prince Kwamin Atta-Amonoo, Barrister-at-law, son of the late Honorourable Nana Amonu V, of Anamaboe who is now residing at Calabar in Nigeria, arrived here this week with his friends Mr. Lovelace Johnson, and W. Ward Brew, Barrister-at-law who also lately returned from Europe. We gladly welcome Mr. Brew and Prince Atta-Amonu in our midst.”
23 Additionally, in footnote 133, Okoye noted that Lagos was part of the Gold Coast colony from 1874 to 1886.
24 Family descendants provided me in 2009 with the location of the accident.
25 The Anomabo residence of prominent merchant Samuel Collins Brew (c. 1810–February 2, 1881) collapsed prior to 1929, but was likely constructed in a similar style using brick and stone before 1867, when he filed for bankruptcy.
26 Members of the Fante Confederacy William Edmund Davidson, vice-president, James Faustus Amissah, secretary, and James Hutton Brew, under secretary, were arrested on November 30, 1871, on the charge of high treason. On December 1 and 3, he also had George Blankson Jr. (Blankson's son), Samuel Ferguson, J. D. Hayford, and two others arrested. Though all these men were eventually released on bond, they pursued the injustice of the arrests, and by March of 1873, they were vindicated and allowed “some compensation.” In the letter of the Earl of Kimberley to Robert William Keate, the Earl stated that it is proper to allow them “some compensation” on account of the acting administrator's proceedings.
27 Two members of the hierarchy were elected and appointed as acting king-president until an “educated man” could be agreed upon. On November 24, 1871, the other positions were filled by William Edmund Davidson, vice-president, James Faustus Amissah, secretary, and James Hutton Brew, under secretary; Francis Chapman Grant, treasurer; and Josiah Myles Abadoo, assistant treasurer. Amendment B. Ibid.
28 After Blankson's troops lost an important battle against the Asante in 1873, the Fante chiefs were so angry, they accused him of treason (“The Late,” The Gold, September 3, 1898). After long debate in the Supreme Court of Cape Coast, Blankson was acquitted on March 16, 1875, and the chiefs were ordered to pay Blankson ₤2,000 in damages (“The Blankson,” The Gold, March 31, 1875). His reputation was restored, but he backed away from public life (“The Late,” The Gold, September 3, 1898).
29 Franklin House in Accra, which once overlooked the busy nineteenth-century harbor, may have served as another inspiration for the Blankson Addition, as they share a similar Palladian design and construction method. For an image of the Franklin House in the late nineteenth century, see “Old Trading Post, Christiansborg,” Basel Mission Archives, D-30-1-22, by Rudolf Fisch, http://www.bmarchives.org/items/show/56003. Franklin House was built around 1800, probably by a Danish merchant, who used it as a residence and slave-trading fort. Danish contractors taught local craftsmen of the Ga ethnic group how to build this and several other Danish buildings in the area using stone nog. The Danish area is located primarily in sections of old Osu and Jamestown in Accra (Wellington, Citation2011). By 1850 Danish properties on the coast had been transferred to the British, and thus it was a British property at the time Blankson might have drawn inspiration. It is possible that elderly Ga builders or their descendants assisted with the Blankson addition, or other contractors copied the Franklin house closely. Though this property is not on the list of forts transferred by the Danish, it was likely sold soon thereafter “Country,” August 31, 1850). The property is named after Harry Verney Alfred Franklin from England, who purchased it in 1949. Nii D. Nsakie II, personal communication, February 20, 2012.
30 The Asante attack on June 15, 1807, decimated the population of Anomabo, which never fully recovered (Flather, p. 102). Modern Ghana was essentially a British colony from 1874 to 1957, though the Asante kingdom was not fully defeated until 1896. The third Anglo-Asante war ended in 1874, when General Garnet Wolseley, with 2,500 British troops and several thousand West Indian and African troops, including some Fante Asafo troops, defeated the Asante. The last Asante attempt to resist British authority took place in 1895–1896 and ended in Asante defeat. Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh was deposed and sent into exile. However, the coastal area had all the makings of a colony since the signing of the Bond of 1844 (Kimble, Citation1963).
31 The British did not impose building restrictions on locals during the periods when Blankson and Amonoo were constructing buildings. The British read these buildings as assimilation along with the adoption of British manners, dress, and furniture. The coded messages found in all Fante arts of this period were apparently lost on the British. Arcades are used in Ghanaian homes today, not as a political statement but as part of the local vernacular.
32 A date of 1883 was provided to me by Quansah's descendants in 2009, and was not confirmed with paperwork. It may date closer to the turn of the century.
33 Asafo flags were created in greater numbers in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The first posuban was constructed in 1883. For a short list of references, see Cole and Ross, Citation1977; Ross, Citation2007; Ross, Citation1979; Labi, Citation2002.
34 Ross has noted the inclusion of British heraldic lions, cannons, cannonballs, dragons, leopards, swords, clocks, the lock and key, warships, whistles, barrels, equestrians, airplanes, picks and shovels, anchors, chains, mermaids, British coats of arms, the Union Jack, a compass, a griffin, and a unicorn in asafo arts. Ross, Citation1979; Ross, Citation1980; Ross, Citation1981; Ross, Citation2007; Cole & Ross, The Arts of Ghana, 1977, pp. 186–199.
35 For more information on Ghanaian Fancy Dress, see Micots, “Performing,” 2012; Micots, “Fancy Dress” and “Masquefest,” 2012; Micots, Citation2014.
36 A particularly lively article describes a Fancy Dress Ball in 1913 in Cape Coast attended by local elites dressed as a Red Indian, an Indian Prince, John Bull, a Spanish Cavalier, and Madam Judy of Punch and Judy. K. A., “A Tribute,” The Gold, June 21, 1913, pp. 5–6.
37 “Carnival” was listed for August 25 at 3:30 pm and a “Fancy Dress Ball” for August 26 at Government Gardens in the evening.
38 For the appropriation of the International Style, see Hess, Citation2006, p. 75; and of Postmodernism, Micots, Citation2010, pp. 271–272.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Courtnay Micots
Courtnay Micots (Ph.D., African Art History, University of Florida; [email protected]) is the Assistant Professor of Art History at Florida A & M University. Previously she was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Wits Art Museum, University of the Witwatersrand. She has taught at Florida Southern College, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the University of South Florida, Elon University, and for the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana in Legon. Recent publications include “Status and Mimicry: African Colonial Period Architecture in Coastal Ghana” in the March 2015 issue of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Her research focuses on resistance arts within architecture, carnival and textiles.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/rcin.