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A Neglected Source for the History of Little Popo: The Thomas Miles Papers ca. 1789–1796*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
Extract
During the era of the slave trade, Aného (in modern Togo), which was known to Europeans as “Little Popo” or simply “Popo,” was normally marginal to English commercial interest on the west African coast. This lack of interest is reflected in the sources that exist in British archives today. Documentary material for trade at Aného is scarce, and references to the town rarely go beyond the mentioning of a ship going there to complement its cargo of slaves. However, there is a major exception: the papers of Thomas Miles, which document the activity of the “Popo Factory” of the English firm of Messrs Miles & Weuves in the 1790s. These papers, which are kept in the Public Record Office in London (PRO), comprise a large body of material, including accounts, inventories and commercial and private correspondence. Full of detail, they offer a unique glimpse of Aného and its external trade at a time when the town was at the height of its economic power.
In spite of their great value for the history of Aného and the kingdom of Ge (Genyi/Guin), however, the Thomas Miles papers are virtually unknown to historians of the area. The object of this paper is therefore to draw attention to the existence of this material and make historians aware of the unparalleled wealth of information that it contains. The first part of this paper comprises an explanation of the background and a description of the documents, which is followed by a brief discussion of their special strengths and limitations. In the second part, I focus on one aspect, which is the African side of the trade. Here I look at the question of what these documents tell us about Popo society. I have compiled a list of the African traders that frequented the factory, whom I then tried to identify.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © African Studies Association 2001
Footnotes
*
This paper was originally written for the conference “Il y a plus de trois cents ans, nassait la pays Guin” at Aného, Togo, 18-20 September 2000. See the proceedings of the conference: Le tricetiténaire d'Aného et du pays guin, ed. N.L. Gayibor (2 vols.: Lome, 2001) 1:59-101. I have benefited greatly from the advice of Robin Law and Adam Jones, for which my profound thanks. I want also to thank N.L. Gayibor and conference participants for their helpful comments.
References
1 Some of Thomas Miles' papers have been used by Akinjogbin, I.A., Dahomey and its Neighbours, 1708-1818 (Cambridge, 1967)Google Scholar, and Law, Robin, The Oyo Empire, c.1600 - c.1836 (Oxford, 1977)Google Scholar, but mainly as a source for political developments on the “Slave” Coast and not for the history of Aného and the kingdom of Ge and its external trade.
2 See, for example, Isert, Paul Erdmann, Letters on West Africa and the Slave Trade, ed. by Winsnes, Selena Axelrod (Oxford, 1992), 89–96Google Scholar; Biørn, A.R., “Biørn's beretning 1788 om de Danske Forter og Negerier” in Thaarup's Archiv 3 (Kjobenhavn, 1797/1798), 225–27Google Scholar; Robertson, G.A., Notes on Africa (London, 1819), 235–38Google Scholar and PRO: ADM55/11, Hugh Clapperton's journal, November 1825, 11-12. Isert explains that geographers call the town “Little Popo” to distinguish it from Grand Popo (which was then generally known as “Afla”), but in his description of the town he refers to it simply as “Popo.” Biørn briefly states that “Lille Popo” is often mixed up with Grand Popo and then uses “Popo.” Robertson mentions both the names “Ameho” (Aneho) and “Little Popo,” but in his description of the town he too calls it simply “Popo” and refers to Grand Popo as “Grand Popo, or Iffla.” Clapperton, who does not mention Grand Popo, introduces it as “Little Popoe” but from then on calls it “Popoe” only. In the rare case that Grand Popo is referred to in the documents of the African Company, it is distinguished by being called “Grand Popo” or “Great Popo.” For an example, see T70/33, Governor (Archibald Dalzel) to the Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 3 June 1795: “The Popoes after 5 days hard engagement, were totally defeated by an allied army of Grand Popoes and Dahomeys…”
3 T70/1569, Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, London, 11 November 1794. In this letter, Richard Miles refers to “the two years that you was with me,” during which Thomas Miles was supposed to have learnt about African trade and how to deal with “Blacks' Debts.”
4 Jerome Bernard Weuves had been Richard Miles' predecessor as Governor-in-Chief in the 1780s. He died in early 1794, after which Richard Miles became the sole owner of the firm. For continuity's sake, however, I will refer to the firm as Messrs Miles & Weuves throughout the whole period dealt with in this paper. For a summary of Richard Miles' career with the African Company and his activities on the West African coast, see Metcalf, George, “Gold, Assortments and the Trade Ounce,” JAH 28(1987), 27–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem., “A Microcosm of Why Africans Sold Slaves,” JAH 28(1987), 377-394; and Martin, Eveline C., The British West African Settlements, 1750-1821 (London, 1927), 43.Google Scholar
5 For the “Annamaboe Palaver,” as the dispute between Thomas Miles and the inhabitants of Egya was called, see T70/33, Governor of Cape Coast Castle to Committee, Cape Coast Castle, April 18 1791; Governor of Cape Coast Castle to Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 25 May 1791 and Crooks, J. J., Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 to 1874 (London, 1973), 87–8.Google Scholar T70/1560 also contains many letters relating to the “palaver.”
