Cart 0
King Ghartey IV: Innovative 19th Century Merchant & first King-President of the Fante Confederacy
The making of a King
King Ghartey saw no limits to what he could achieve. As a young man, he rejected traditional paths of fishing and farming, and learned a different trade. Through this, he became an influential business entrepreneur. In addition, Ghartey played an important role in local politics and found ways to improve the lives of those in his community. There is no doubt Ghartey left his mark in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), as a nineteenth century leader and agent of change.
He was by birth called Kwamena Akyempong. He was born in the year 1820 at Winneba to King Gyateh Kumah III and Obaapanyin Ekua Kaadze, a princess of Senya Beraku. As he grew up he became interested in coopery though the main preoccupation of the people of Winneba was fishing and his father was an illiterate king. He started his vocation with the major European firms then operating in Winneba. Unsatisfied with the pace of life, he decided to embark on a career at sea. He sailed on various English, Portuguese and Dutch vessels which made voyages along the West African coast.
An unpleasant incident in which his master was mysteriously stabbed while at the port of Apam forced him to disembark prematurely. The young prince then stayed and worked at Apam as a cooper in the factory of Stooves Bros. It was during this period in his life that the agent of the firm, Mynheer Stooves having observed with keen interest the intelligence of Kwamena Akyempong and out of fondness for him, gave him the name Robert Johnson Ghartey; the last being Anglicised ‘Gyateh’ which was his father’s name. This agent encouraged him to study from books he gave him and with determination and perseverance Robert Johnson Ghartey was able to read and write English.
Robert Johnson Ghartey was later transferred to Elmina and then to Shama where the firm also manufactured soap and distilled rum by the River Prah. After 14 years of dedicated service to Stooves Bros, Robert Johnson Ghartey established his own enterprise at Anomabu, and named it Ghartey Bros. With the death of the last of the Stooves Bros, he purchased all their business; in all 13 factories from Ajua to Poni, which had been passed on to him according to the will of the Stooves Bros.
He then dug a large bore-hole which served the water needs of the people at the cost of £150; this for years, became the only source of good drinking water for the people of Anomabu. From that same trip, Robert Johnson Ghartey also introduced the cover-shoulder dress; the Kabasrotu, an imitation of the English blouse, to help cover the semi-nudity of the shoulder of the illiterate class of Gold Coast women. He started this on his own maidservants and then on the illiterate girls of the Temperance Society. He then used these girls to set up the ‘Band of Hope’ section of the society which also rendered songs during church services and at funerals. This innovation started long before Rev. A.W. Parker of the Wesleyan Mission
Rev. Jacob Anaman, then also of the same Church set up the Singing Band in their churches. The dress eventually became universal and indispensable among the women folk and the orthodox churches. Prince Ghartey accomplished another feat in life when he meticulously and instinctively measured the distance from the Coast to Ashanti by the aid of his pocket watch, at the rate of three miles an hour. He did this when he accompanied Rev. William West, a Wesleyan Minister to Kumasi, with Prince John Owusu Ansah on a mission tour during the reign of King Kwaku Dua in 1862. From his recordings, he published a pamphlet in 1864 entitled ‘A Guide to Commassie’- the first travel book on Ashanti ever to be published. This later became a useful reference material in the British expedition under Sir Garnet Wolsey in 1874 and others. The usefulness of this compilation was acknowledged by the Government, as it was made at a considerable risk and entirely at the expense of R.J. Ghartey. By 1867 Prince Ghartey had achieved fame as a successful business man. His level of intelligence and respect for men earned him appointment as a Treasurer and subsequently a Magistrate for the Town Court by King Kofie Afedsi and the chiefs of Anomabu. In this same year, together with Mr George Blankson, Prince Brew of Dunkwa, the Rev. Joseph D. Hayford, and Mr James F. Amissah they established the Fante Confederacy comprising chiefs and prominent men of the Fante area.
