Edward Algernon Barnett
Edward Algernon Barnett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 5th Commandant of the British North Borneo Constabulary | |
| In office August 1889 – November 1896 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Dudley Beeston |
| Succeeded by | John Murray Reddie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 March 1856 |
| Died | 13 October 1955 (aged 99) |
| Spouse |
Clara Louisa Leader
(m. 1888; div. 1896) |
| Parents |
|
| Education | Burney's Academy |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | |
| Rank | Major |
| Battles/wars |
|
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Edward Algernon Barnett was a British military and police officer who served in high-ranking positions throughout the British Empire, including the Gold Coast and North Borneo. He lived to 99 years of age, just shy of a full century, and during his later years he was known as "Red Pepper," because he had a "fiery disposition." He was also a cofounder of the Empire Lodge, No. 2108, of the United Grand Lodge of England.
Biography
E. Algernon Barnett was born in Chigwell, Essex in 1856. He attended the preparatory Royal Naval Academy, Gosport.[1] After this, he attended the Realschule in Lippstadt. He was gazetted into the Fourth Royal Middlesex Militia in 1875.[2]
At 21 years old, he travelled to the Cape Colony, where he enlisted in the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police (FAMP). He rose to the rank of Sergeant, and retained the rank when the FAMP was re-badged as the Cape Mounted Riflemen.[1] While he was in the Cape Colony, he fought in the Gaika-Galeka War and the Basuto Gun War.[1]
He was offered a commission in the Cape Colony but declined it, traveling instead to the Gold Coast to join the Hausa Armed Constabulary.[3] Here, he held many high-ranking positions, including the post of commissioner, and sheriff of several districts.[1]
In April 1888, he negotiated the ascension to the crown of King Prempeh I at Kumasi. In this, he was one of the few outsiders to have ever witnessed the crowning of an Ashanti King.[2]
After 7 years of service in the Gold Coast, Barnett was recruited into the service of the North Borneo Chartered Company as one of the first recruits into the government of their newly established country of North Borneo.[3]
He landed in North Borneo on 7 April 1889.[4]
Serving as the Commandant of the British North Borneo Constabulary, Barnett led North Borneo's expeditions against a rebel warrior named Si Gunting during the Sigunting War.[5][6][7] During the Sigunting War, Barnett was shot in the head, but he survived.[8] He also led the Constabulary during the Kwijau Rebellion and the earliest stages of the Mat Salleh Rebellion.[5][9]
In 1883, he was made a non-resident fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute.[10]
In 1907, Barnett returned to the Gold Coast as an oil spectator and established the company "Captain Edward Algernon Barnett and Rosewarne (Limited)." He was involved in a scandal by selling an oil concession that technically hadn't been granted to him, disrupting the Colonial Office and Nigeria Bitumen in the process.[11]
During the First World War from 1915 to 1919, he served as a Major in the Royal Berkshire Regiment.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "'Red Pepper' Major Dies". Coventry Evening Telegraph. British Newspaper Archive. 15 October 1955. p. 10.
- 1 2 3 "Major E. A. Barnett". The Wardrobe. Retrieved April 2, 2026.
- 1 2 "IROHIN LATI ODE AGBAIYE: OGAGUN KÚ L'ỌMỌ ỌDÚN MỌ́KÀNDÍNLÓGỌ́RÙN". repository.ui.edu.ng (in Yoruba). IRAWỌ OBOKUN. October 31, 1955. p. 7.
- ↑ Thatcher, Dorothy (25 April 1954). "TWILIGHT OF A WARRIOR: 'Red Pepper' Barnett of Borneo". National Library of Singapore. The Straits Times. p. 15.
- 1 2 Rutter, Owen (1922). British North Borneo : an Account of its History, Resources, and Native Tribes. Cornell University Library. London : Constable & Co. Ltd. pp. 185–189.
- ↑ "BRITISH NORTH BORNEO NEWS". National Library of Singapore. The Straits Budget. 19 June 1894. p. 4.
- ↑ Black, Ian (January 1970). "NATIVE ADMINISTRATION BY THE NORTH BORNEO CHARTERED COMPANY, 1878 - 1915". openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au. Australian National University. p. 232-234, 249, 254, 258, 259-261, 302-303, 382. Archived from the original on 2024-09-01. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ↑ "GUERRILLA WARFARE IN BORNEO". National Library of Singapore. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly). 7 August 1894. p. 69.
- ↑ Tregonning, K. G. (1956). "The Mat Salleh Revolt (1894-1905)". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 29 (1 (173)): 21–22. ISSN 2304-7550.
- ↑ Royal Commonwealth Society (1912). Year book. Robarts - University of Toronto. London. p. 72.
- ↑ Steyn, Phia. "OIL EXPLORATION IN COLONIAL NIGERIA, C.1903-1958" (PDF). scispace.com. University of Stirling. pp. 1, 11. Retrieved April 2, 2026.