Did you know that William Broughton Davies was the first Nigerian to qualify as a medical doctor in 1858 serving in the British Army while Nathaniel Thomas King was one of the earliest western-trained West African doctors to practice medicine in Nigeria?

King was born in Hastings, Sierra Leone, to the Yoruba family of Reverend Thomas and Mary King. His father was a catechist of the Church Missionary Society who assisted Ajayi Crowther in translating the Bible to Yoruba. In 1850, his father moved to the Yoruba mission in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and the family went along with him. 

In 1861, the young King was recommended by Henry Venn as one of the four students to be trained at a Church Mission Society (CMS) pre-medical training program under Dr A. A. Harrison, a Cambridge-trained doctor. However, Harrison died in 1865 and Venn recommended King to Fourah Bay College to continue his studies. While in Freetown, he also worked in the colonial hospital. 

King later went to King's College, London, with sponsorship from his uncle, Henry Robbin, and CMS. King obtained his MRCS from King's College and his medical degree from University of Edinburgh and University of Aberdeen in 1876. He returned to Nigeria and was involved in developing modern medical practice in the country. He promoted environmental sanitation, acted as an examiner for CMS Grammar School, Lagos, and Wesley College and he was also a trust member of the Rebecca Hussey fund for Africans. He died in 1884 at the young age of 37.

William Broughton Davies was the first Nigerian to qualify as a medical doctor in 1858. Although both he and James Beale Africanus Horton received their MRSC in 1858, Davies gained his MD in October of the same year, ten months before Horton.

William Davies was born of Yoruba parents in Wellington, a small area in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on October 25, 1833. From the village school in Wellington, he entered Fourah Bay Institute of Freetown in 1850 and trained as a catechist in preparation for a career in the ministry. When the Church Missionary Society wanted three able West African youngsters to be trained in England as doctors for services in the British Army, the choice fell on Davies, Horton and Samuel Campbell, who, on reaching England, developed severe bronchitis which led to his return to his native Sierra Leone and to an early demise. Davies and Horton would go on to gain the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) of England at King’s College, London in 1858 before completing their medical training in Scotland. Davies attained his Doctor of Medicine (MD) in October 1858 by examination at the University of St Andrews.

Following the successful completion of his medical education in the United Kingdom, Davies was made Staff Assistant Surgeon in the British Army Medical Services. He arrived at Cape Coast in October 1859 and officially commenced work at “the usual salary of 5s. per diem” from December 1, 1859. By contrast with the versatile and prolific Horton, Davies was extremely quiet during his twenty-two years in the British Army and afterwards. He passed his retirement in the happy company of his family, and died in Sierra Leone on 13 January 1906.

Among his legacy was the good example of his successful career in the British Army, from which he and Horton retired as Surgeon-Majors; Davies vindicated his race, downtrodden by slavery, from the prejudices and low expectations of the time.

Other 19th century Nigerian doctors who were medical practitioners are:

JAMES AFRICANUS BEALE HORTON (1835-1883)

Like Davies, Horton's parents were also ex-slaves but of Igbo descent. He also trained as medical doctor in the United Kingdom He moved to Scotland after his training and obtained his MD in 1859 by a thesis from Edinburgh University.

OBADIAH JOHNSON (1849-1920)

Obadiah Johnson was born in Sierra Leone. He got a B.A. degree from Fourah Bay College in 1879 and proceeded to King’s College to obtain the M.R.C.S. and the L.S.A. in 1884. He was awarded M.D of Edinburgh University after submitting a thesis on West African therapeutics in 1889 

JOHN RANDLE (1855-1928) 

Randle was born in Sierra Leone and his father was an ex-Yoruba slave. He graduated from Edinburgh University in 1888 with M.B. and C.M.

GEORGE STONE SMITH (1863-1940)

George Stone Smith who later changed his name to Orisadipe Obasa was born in Sierra Leone. His father was the son of Elekole of Ikole-Ekiti and his mother was from the royal family of Akija of Ikija in Abeokuta. Obasa was sent to King’s College, Taunton, and later St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London, where he obtained M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1891. 

SODEINDE AKINSIKU LEIGH-SODIPE (1865-1901)

Sodeinde Akinsiku Leigh-Sodipe was the first Nigerian doctor with an African or Nigerian name. He was born in Lagos and attended the College of Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne, and obtained the M.B. degree of Durham University in 1892.

ALEXANDER WILLIAMS (1861-1935)

Alexander Williams later known as Oguntola Odunbaku Sapara was born in Sierra Leone. His father was a freed slave originally from Ilesha in Osun state and his mother was from Egbaland. Sapara obtained honours in midwifery from St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London, in 1888 and obtained the L.R.C.P. and L.R.C.S. of Edinburgh, the L.F.P.S. of Glasgow in 1895.

Sources: zodml, wikipedia and legit

#penglobalhistory