AFRICAN KING VISITS YATELEY HALL

Contribited by Richard Johnston

The fact: An African King visited Yateley Hall in 1927

Sources

* Personal recollections of old people in the village.

* Newspaper Cutting from Camberley News

* Yateley Hall Photographs

The story

Miss de Winton Corry, owner of Yateley Hall, was guardian to the two daughters of His Excellency, Brigadier-General Sir Gordon Guggisberg KCMG, DSO, Governor of the Gold Coast (now Ghana).

Sir Gordon visited Yateley Hall regularly during the 1920s, and groups of important Africans visited him. The son of the exiled king of the Ashanti came in 1924: soon after, his father was recalled from exile.

In July 1927, the African king of the Akyem, Nana Sir Ofori Atta, Paramount Chief of Akim Ahusakwa, Gold Coast, who had just received his knighthood, visited Sir Gordon at Yateley Hall.

His visit created a major stir in the local community: few Yateley villagers had seen a black man. It is not surprising his visit was remembered.