William Broughton Davies

William Broughton Davies (1831–1906) was a Sierra Leonean medical doctor who served in the British Colonial Army from 1860 to 1881. Davies was one of two West Africans to qualify as medical doctor in 1859. Hence Davies was the first West African to qualify for the medical profession.

Background

Davies was born in 1831 in the Liberated African village of Wellington, Sierra Leone. His parents had been 'Aku' or Yoruba recaptives who had been rescued from slavery and had been deposited in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Davies was sent by his parents to the CMS Grammar School to train and eventually receive orders as a priest. Instead Davies, alongside Africanus Horton and Samuel Campbell he received a scholarship to study medicine in England. Davies and his companions eventually enrolled at King's College London in 1859. Because of the climate, Davies fell ill though eventually recovered. His compatriot, Samuel Campbell died after being ill.^[1] Davies married Mary Smith, half sister of Adelaide Casely-Hayford (daughter of William Smith, Jr.). After his time in the army, he returned to Freetown where he kept a private practice until his death.^[2]

References

1. Patton, Adell. Physicians, colonial racism, and diaspora in West Africa, University Press of Florida, 1996
2. An African Victorian Feminist; the Life and Times of Adelaide Smith Casely Hayford, 1868-1960, Howard University Press, 1992. ISBN 978-0882581576. page 33