Prince Ghartey pioneered palm-nut cracking on the Gold Coast and made it an export commodity. He also promoted gold mining and timber industries and at his own expense opened up the River Ayensu and rendered it navigable for floating down timber from the hinterland to Winneba. It is on record that the first shipment of palm kernels ever made was by the firm of Ghartey Bros. (from the ports of Sekondi and Ajua). For this feat, Messrs. F. & A. Swanzy, the leading experts in port firm acknowledged the commercial foresight of Mr Ghartey by a letter and a gift through their agent in Accra, Mr. Crocker, in 1873. Following this success, it was followed in the Western Province by Messrs. C. Barnes, Clinton and Carew in pioneering in the timber industry on the Rivers Ankobra at Axim and Prah at Shama. At Winneba, then as King, R. J. Ghartey, shipped the first consignment of mahogany logs per the S.STeneriffe, on August 15, 1893 through the firm of Messrs. J.J. Fischer, and subsequently another consignment per the S.S. Niger. A publication by the editor of the African Times, Mr. Fitz-Gerald who had followed Mr. Ghartey through his visit to England in 1861 and subsequent business achievements gave much impetus to timber industry. In 1872, on the death of King Henry Acquah I, alias Kwesi Eguasi, Prince Ghartey, was enstooled as King Ghartey IV.
His first action after his entsoolment was to invite European merchants to establish in Winneba for the rapid development of the town. Hence, Messrs F. & A. Swanzy, came first followed later by the Basel Mission, J. J. Fisher and others to join Messrs. T. B. Acquah, S. W. Swatson and John Grant who were already established in Winneba. Subsequent media support for the enterprising spirit of the King included that of the weekly journal, the Gold Coast Independent edited by Mr. Bright Davis of Sierra Leone and published in Accra. The October 31st, 1896 edition gave a glowing testimony about R J Ghartey as one of the most intelligent and respectable citizens of the community of Winneba. This testimony was culled from a published interview which Mr. W.A. Yates of Yates Bros. & Shattuck had with a representative of the Knenebec Journal. In that interview, Mr. W.A. Yates, then doing a general mercantile business in the Gold Coast stated that he was very well acquainted with King Ghartey, who was the fourth King of that name. ‘That the King spoke good English as anyone and speaks all the dialects of the Coast’. ‘He is a whole-souled, warm-hearted man, who has seen sixty-eight years of a busy life which has been fruitful of good results to his people’. In Mr. Yates’ own words, the King ‘was a humanitarian, a diplomat, scholar and a gentleman. His son is in our employ, and we consider him one of the smartest, brightest young men of the Coast’. He added that the King ‘had great linguistic powers, since he could speak with much freedom both indigenous and foreign languages; Fanti, Effutu, Ga, English and Dutch with a smattering of Portuguese’.
The Fante Confederacy
In 1862 the British were expected to withdraw their trading activities and local government from the Gold Coast following the protest at Cape Coast. The Fante Confederation was formed at Mankessim to replace the British and serve as a self rule government. Ghartey joined the Fante Confederation and later became its first King-President.
He led the Confederation government from Mankessim, and was successful in his administration of its justice and finances, sometimes borrowing money from his own firm to meet public expenditure. He came to be regarded as “Governor of Gold Coast,” because of his wide powers, and a British withdrawal was expected.
Following the defeat of the Dutch at Elmina and Komenda by the Fante Confederacy, the Dutch left the coast entirely and sold all their forts and castles to the British. The British rescinded their decision to leave the coast entirely but relocate from Cape Coast to Accra after Osu castle was sold to them by the Dutch. Fante resistance against colonization became troublesome for the British and thus decided to move their seat from Cape Coast to Accra.
Key actions that changed the destiny of this country economically and socially
- He dug a bore-hole at Anomabu which became the only source of water for the people at a cost of £150.
- He also introduced the cover shoulder dress; Kabasrotu currently known as ” Kaba fashion style” to aid cover the upper part of the body of the Fante women who went about their daily activities bare-chested. He started this initiative first on his maidservants then on the girls at his temperance society.
- He created the “band of hope” which sung at church services and at funerals, using the girls at the Temperance society and his maidservants
- In 1864,he measured the distance from the coast to Ashanti using his pocket watch at three miles an hour.
- In 1864, he published a pamphlet entitled “A guide to coomassie”.
- He became the first King-President of the Fante confederation.
- He instituted a branch of Temperance Society at Anomabu with the help of Revds. T.B. Freeman, J. A. Solomon, J. Fynn and Messrs John Ogoe, J. E. Sampson among others.
- He promoted the mining of gold and the timber industry in the Gold Coast.
- In his reign as king, he invited European merchants to establish in Winneba for rapid development of Winneba.
- He pioneered the cracking of palm nuts and its exportation in the Gold Coast. He pioneered palm-nut cracking on the Gold Coast and made it an export commodity.
