Gold Coast Diaries Chronicles of Political Officers in West Africa, 1900-1919

Thora Williamson first became interested in the Gold Coast when she met Howard Ross, who had been a District Commissioner there for many years. His love for and interest in the colony and the Ashanti inspired Thora Williamson and after his death she visited Ghana where she was captivated by the country and its people. By a fortunate accident, while reading in the Archives in Accra she stumbled upon diaries kept by other Administrative Officers and soon realised that they afforded a fascinating glimpse of the Ghana of 80 or more years before. On returning to England, she worked for two years as an assistant archivist in the Colonial Records Project at Rhodes House, Oxford. This gave her access to the numerous papers and photographs given to the project by other Colonial Officers. After her retirement, she frequently visited Ghana, spending most days in the Accra Archives. She completed Gold Coast Diaries shortly before her death in 1998 Anthony Kirk-Greene is Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford University Richard Rathbone is Professor of Modern History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of LondonWilliamson, Thora is the author of 'Gold Coast Diaries Chronicles of Political Officers in West Africa, 1900-1919' with ISBN 9781860644511 and ISBN 1860644511.