The Remarkable Rev William Hughes and the African Institute of Colwyn Bay
The group met at Peniel Chapel on 18th April 2024 where our Chair Kevin Slattery welcomed everyone and introduced Dr Marian Gwyn, our speaker for the evening.
Dr Gwyn is a heritage consultant, writer and researcher who is published in peer-reviewed journals and teaches courses on history and heritage management. She has wide expertise in many areas of history and heritage and is a regular, and very popular, speaker to Deganwy History Group.
The African Institute of Colwyn Bay ran for twenty two years from 1890 -1912 and where over one hundred students, mainly from West Africa were trained and educated. Dr Gwyn described the story of the Institute as a complex and nuanced one. She began this story by focussing on its founder, the Reverend William Hughes (1856-1924). Reverend Hughes was brought up in the Welsh Baptist tradition during a radical religious period in Wales. It was his ambition to became a missionary in Africa and, after learning English, he attended a Baptist Missionary College for two years in order to achieve his ambition. The selection process to become a missionary was an arduous one, many societies sent missionaries to Africa including the Baptist Missionary Society which was the largest one.
The work of a missionary was very dangerous with a high death rate from diseases such as malaria. In spite of this William Hughes persisted and was accepted for a missionary post after three attempts. In 1882 he landed at the port of Banana, sited at the entrance to the Congo. He then took a river boat to Bayneston Station. The incumbent missionary died within two weeks of Williams arrival so he quickly became the head of the missionary station.
Unlike many Europeans working in Africa William Hughes was very respectful of indigenous cultures and religions, possibly drawing on his own experiences within Welsh culture, and he didn’t want to see this decline of culture happening in Africa. Christianity was well-established in parts of Africa and most missionary stations were run and funded by Africans. The idea of bringing Africans over to the UK and giving them education, training and skills which they could bring back to their own communities began to take root. The vision of the African Institute of Colwyn Bay started to take shape.
William returned to North Wales in 1885 having been very ill with malaria, bringing two young boys named Kinkasa and Nkanza with him. He settled in Colwyn Bay, probably because of its rail links and proximity to Liverpool, the main port trading with Africa. Congo House in Colwyn Bay became the building housing the African Institute. Funding for the Institute was wholly dependent on donations and subscriptions.
The students were mainly boys and they often arrived on cargo ships. At the Institute they learned skills such as tailoring and printing, not only within the Institute but also in Colwyn Bay itself. Dr Gwyn showed the audience photographs of the students work with Powlstons Printers which is still a thriving business today.
Entertainments were organised at the Institute. There were Tea Parties where the students could tell visitors their stories. Many African and American visitors came and we were shown a letter from an African prince praising the work of the Institute. A cricket team was formed, thought to be the first all-black cricket team in the UK and a member of the audience told us this team played against local schools such as Abergele County School. Over the years over one hundred students were trained, typically staying at the Institute for two years. Some students moved on to other parts of the UK to gain teaching or medical degrees which they could take back to Africa.
William Hughes returned to Africa to encourage more students to come to the Institute and on his return wrote a book “Dark Africa and the Way Out” written to counter H M Stanley’s views of Africans.
After 22 years the Institute closed: There were several reasons for this:
After the closure of the Institute William Hughes continued with his work running English and Welsh Baptist Chapels around Colwyn Bay and participating in the cultural life of the town. In 1917 he decided to go back to Africa but was unable to do so due to World War One restrictions. However he blessed and sent two thousand hymn books, written in the Cameroon language. The people of Colwyn Bay gave him a commendation, praising all his work, particularly the work of the African Institute.
Our speaker concluded her talk by discussing the legacy of William Hughes which still resonates today in Africa: Former students of the Institute include;
Dr Ladipo Oluwole, who continued his studies at Liverpool University then became the first Nigerian Medical Officer of Health
Dr Ayodeji Oyejola, who studied medicine at Edinburgh University and returned to Africa to become a doctor in Nigeria specialising in the treatment of smallpox
Ernestina Francis, Headmistress
Lulu Coote, one of two mixed-race women who continued her studies and became a nurse in South Africa
Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu who returned to Africa to be a founder member of a HE College for black students and a teacher and mentor to Nelson Mandela
There are many more who returned to Africa and fulfilled William Hughes’ vision. In a letter to a friend in Africa he wrote “Do not forget to remember me” and after such an interesting and engaging talk Dr Gwyn’s audience are unlikely to forget such a pioneer of diversity and inclusion.
Diane Williams
Useful resources
1. Exhibition in Colwyn Bay Heritage Centre until December 2024:
http://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Spotlight/Press-Releases/
(go to 13th March 2024, and select “Re-Imagining Congo House/African Institute”)
2. YouTube video, The Remarkable Reverend William Hughes and the African Institute of Colwyn Bay
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN9WdVfj4bE
The History of Deganwy Group are not responsible for the information in these two links. Please respect the copyright of the content in these web pages.
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