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Kate Efua Ketse Dawson: The Wealthy Fante woman who defended the Fante nation through her wealth, negotiations, and influence
In the colonial history of Ghana, the voices of women are visibly absent. But a careful research has shown that there were powerful women who also contributed to the development of Gold Coast and achieved great successes in their own merit.
One of these great women was Kate Dawson, the millionaire and the powerful Fante woman who paid £486-worth of gold to Asantehene to stop invading Cape Coast and paid for a military expedition against the Asante which led to the Sagrenti War of 1874.
Early Life
Kate Dawson was born to Sarah Adadzewaa from Komenda and Mr. Dawson from Anomabo. Her mother was a powerful merchant and trader and was one of the wealthiest women in the city of Cape Coast.
Efua Ketse expanded her mother’s business and became many times wealthier than her mother. She was the first woman to be involved in the Real Estate Business.
Business and Philanthropy
Kate Efua Ketse Dawson also known as Kate Swanzy was a merchant, philanthropist, and patriot who became prominent in Cape Coast and the Gold Coast Colony. She was born somewhere in the 1800s and was named Efua Ketse. Kate was the daughter of Sarah Adadzewa of royal house of Akatakyi (Komenda) in the Komenda Edina Eguafo district of Central Region in the modern day Ghana. Her father was one Mr. Dawson who traces his ancestry to Anomabo and Cape Coast. It is recorded that her mum was one of the powerful women traders on the Coast, and when she died, Kate succeeded her.
Kate brought different management skills into her commerce, invested in real estates and became very prosperous. In fact, Samuel K. Otoo, the folkloric Fante writer and historian contends in Ofosu-Appiah (1977) that as at the mid-1970`s some of her real properties were still standing in Cape Coast. These buildings include Fortgate House, Gothic House, Government House, and the houses on a part of Cape Coast known as Dawson Hill. Apart from her business ventures, she also gave financial support to churches and the needy across the Coast.
Despite her business relationship with the British, Kate as a nationalist became one the strongest and vociferous opponent of the Poll Tax Ordinance of 1852. She personally wrote a letter to the British Governor, Henry Connor who was in office in 1855 about her abhorrence for poll tax, and why she was paying the tax under protest to avoid punishment which will affect her business interest and families that rely on her.
Later Kate Dawson met Henry Swanzy, a well-known English Trading firm of F & A Swanzy Limited, at their Anomabo factory (which is now Swanzy House at Anomabo). The two got married and through a joint trading acquired vast landed property in and around Cape Coast. She financed the indigenous rulers of Cape Coast, and of some states of the Gold Coast which sought her assistance.
She called the shots on the Gold Coast. The British always sought her approval in any expedition or major projects or initiatives.
Kate also gave some of her land to families which needed land for settlement. Otoo records in Ofosu-Appiah (1977) that after one of the crisis which arose between the British and the Asante, she agreed to the request of Commander, Stephen John Hill (Commander Hill), the British governor in 1851-1854, for land in Kotokuraba to settle demobilized soldiers, which included mercenary Hausa soldiers from Nigeria. That explains overwhelming Hausa and Islamic presence in the vicinity of Cape Coast-Kotokuraba today.
Her Role in saving Cape Coast and the fall of the Asante Empire
Otoo further averred in Ofosu-Appiah (1977) that Kate Dawson was so rich that on another occasion she single-handedly bought off a threatened Asante invasion with the £486-worth of gold that they demanded.
The Asantehene threatened an attack on Cape Coast. As a single Fante State (Oguaa), it did not have the troops (numbers) and artillery to face a large force from the Asante so Kate decided to approach the Asantehen to negotiate a payoff to avert the attack. Nana Kofi Karikari, the Asantehen insisted he needed only gold because it was only gold that would satisfy him. The greedy Nana Kofi Karikari was obsessed with gold. Kate Dawson paid him off to stop the invasion. The Asantehene was in shock and awe because had never seen so much Gold as what Efua Ketse gave him. He was amazed at the wealth and opulence of Efua Ketse.
Her action on that occasion won her the title of “Ebum,” meaning “The Breaker of the Asantehene`s Mighty Balance,” since nobody had expected such a large amount of gold to be owned by one person, and most interestingly, a woman.
The Asante King came again in 1873 because he became greedy and wanted more gold. Kate said NO! She decided to rather fund a war against Asante this time around.
When Kofi Karikari received no gold from Kate Dawson, he sent his troops to invade Cape Coast. His army promised him two things. To break the Cape Coast Castle and return all the blocks to Kumasi and annihilate every living Fante soul from the face of the earth.
To their surprise and dismay, the Fante States had united under the command of the Abura King and defended the Fante territories valiantly even as far as Jukwa in Denkyira. The Asantes lost 20,000 men in their expedition to the coast and in defeat, the withdrew their forces back to Kumasi.
In this war in 1873 which we like to call The Abakrampa War, Cape Coast had the cover of some British artillery but the rest of the Fante states had to fund and defend the entire Fante nation under the command of Amfo Otu I.
But something else was brewing in Cape Coast. When, in 1873, the Asante again threatened to invade Cape Coast and actually marched towards Fanteland, Kate Efua Ketse Dawson and seven strong prominent Fante ladies urged the governor of the day to help the citizens of Cape Coast, and offered to pay for a military expedition against the Asante. This led to the expedition against Asante in the Sagrenti War of 1874, described by G. A. Henty in “The March to Coomassie (1874).” The Sagrenti war of 1874 was planned and financed by Kate Efua Dawson and 7 powerful Fante women. This was brought an end to the Ashanti Empire.
The fort known as Dawson Hill was named after Kate Dawson’s father, Mr. Dawson.