6 I am not perfectly clear about the regulations of the African Company concerning private trade of its officers. Eveline C. Martin states it was quite legal for officers and servants of the African Company to engage in private trade, indeed, that this was one of the attractions of the service (British West African Settlements, 39-41). This view is repeated by George Metcalf (“Gold,” 27). Hilary Jenkins, however, maintained that it was illegal (“The Records of the English African Companies,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (1912), 217nGoogle Scholar). The evidence in documents from the late eighteenth century is conflicting. On one hand, the officers of the African Company seem to have engaged in private trade, including the purchase of slaves, quite openly. On the other hand, there are instances where it is made clear that the sale of slaves off the coast was “contrary to the Rules of the Service” (T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Ship Iris, 14 January 1794). Perhaps the officers were allowed to purchase slaves on the coast and resell them to ships' captains at a profit (which is what Richard Miles did), but not to ship slaves off the coast themselves?
7 In 1791 Thomas Miles had established a factory at Accra as a joint venture with John Mark Cleland, a former servant of the African Company who had turned private trader and who acted as local agent at the factory. After Thomas Miles' return to London and bankruptcy, “Accra Factory” was taken over by Messrs Miles & Weuves. In 1794 it was sold to J. M. Cleland. See T70/1560, Agreement between Thomas Miles and J. M. Cleland re. Factory at Accra, Annamaboe Fort, 1 February 1791; T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Richard Miles, Schooner Express, 23 March 1794.
8 T70/1560, Thomas Miles to Hugh Colvill, Annamaboe Fort, 6 November 1789; James Hogg to Thomas Miles, Williams Fort Whydah, 4 December 1790 and 20 December 1794; Robert Macaulay to Thomas Miles, Popo, 8 March 1791.
9 Cooperation between Richard Miles and Latévi dated back to at least 1782, when Miles employed Latévi's “boy” as messenger between the African Company's headquarters at Cape Coast Castle and its outfort at Ouidah. See T70/1545, Lionel Abson to Richard Miles, Whydah, 14 December 1782; [Lionel Abson to Richard Miles, Whydah] 5 September [1783]; Lionel Abson to Richard Miles, Whydah, 26 September 1783.
10 T70/1484, Messrs Miles & Weuves to Thomas Miles, London, 8 July 1793.
11 It is not clear when exactly John Searle died, but it must have happened after April 1795, when the last entries in the “Journal of Popo Factory” were made, and before 8 August 1795, the date of a letter by an English trader in which there is a reference to “the late Mr. Searle.” See T70/584, “Journal of Popo Factory” and T70/1571, James Merry to Thomas Miles, Williams Fort Whydah, 8 August 1795.
12 T70/33, Governor to the Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 3 June 1795. See also Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire de Petit-Popo et du Royaume Guilt (1934) (Lomé, 1991), 57–59.Google Scholar
13 It is not clear whether the death of John Searle and Popo's defeat were connected. The simultaneity of these events would suggest so, but it seems unlikely that Searle would have participated in the war. It would of course be possible that after its defeat Popo was ransacked and Searle killed. However, the most likely explanation for Searle's death is that he died from sickness, like so many other Europeans on the coast.
14 T70/33, Governor to the Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 3 June 1795.
15 See T70/1571 for letters addressed to “Thomas Miles Lagos Factory.” These letters are dated from the period between 17 July and 21 August 1795.
16 Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, Wanstead, 1 February 1795.
17 T70/1572, Governor to Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 21 April 1796.
18 T70/1574, [Cape Coast Castle:] Arrivals and departures between 1 July and 30 September 1797.
19 T70/1569, Richard Miles to J. B. Weuves, London, 1 January 1794.
20 A. Coppeling was a servant of the Dutch West India Company, who in May 1792 had been sent to Popo “in order to give the Natives of the Town assurances of Dutch Protection” in the face of “Danish encroachments,” that is, the Danish Governor A. R. Biørn's plan to enlist an Asante army in a retaliatory expedition against Popo. See Crooks, , Records, 86–87.Google Scholar It seems likely that it was in consequence of this mission that Coppeling's factory was established. For its closure, see T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 1 February 1794 (Appendix E, no 3). Even less is known about Capt. Eagles' factory. It seems to have been owned first by a Mr Collow, a trader in England for whom Eagles worked as an agent on the west African coast, but was taken over by the latter in the second half of 1793. This factory appears to have been active until the defeat of Popo in May 1795 when it was closed. However, in late 1795 or early 1796 the factor, James Brown, returned to Popo and established his own factory there. See T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Accra, 20 August 1793 and T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popo, 10 January 1796 and 3 February 1796.
