description
Object description
British officer served with 2nd Bn, Gold Coast Regt, Royal West African Frontier Force in Gold Coast 1936-1939
Content description
REEL 1 Background for secondment to 2nd Battalion, Gold Coast Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force at Accra, Gold Coast, 1936. Voyage out: fellow passengers; canoe disembarkation. Reception. Lifestyle: accommodation; African servants. Learning Hausa. Question of use of Hausa and pidgin English. Lifestyle: daily routine; mess kit; health; social life; food. British civilian personnel and their role. Long term Africanisation programme. Tribal recruiting policy. Story illustrating prevalence of bribery. Example of Pidgin English. British wives' lifestyle. Drinking habits. Gold Coast's varying terrain. Move to Kumasi. Posting to Tamale outstation.
REEL 2 African troops' fitness. Working relationship with British NCOs. British pattern training and weapons. Use of machete. Jungle conditions and manoeuvres. Impact of French pressure on Gold Coast. Organisation of African troops' food. Account of recruiting patrol: supply organisation; independence; attitude of African recruits; relation ship with African troops; medical provision; method of recruiting. Question of tribal recruiting policy. French territory recruits. Question of tribal tension. Discipline of African troops: head women system for wives; corporal punishment.
REEL 3 Aspects of African troops' contact with villages; leave; Muslin observances; drinking habits; effect of Christianity; condition of service; wives; depot training; uniform. Aspects of African NCOs: selection; illiteracy; division of duties with BNCOs; qualities. Acquiring experiences of jungle conditions. Details of Africa postings. African troops' reactions to issue of long shorts, boots and gas masks prior to Second World War. African troops' view of British Empire. Contemporary views on African independence.
