Flora Shaw
Encyclopedia
Dame Flora Louisa Shaw, Lady Lugard, DBE
(born 1852, Woolwich
, England, UK – died 25 January 1929, Surrey
, England, UK), the daughter of an English father, Captain (later Major General) George Shaw and a French mother, Marie Desfontaines, was a British journalist and writer. She is also known for having coined the name "Nigeria
".
where her father was stationed. She began her career in journalism in 1886 and was sent by the
Manchester Guardian newspaper as the only woman reporter to cover the Anti-Slavery Conference in Brussels
.
She became Colonial Editor for The Times
, and in this connection the paper sent her as a special correspondent to Southern Africa in 1892 and in 1901, and to Australia and New Zealand in 1892, partly in order to study the question of Kanaka
labour in the sugar plantations of Queensland
. She also made two journeys to Canada, in 1893 and 1898, the second of which included a journey to the gold diggings of Klondike
.
Her belief in the positive benefits of the British Empire
infused her writing. As a correspondent for The Times, Shaw sent back 'Letters' during 1892–93 from her travels in South Africa and Australia. Writing for the educated governing circles, she focused on the prospects of economic growth and political consolidation of these self-governing colonies within an increasingly united British Empire
, a vision largely blinkered to the force of colonial nationalisms and local self-identities.
These lengthy articles in a leading daily newspaper reveal a late-Victorian era
metropolitan imagery of colonial space and time. Shaw projected vast empty spaces awaiting energetic English settlers and economic enterprise. Observing new landscapes from a rail carriage, for example, she selected images which served as powerful metaphors of time and motion in the construction of racial identities. Her appointment as Colonial Editor for The Times
allowed her to travel throughout the British Empire
.
A little known aspect of her prominent career was that when she first started writing for The Times, she wrote under the name of F. Shaw, trying to disguise the fact that she was a woman. Later she was so highly regarded, it didn't matter and she wrote openly as Flora Shaw, and she was regarded as one of the greatest journalists of her time, specialising in politics and economics.
Between 1878 and 1886 she wrote five novels, four for children and one for young adults. The first, Castle Blair, was extremely popular in the UK and US well into the 20th century. It was based on her own Anglo-Irish
childhood experiences. The critic John Ruskin
called Castle Blair "'good and lovely, and true'". Shaw also wrote a history of Australia for children.
Flora Shaw was close to the three men who most epitomised empire in Africa: Cecil Rhodes, George Goldie
and Frederick Lugard
. In 1902 she married the colonial administrator, Sir Frederick Lugard
, who was Governor of Hong Kong
(1907–1912) and Governor-General of Nigeria (1914–1919); they had no children. While they lived in Hong Kong she helped her husband to establish the University of Hong Kong. A dominant figure in imperialism, she is thought to have encouraged events that led to the South African war (1899–1902) and certainly told untruths about her husband's career and ideas – see I. F. Nicolson "The Administration of Nigeria 1900 to 1960" (OUP 1969) – which lasted for decades.
During the First World War, Lady Lugard was prominent in the founding of the War Refugees Committee, which dealt with the problem of the Belgian
refugees, and also founded the Lady Lugard Hospitality Committee. In 1918, she was created D.B.E.
, England on 25 January 1929 and her husband died in 1945.
" for the British Protectorate on the Niger River
. In her essay Shaw was making a case for a shorter term that would be used for the "agglomeration of pagan and Mahomedan States" that was functioning under the official title, "Royal Niger Company Territories
". She thought that the term "Royal Niger Company Territories" was too long to be used as a name of a Real Estate Property under the Trading Company in that part of Africa. What is important in Shaw’s article was that she was in search of a new name and she coined "Nigeria" in preference to such terms as "Central Sudan" that was associated with the area by some geographers and travellers. She thought that the term "Sudan
" at this time was associated with a territory in the Nile
basin, the current Sudan
.
She then put forward this argument in The Times of 8 January 1897 thus: "The name Nigeria applying to no other part of Africa may without offence to any neighbours be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the colonies of Lagos
and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territories of the Upper Niger."
In 1905 Shaw wrote what remains the definitive history of Western Sudan and the modern settlement of Northern Nigeria.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 1852, Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, England, UK – died 25 January 1929, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England, UK), the daughter of an English father, Captain (later Major General) George Shaw and a French mother, Marie Desfontaines, was a British journalist and writer. She is also known for having coined the name "Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
".
