Capitalism In The Colonies: African Merchants in Lagos, 1851 - 1931 [Chapters 11 - 12]

We can only remember the past by recording it

Only the Adaptive Survive

By the 1880s, African merchants in Lagos were at a pivotal moment. The dominance of large European firms in the colonial economy posed a significant challenge, particularly as profits from primary exports like palm oil dwindled. A popular newspaper at the time, The Lagos Times, as early as 1891, cautioned that individual merchants would struggle against the might of organized European companies, advocating for a native business coalition to level the playing field. Despite these warnings, the early 20th century witnessed a decline in African merchant families. The once-prominent middlemen, crucial for distributing imported goods across the hinterlands, found themselves on the margins due to the advent of new colonial infrastructure, especially railways, which reduced the need for intermediaries. However, amidst these challenges, some middlemen displayed remarkable resilience, adapting by moving deeper into the interior and finding new roles as brokers or agents.

The Saro community, originally freed slaves who returned from Sierra Leone, were prominent in Lagos's merchant class. Known for their cosmopolitan education and fluency in English, Saro merchants leveraged their connections to British firms to sustain their businesses in the export trade. Figures like Samuel Pearse and Peter Thomas became key exporters in 1900-1920. However, their success was tempered by economic instability and shifting colonial policies. Generational shifts saw a reduced emphasis on commerce among younger Saro, many of whom entered other professions, weakening the community's mercantile legacy.

Despite the constraints of colonial economics, some Lagos merchants were not deterred. They pioneered new economic activities to counter the shrinking profits in established trades like exporting agricultural staples. William Dawodu, for instance, emerged as a pivotal figure in transportation. Recognizing the growing urban population's need for mobility, he established one of Lagos's earliest public transportation services in 1913. His service was innovative and laid the foundation for future Lagosian entrepreneurs who would enter public transport, thereby setting a model for urban service industries.

Isaac Cole, another entrepreneur, also recognized the need for diversification. He ventured into construction and real estate, creating rental properties as the population in Lagos grew. His construction work on "massive and elegant" premises for expatriates and local elites underscored the development of Lagos's physical and economic landscape and his contribution to an emerging service sector that was instrumental in urban growth.

Mechanization among African merchants was a significant response to competition with European firms. African entrepreneurs like Peter Thomas explored ways to add value within limited colonial constraints. Thomas established one of Lagos's first tanneries, a risky venture that met the rising demand for leather in the colony. His tannery processed local hides and skins for export and domestic markets, allowing Nigerian merchants to control more of the production cycle and minimize reliance on imported goods.

Beyond leather, Thomas further diversified by establishing a flour mill, which reduced the community's dependence on imported flour. The move into mechanized flour production, a significant industrial undertaking, demonstrated Thomas's innovative approach to local demands and his foresight in entering industries typically dominated by expatriate firms. This flour mill was a pioneering effort in the local production of a staple food item, and it helped reduce the colony's reliance on imported goods. Moreover, textile processing became another promising field, as merchants took imported cloth and applied traditional Yoruba dyeing techniques, adding cultural value and catering to local tastes. This hybrid textile industry offered an early example of value-added production, with African entrepreneurs like Thomas creating goods that resonated with local consumers while maintaining a competitive edge in pricing.

Candido da Rocha represents one of the most notable examples of African financial innovation during this period. With a substantial inheritance and business acumen, Da Rocha expanded his family's wealth by shifting from trade to extensive real estate investments in prime Lagos areas, including the Marina. His ventures included establishing properties like "Water House" and "Iron House" in central Lagos, where he provided financing options for other African merchants who needed capital to expand their businesses or venture into new fields. This patronage role helped create a rentier class within the African community, as property ownership became a viable pathway to wealth and financial stability under colonial rule.

Da Rocha's entry into finance also manifested in his participation in the short-lived Lagos Native Bank. Founded in 1902, this bank was intended to issue loans to locals on the security of real estate and furniture, operating as an early attempt to formalize credit in Lagos. The Lagos Native Bank was a significant, though brief, attempt to establish an African-controlled financial institution when European-controlled banks dominated the financial landscape. Though the bank faced operational difficulties and eventually failed, it highlighted da Rocha's innovative spirit. His real estate ventures ultimately sustained his wealth through the colonial period, and he continued to hold properties in Lagos even as property values fluctuated.

