Discovering Colonial office information can be a slightly
daunting prospect as the catalogue detail tends to be too sparse for effective
keyword looking. To help researchers, The country wide records these days
published a guide to Colonies and dependencies from 1782, which we are hoping
will be very beneficial. But by using way of an instance, permit’s remember
learning an outbreak of bubonic plague in West Africa.
The third exquisite bubonic plague pandemic, which commenced
in China at some point of the 1850s, spread alongside shipping lanes and
reached many ports by way of the end of the century. Colonial officers took outbreaks
very critically because of the lethal nature of the disorder and the potential
to purpose epidemics. At the time of the first global war, colonial medical
officials taken into consideration the sickness to be endemic in West Africa. Localized however regular outbreaks came about in the British colonies of
Sierra Leone, Gambia, Gold Coast (Ghana when you consider that 1957) and
Nigeria at some stage in the war years. Plague turned into an vital issue in
the medical history of the area and, together with tropical sicknesses like
yellow fever and malaria, a chief impact on urban planning, sanitation and the
layout of cities.
X marks the spot: a residence in Accra quarantined for the
duration of a deadly disease outbreak: CO 1069/forty five, Colonial office
photographic collection, undated but probably c. 1910.
The X marks a residence in Accra quarantined at some stage
in a pandemic outbreak: CO 1069/forty five, Colonial workplace photographic
collection, undated however likely c. 1910.
Suppose that we are gaining knowledge of the medical records
of Gold Coast for the duration of the first world struggle and want to find out
more approximately the occurrence of bubonic plague there. The original
correspondence relating to Gold Coast that was obtained via the Colonial
workplace could be an amazing area to begin. Those letters, notes and reviews
are now held in catalogue collection CO ninety six.
Although, a listing seek of CO ninety six for 1914 to 1918
the usage of ‘plague’ as key-word produces no effects. That is surprising given
that plague became a major problem of colonial medical officers at that time.
They knew how the disease unfold to people thru rats and fleas and had
attempted and tested way, such as quarantine and rat extermination, to prevent
its spread. They could discover in the laboratory the causal microorganism,
Yersinia pestis; there has been a reasonably powerful vaccine, Haffkine’s
prophylactic, evolved in India by way of the Ukraine-born immunologist Wald mar
Haffkine.
The purpose for the shortage of outcomes is that most
Colonial workplace correspondence series are not catalogued in any detail
before 1926. Catalogue description consists of best a time period indicating
the class of sender and a date range.
The fact that we are able to use keyword searching to become
aware of relevant documents gives a research hassle. To check for infrequent
references to plague we might want to order all of the correspondence volumes
and undergo them web page with the aid of page to discover relevant cloth. If
we were looking over a 20 to 30 12 months length, there might be over 2 hundred
volumes – quite a daunting challenge. The problem would be compounded if we
were taking a comparative technique across different colonies.
However there's a faster way – the usage of the finding aids
created with the aid of the Colonial office clerks on the time. While correspondence
arrived, clerks entered the information into registers, recording all the
records vital to retrieve it after it had been filed. These registers at the
moment are on the national archives, with a separate catalogue series for each
former colony. A brief catalogue seek indicates that the series for Gold Coast
registers is CO 343 and the check in for 1917, for example, is at CO 343/25.
A Colonial office register of correspondence recording the
receipt of a despatch on a scourge of plague: CO 343/25 Gold Coast check in of
Correspondence.
A Colonial office sign up of correspondence recording the
receipt of a despatch on an epidemic of plague: CO 343/25 Gold Coast sign up of
Correspondence.
These registers, with their rows and columns, looks as if
old skool spreadsheets. Each row facts an item of correspondence, even as the
columns display records inclusive of the sender, the date sent and acquired,
the subject, what turned into accomplished with the correspondence, and so on. Right
here we see a left-hand page of the Gold Coast register for 1917, which
statistics an object of correspondence on a virus of plague close to Accra.
The item with registry wide variety 17283 became dispatched
by means of the Governor of the Gold Coast, Alexander Slater, on nine March
1917. Which means that the original ought to be bound right into a volume in
series CO ninety six entitled ‘dispatches’ and protecting 9 March 1917. A list
seek shows that that is at reference CO ninety six/578. Having ordered this
quantity, it’s smooth enough to discover the subsequent cover or ‘docket’,
because the correspondence is filed so as of date sent.
Colonial workplace “docket” or cover, detailing a dispatch
on an endemic outbreak: CO ninety six/578, Gold Coast dispatches,
February-March 1917.
Colonial office ‘docket’ or cowl, detailing a dispatch on an
epidemic outbreak: CO 96/578, Gold Coast dispatches, February-March 1917.
The details on the quilt verify that this is the
correspondence we had been searching out. Interior are numerous reports from
the clinical and sanitary officials about a scourge of a sickness at the
village of Ofako, close to Accra, in February 1917. The Sanitary Officer feared
that the disease could spread to Accra and he reviews at the quantity of deaths
and the preventive measures taken.
The Sanitary Officer’s file on the outbreak of plague in
Ofako, February 1917: CO 96/578, Gold Coast dispatches, February-March 1917.
The Sanitary Officer’s document on the outbreak of plague in
Ofako, February 1917: CO ninety six/578, Gold Coast dispatches, February-March
1917.
CONFIDENTIAL PRINT STAMP
Inside the pinnacle left-hand of the duvet there is a stamp
which suggests that this correspondence became revealed for the use of the
Colonial workplace and gives the wide variety African 1051. If correspondence
becomes taken into consideration sufficiently important it turned into typeset
and revealed for circulation as ‘private print’. The African private print is
in series CO 879, and Africa 1051 is in catalogue reference CO 879/118/four. Here,
the dispatches on plague may be study collectively and in a greater handy form
– however, as the title is in pretty preferred terms, it might nonetheless have
kept away from a listing seek on plague. This illustrates that it’s crucial to
suppose carefully approximately key phrases: what phrases could have been used
at the time, or could the content be covered via a greater trendy term?
Dispatches revealed up and circulated within authorities as
'private print': CO 879/118/four, Africa, exclusive Print.
Dispatches printed up and circulated inside government as
‘private print’: CO 879/118/four, Africa, confidential Print.
Those reviews include much precious information, because the
Sanitation Officer outlines in detail measures taken towards a similarly
outbreak in Accra, in addition to wherein the disease had unfold via March
1917. He additionally discusses the mind-set of the local people. Sanitary
measures and quarantines, which frequently induced difficulty to neighborhood
human beings and interfered with their everyday lives and enterprise, had been
often mistrusted. They feared the disorder and resented being quarantined in
its proximity. The control of disorder turned into a social and political
query, now not simplest a technical or clinical count.
Reviews on bubonic plague printed for movement in the
Colonial office: CO 879/118/4, Africa, private print.
Reports on bubonic plague published for stream in the
Colonial workplace: CO 879/118/four, Africa, confidential Print.
The Colonial workplace correspondence is a wealthy supply
for clinical records, but different relevant data can be located within the
colonial government gazettes, annual statistical reviews and papers of the
nearby councils and assemblies
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