Career
Flora Louisa Shaw was born in WoolwichWoolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
where her father was stationed. She began her career in journalism in 1886 and was sent by the
Manchester Guardian newspaper as the only woman reporter to cover the Anti-Slavery Conference in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
She became Colonial Editor for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, and in this connection the paper sent her as a special correspondent to Southern Africa in 1892 and in 1901, and to Australia and New Zealand in 1892, partly in order to study the question of Kanaka
Kanakas
Kanaka was the term for a worker from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia , Fiji and Queensland in the 19th and early 20th centuries...
labour in the sugar plantations of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. She also made two journeys to Canada, in 1893 and 1898, the second of which included a journey to the gold diggings of Klondike
Klondike
-Canada:* Klondike, Yukon, a region in the Yukon** Klondike River, in the Yukon** Klondike Gold Rush, in the Yukon-United States:* Klondike, Maryland* Klondike, Texas* Klondike, Louisville, Kentucky* Klondike, Kenosha County, Wisconsin...
.
Her belief in the positive benefits of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
infused her writing. As a correspondent for The Times, Shaw sent back 'Letters' during 1892–93 from her travels in South Africa and Australia. Writing for the educated governing circles, she focused on the prospects of economic growth and political consolidation of these self-governing colonies within an increasingly united British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, a vision largely blinkered to the force of colonial nationalisms and local self-identities.
These lengthy articles in a leading daily newspaper reveal a late-Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
metropolitan imagery of colonial space and time. Shaw projected vast empty spaces awaiting energetic English settlers and economic enterprise. Observing new landscapes from a rail carriage, for example, she selected images which served as powerful metaphors of time and motion in the construction of racial identities. Her appointment as Colonial Editor for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
allowed her to travel throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
A little known aspect of her prominent career was that when she first started writing for The Times, she wrote under the name of F. Shaw, trying to disguise the fact that she was a woman. Later she was so highly regarded, it didn't matter and she wrote openly as Flora Shaw, and she was regarded as one of the greatest journalists of her time, specialising in politics and economics.
Between 1878 and 1886 she wrote five novels, four for children and one for young adults. The first, Castle Blair, was extremely popular in the UK and US well into the 20th century. It was based on her own Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
childhood experiences. The critic John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
called Castle Blair "'good and lovely, and true'". Shaw also wrote a history of Australia for children.
Flora Shaw was close to the three men who most epitomised empire in Africa: Cecil Rhodes, George Goldie
George Taubman Goldie
Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria...
and Frederick Lugard
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC , known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong and Governor-General of Nigeria .-Early life and education:Lugard...
. In 1902 she married the colonial administrator, Sir Frederick Lugard
Frederick Lugard
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC , known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong and Governor-General of Nigeria .-Early life and education:Lugard...
, who was Governor of Hong Kong
Governor of Hong Kong
The Governor of Hong Kong was the head of the government of Hong Kong during British rule from 1843 to 1997. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions...
(1907–1912) and Governor-General of Nigeria (1914–1919); they had no children. While they lived in Hong Kong she helped her husband to establish the University of Hong Kong. A dominant figure in imperialism, she is thought to have encouraged events that led to the South African war (1899–1902) and certainly told untruths about her husband's career and ideas – see I. F. Nicolson "The Administration of Nigeria 1900 to 1960" (OUP 1969) – which lasted for decades.
During the First World War, Lady Lugard was prominent in the founding of the War Refugees Committee, which dealt with the problem of the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
refugees, and also founded the Lady Lugard Hospitality Committee. In 1918, she was created D.B.E.
Death
Dame Flora Lugard died in SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England on 25 January 1929 and her husband died in 1945.
Naming of Nigeria
In an essay, which first appeared in The Times on 8 January 1897, she suggested the name "NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
" for the British Protectorate on the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
. In her essay Shaw was making a case for a shorter term that would be used for the "agglomeration of pagan and Mahomedan States" that was functioning under the official title, "Royal Niger Company Territories
Royal Niger Company
The Royal Niger Company was a mercantile company chartered by the British government in the nineteenth century. It formed the basis of the modern state of Nigeria....
". She thought that the term "Royal Niger Company Territories" was too long to be used as a name of a Real Estate Property under the Trading Company in that part of Africa. What is important in Shaw’s article was that she was in search of a new name and she coined "Nigeria" in preference to such terms as "Central Sudan" that was associated with the area by some geographers and travellers. She thought that the term "Sudan
Sudan (region)
The Sudan is the name given to a geographic region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western to Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic bilâd as-sûdân or "land of the Blacks"...
" at this time was associated with a territory in the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
basin, the current Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
She then put forward this argument in The Times of 8 January 1897 thus: "The name Nigeria applying to no other part of Africa may without offence to any neighbours be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the colonies of Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territories of the Upper Niger."
In 1905 Shaw wrote what remains the definitive history of Western Sudan and the modern settlement of Northern Nigeria.