This chapter tells the stories of how African merchants survived a commercial environment in which policies on infrastructure, technology, and institutions were no longer designed to help them thrive, unlike the earlier decades when the commercial environment was African and nurtured as an alternative to the slave trade. The new colonial economy was firmly extractive and European. The efforts of these resilient Lagos merchants to diversify had moderate success, but they failed to make any connections with the world in the same way as the export of primary commodities. And they did not receive any institutional backing

I will boldly speculate that this was one of the main reasons why the Industrial Revolution did not gain a foothold in Lagos.

- Tobi

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The Importance of Memory

Before we get into the meat of chapter 12, I wanted to do a quick list of some random ‘Hand of History’ points I noted across multiple chapters. Maybe Tobi and I will do a whole podcast on this ‘Hand of History’ point specifically i.e. how much are we all just unwitting participants in history’s trolling?

• A census of Lagos in 1911 counted 46% of the population as being involved in trade or trading (the largest single component). Last year, I did a piece analysing (speculating) why Peter Obi managed to win Lagos in the Presidential elections. A point I made was that, by leaning into his ‘trader’ persona, Peter Obi tapped into latent support of many Lagosians who saw something of themselves in him. I used the Lagos State Gross Domestic Products (SGDP): 2013 -2021 report put together by the Macro Economic Statistics Division of the Lagos Bureau of Statistics. A quote from the report said ‘The Trade GDP contribution stood at N3.880 trillion in 2013 and increased astronomically to N12.843 trillion in 2021 […] The Sector is currently the leading contributor to the State GDP quarterly and annually’. And what percentage of Lagos GDP did trade make up in the report? 48.31%. Funny that.

• Waste disposal in Lagos was a big problem as far back as 1887. It was a health hazard and caused a lot of stench (partly due to Lagos attracting large number of migrants from the hinterland). The government came up with a solution to contract waste disposal to teams of scavengers. It didn’t work and eventually the Lagos Municipal Board brought the work in-house in 1914.

• There were complaints in 1910 and 1912 about street hawkers and petty traders being so numerous that they were obstructing traffic.

• In 1924, Josiah Doherty wrote to his son studying in England warning him not to study economics as ‘the country is not ripe enough to give you any material benefit with those qualifications’. He went on to advice the son to study medicine instead as lawyers were ‘too plentiful here now’.

• Circa 1907: “Lagos residents drew their water from public and private wells, all of which were highly polluted”

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Through Josiah Henryson Doherty's experience, we glimpse in this chapter how Lagos merchants weathered World War I'd profound disruption. His lineage tells an extraordinary tale: his grandfather, William Doherty, twice escaped bondage—first freed by the Royal Navy from Trans-Atlantic slavery, then later from five years of Dahomean captivity (1862-1867). While William's initial path follows the familiar Saro trajectory—Sierra Leone return, Lagos settlement, CMS mission work—his second capture in Egbado territory (a dangerous area at the time beyond British protection) sets his story apart. British diplomacy secured his freedom once again.

One recurring feature of the time was wealthy but illiterate businessmen hiring young educated men as their clerks and bookkeepers. We saw this very vividly in Daniel Taiwo’s story and Josiah was likewise hired by Seidu Olowu. After 6 years with Seidu Olowu, Josiah felt confident enough to branch out on his own in business in 1891. By 1897, he had done well enough to build ‘Doherty Villa’ and threw a large party to open it. The building is still standing there today on the corner of Campos Square.

The post-war period proved even harsher than the conflict itself. A fleeting trade revival at inflated prices gave way to crushing depression, captured vividly in Josiah's correspondence. His September 1925 letter to his son Henry is typical of the strain he was under: "I have repeatedly told you that my business is not what it used to be and if I am not very careful I shall not be able to educate any more of the younger members of the family." The commodity cycle's volatility forced a pivotal shift—merchants like Doherty abandoned exports for imported manufactures. This transition unexpectedly illuminates a previously undocumented aspect of Lagos's economy: women's role in the Lagos economy of the time.

Among Doherty's seven wives ("complex social and religious life," noted one wry obituary of the churchgoing man's "native marriage habits"), Wusamotu Shelle—daughter of displaced Oyo royalty—proved exceptional. While his wives traded his imported goods, effectively advertising his business, Wusamotu carved out remarkable independence. She maintained separate accounts, ordered stock through her husband, and expanded from her Balogun Street shop with a further five stores across Lagos. Though illiterate herself, she shrewdly employed educated clerks to manage her growing empire. Professor Hopkins writes:

She invested some of her profits in property, bought a farm on the mainland as a refuge from the town, operated several motor lorries, kept a car for her own use, and put the rest into educating some of her brothers and sisters and her children, one of whom became a doctor. Her eldest daughter continued the business after her mother’s death in 1939, and ran it successfully for many years.

