| Lagden | Godfrey Yeatman | | | He was born Sep 1, 1851, and educated at Sherborne School A bare recital of his official appointments shows that he has had a busy as well as a distinguished public career. He entered the Civil Service in the GPO, 1869-77; went to South Africa in the latter year; was sent by Sir Bartle Frere to the Transvaal, where he was attached to Sir T Shepstone's staff after the annexation; was appointed chief assistant to the then Colonial Secretary, and Private Secretary, to the Administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, 1875-81, and Secretary, to Executive Council. During the Boer War of 1881 he was present at the siege of Pretoria and was employed on the staff of the GOC HM forces there. He afterwards became Private Secretary to Administrators Sir Evelyn Wood and Sir Wilham Bellairs; was attached to the Royal Commission that sat in the Transvaal in 1881, and then became Secretary, to Transvaal Sub-Royal Commission on Compensation Claims, 1882. Sir Godfrey went to Egypt at the outbreak of war, and served as Special War Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph during the Egyptian Campaign, 1882-3, being present at all engagements, including Tel-el-Kebir, charge of Kassassin and occupation of Cairo; was appointed Assist. Colonial Secretary, Sierra Leone; employed on Special Financial Mission to Gold Coast, 1883. He accompanied Sir Marshal Clarke at the annexation of Basutoland, 1884, and assumed the offices of Secretary and Accountant of that territory; Assistant Commissioner, 1885; acted as Resident Commissioner, 1890; as British Commissioner, Swaziland, 1892; Resident Commissioner, Basutoland, 1892-1901. Sir Godfrey occupied important positions during the Boer War of 1899-01, and was several times mentioned in civil and military despatches, and was later Chairman of the Inter-Colonial South African Native Affairs Commission. It will thus be seen that Sir Godfrey Lagden has represented this country on various missions, but it was as British Resident in Basutoland that he made his reputation. "To use the power and influence of the chief as a means of governing and guiding the nation", was the motto of his rule, and it is claimed that his success has shown how a black population may be moulded and governed with its own consent. No greater evidence exists of Sir Godfrey's remarkable faculties for inducing in the native mind an appreciation of progressive measures than the result of the introduction of a Native Savings Bank and remittance agency established in the Transvaal in Sep, 1902, of which the natives have taken full advantage from its initiation. He indulges in most games and sports, played cricket for his county, and was engaged in first class football, athletics and rowing between 1869 and 1877. He has had considerable experience of big game shooting, and walked from the Cape Coast to Coomassie through the Ashanti country in 1883, shooting and collecting specimens. He married, in 1887, Frances Rebeka, daughter of the Rt Reverend Henry Brougham Bousfield, Bishop of Pretoria. | Unknown |
