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The British accepted that some
Africans would be part of the
governing class, while others would
take orders and hold different
positions in the hierarchy. In
preparing for rule, nothing was
considered more effective than
public school education, a British
“public” school in fact being both
private and expensive. Uganda’s
King’s College, Budo, was formed
along public school lines and was
(and still is) an excellent school.
Edward Mutesa (1924–69) was
educated at Budo and went on to
Cambridge and the army, where he
was enrolled as a captain in the
Grenadier Guards. He was the
Kabaka of Buganda, the kabakaship
being an Anglo-African institution
by this time, and when he died,
merited two funerals, that were
conducted with full military honors
both in Uganda and London.
By now, the British military had
become rather more genteel than it
was in the past, and was used as a
model in British Africa in the early
days, later taking a back seat to the
state, the professions and the
business world.
The use of the military model
was also prominent in French
colonies, the splendidly-named
Louis-Léon-César Faidherbe having
been germane in establishing the
French colonial empire in Africa and
transforming Senegal into the
dominant military and political
power in West Africa. In the 1850s he
had African volunteers, dressed in
fetching uniforms, taking oaths on
the Qur’an and listening to stories
of French military triumphs; there
was even the notion of providing
replica uniforms for the children,
to influence them in the way that
they should go. Faideherbe’s
economic regime was able to
pay for his innovations, and he
was a more skilled manager than
most, but others were unable to
combine economic and
organizational success.
But the military was not the
sole focus: besides soldiers, Africans
also became teachers and ministers
of religion. Fourah Bay College, in
Sierra Leone, was founded as
early as 1827, and was a magnet for
the repatriated and for Africans
seeking higher education, its aims
being mainly focused on the
Christian ministry.
The British did not favor force to
hold their empire steady, preferring
the co-operation of local kings,
headmen, tribal elders, and other
authority figures, who would often
be imbued with the almost mystical
notions the British attached to their
own monarchy. Honors would be
given out, fêtes organized, and
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