Beyond his wives, other women also built businesses from trading with Doherty. Selia Jawando bought cotton from him and sold them in Ibadan while Dorcas (Ireti) Folashade Macaulay also bought textile from him. From these vignettes we get an insight into how women navigated the economy in those days and where they channeled their profits - charities and the education of their children.

Doherty's 1928 death revealed the sheer size of the wealth he had amassed: a £58,000 estate including provisions for his seven wives (£100 each plus pensions) and ‘at least’ 42 children (£500 per son, £250 per daughter). By 1964, when inheritance disputes reached the courts, the 42 remaining properties in his estate were generating £50,000 annually in rental income, still supporting descendants' education and livelihoods. His legacy extended through his second son, Theophilus Adebayo, who founded the National Bank of Nigeria (1933) and co-established the Lagos Stock Exchange (1960).

About Adebayo there was also this:

Adebayo Doherty’s Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II (1960) with its black chassis and silver bonnet, roof, and boot, was a familiar sight in Lagos during the 1960s and early 1970s. It inspired both awe and, one might reasonably guess, aspiration, as it made its stately progress along the town’s main streets.

[…]

The vehicle remained in the hands of the family for some years after Adebayo’s death before its ‘second owner’ offered it for sale at an auction held in Brussels in 2016 (Auction link). The car was one of an edition that was limited to a total of 299.

Doherty’s was the real definition of long money. He invested well, never spent wastefully and prioritised education for his children and adopted relatives. He also carefully stayed out of politics.

The life of Samuel Pearse offers a contrast to that of Doherty. Where Doherty was an importer, he was an exporter. Pearse also went into politics by agreeing to serve on the Legislative Council partly as a counterweight to Herbert Macaulay whom he disliked.

His business journey was a circuitous one. He lost money and was in debt for many years trying out all sorts of ventures until he stumbled on what worked - ivory. He made his way out to Calabar and took part in the bonanza that was driven by European demand for piano keys, cutlery handles, combs and billiard balls all made from ivory. By 1904, he had made enough money to renovate a property his wife had purchased in a distressed sale in 1901. The house came to be known as Elephant House with a wooden (later replaced by stone) painted elephant in front of it ‘that proclaimed the origins of the owner’s wealth’. The house was demolished in 1981 and is now 214 Broad Street, Lagos.

During our research for Formation, we discovered a tragic transformation in Adamawa: a once-thriving elephant population was decimated within years to feed the ivory trade. The railway extension to Kano, while opening hinterland Nigeria to new commerce, had particularly deleterious effects on wildlife. After the exhaustion of the elephant population, Pearse shifted to rubber trading, only to face plummeting prices by 1929. His business ventures then diversified into kola nuts, salt, and livestock, establishing vital trading links with Northern Nigeria. In Kano, he retained one Alhaji Tukuru as his agent, paying him £1 monthly plus commission—2 shillings per head of cattle and 1 shilling per ram—to source livestock.

One other thing that caught my eye about Samuel Pearse, the grandson of slaves:

Public distinctions do not tell the whole story. Pears was well known for his informal contributions to charitable causes, which included redeeming several children from slavery and bringing others from Calabar to be educated in Lagos.

Doherty's wealth endured while Pearse's dwindled—yet another testament to property's supremacy over other investments. By his death, confined to his home after a paralysing fall in Elephant House, Pearse died modestly despite his varied business ventures and their mixed successes. Property versus diversification: which truly guards wealth?

A final word on memory.

At 86, Professor Hopkins bridges two centuries through his research. The book's narrative draws heavily from his 1960s interviews with direct descendants of its key figures. The photo credits reveal remarkable historical proximity—children of Victorian-era subjects sharing their family stories. A typical footnote example: "I am grateful to Alhaja Lamalutu Ajobi, Selia Jawando's granddaughter, and Dr J. Akanni Doherty, her nephew, for much of what follows. Interview, Lagos, 24 January 1962."These 1962 interviews are now our only window into lives like Jawando's—a stark reminder that historical memory is fleeting, and our time to capture it is brief.

As I have taken to telling people now - if your elders are still with us, act now. Record their voices today. Let them narrate their childhoods, their witnesses to history. Tomorrow's memories can't replace today's stories. Do not let their stories disappear into the mists of time.

- Feyi

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