Lord Lugard, G.C.M.G

Abstract

A BRONZE statuette of Lord Lugard has been presented to the Imperial Institute by members of the Royal African Society as an addition to the collection of statuettes of empire-builders in the Institute's galleries. The presentation took place on November 7, when the statuette, which stands in the Nigerian Court, was unveiled by the Earl of Athlone, president of the Society, and formally accepted by Sir Harry Lindsay, director of the Institute. The statuette, which is half life-size, is the work of Mr. Herbert H. Cawood, who has executed the effigies of Cabot, Van Riebeck, Raffles, and Livingstone in the collection. Lord Lugard is the only living subject represented. The presentation marks the fiftieth year since Lord Lugard's first service in Africa. His brilliant success as an administrator of native affairs has been due to his application of the policy now known as 'indirect rule' to tribal government, in order to secure maintenance of law and order through the least disturbance of tradition by the imposition of civilized authority. His book, “The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa” (1922), not only gained him the award of the Gold Medal of fche Royal Geographical Society, but immediately became a classic, as Lord Athlone said in his address of presentation, when he also spoke of Lord Lugard as “the father of indirect rule”. Owing to his advocacy and the practical demonstration of its efficiency in Nigeria, the principle of 'indirect rule', with or without modification, has been extended to the other British colonial possessions in Africa. In 1922-36 Lord Lugard was the British representative on the Permanent Mandate Commission of the League of Nations; while as Chairman of the Council of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, he has inspired and guided a great work of scientific research on the peoples and languages of Africa.