8.2a Interior Mission to Yorubaland 1893: Extracts from the Diary of G. B. Haddon-Smith, Political Officer. Background information

The Interior Mission was a journey through Yorubaland led by Governor Carter of Lagos, accompanied by G.B. Haddon-Smith and a group of soldiers. On his visit to Ilorin, Governor Carter talked with the emir. On leaving Ilorin, the party travelled toward the war camps of the Ibadan and Ilorin armies, with the aim of bringing to an end the long-running war between the two states, which had hampered movement and trade. Carter held meetings with the leaders of both sides, and succeeded in getting them to accept the Awere Stream as the boundary between Ilorin and Ibadan, and to agree to breaking up their camps.

The material provided here is taken from my notes on typewritten extracts from the Diary. Of interest here are various references to slaves, including two major elite slaves of the emir of Ilorin, an account of a visit to a slave market in Ilorin and a further report on slave-selling in markets in the town.

This work was formerly held in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) library. It had beenrecorded in the 1964 Catalogue of the Colonial Office Library, London (Boston: G. K. Hall). It has been transferred as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Collection to the Foyle Special Collections Library, King’s College London (see King’s College Library catalogue). In addition, a copy of the work has been deposited in the University of Birmingham Library, bound as two volumes: G. B. Haddon-Smith, Interior Mission to Yorubaland 1893: Extracts from the Diary of G. B. Haddon-Smith, No. 1; and G. B. Haddon-Smith, Interior Mission to Yorubaland 1893: Extracts from the Diary of G. B. Haddon-Smith, No. 2.