21 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to John Cleland, Popo Factory, 19 October 1793.
22 In 1794, one of Messrs Miles & Weuves' vessels, the Expedition, was captured on its way to Popo. See Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, London, 11 April 1794 and 11 August 1794. For a list of the goods shipped by the Expedition, which included presents for Latévi, see T70/1569, “Invoice of Sundries Shipped by Miles & Weuves, on board the Sloop Expedition, John Harrison Mas[rer], f[o]r Africa, on their own account and Risque, & consign'd to Mr Tho[ma]s Miles, their Agent, or to the Agent for the time being at Popo, April 1794.”
23 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Ship Iris, 14 January 1794; T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 23 October 1794: “Lattie as well as the Cabocier [sic] laugh at the idea of lowering the price of slaves now, nor will they be brought to do it while Brown Continues Coming backward and forward in this way; paying the full price, with a Capital Assortment…”
24 T70/1571, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 1 January 1795: “I have Communicated to Lattie your different L[etters] & entreated him to Assist us; but am sorry to add without Effect. I have not been able to procure one single slave or the Loan of a Single p[iece] of Goods from him…”
25 T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popo, 21 January 1796: “… it would seem Searle has subsisted on the Cook's advancing him Fowls Goats &c &c for part of 94 & all 95, till his death.”
26 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Richard Miles, Popo Factory, 2 September 1793.
27 The comparative values of Messrs Miles & Weuves' factories at Accra and Popo becomes clear from the case of a shipment of 200 slaves which Miles planned to make in December 1793. Of these 200 slaves, 140 were to come from Accra and 60 from Popo. In the end, however, neither of the factories managed to supply the expected number, which was due not so much to a lack of slaves at these places as to the factories' lack of the right goods. See T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Popo Factory, 26 August 1793; Thomas Miles to J. Cleland, Popo Factory, 31 August 1793; Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Ship Iris, 14 January 1794.
28 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to J. Cleland, Popo Factory, 12 October 1793.
29 T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popo, 17 January 1796.
30 “Padeyoura” probably refers to the place that the Danes called “Pottebra” and which Fio Agbanon II calls “Kpotibra” (History, 54). Isert described it as “a very important town” (Letters, 59). Selena Winsnes, who edited and translated Isert's account into English, was unable (ibid., 59nl) to locate it. In 1792 Biørn referred to Pottebra as one of the “Fishing Towns” of Keta (T70/1565, A. R. Biørn to Archibald Dalzel, Christiansburg Castle, 6 May 1792). Cf. Nørregård, , Danish Settlements in West Africa, 1658-1850 (Boston, Mass., 1966), 148, 153–55.Google Scholar For references to “Padeyora” in the Thomas Miles papers, see T70/1560, James Hogg to Thomas Miles, Williams Fort, Whydah, 20 December 1790; T70/1569, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, London, 10 October 1794.
31 T70/1560, Thomas Miles to Hugh Colvill, Anomabu Fort, 6 November 1789; T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Richard Miles, Popo Factory, 2 September 1793; T70/1569, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, London, 10 October 1794.
32 This is corroborated by Robertson, , Notes on Africa, 235Google Scholar, who says that “Portuguese slave-ships usually [call] here for the purpose of buying slaves, and cowries to pay their expenses at Lagos, &c., where they commonly complete their cargoes.”
33 George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popo, 3 February 1796. Cf. Akinjogbin, , Dahomey, 181.Google Scholar
34 T70/584, “Journal of Popo Factory.”
35 These documents are kept in the “Detached Papers” of the T70 series (T70/1560, T70/1566-1569). For a list of them, see Appendix D.
36 T70/1566, Lattie's Account with Popo Factory 1792-93 [30 August 1793].
37 T70/1569, Account of Cloths Expended, 9 March 1794; ibid., Account of Liquor Expended, 9 March 1794.
38 The letter book is kept in T70/1484, the original letters are scattered among the records of the African Company in T70/1560-1573. For a list of the latter, see Appendices A, B and C.
39 T70/1484, “Inventory of Goods in Popo Factory June 20th 1792” and “Invoice of Goods consigned to H H Mills at Popo.” The “Invoice” comprises a list of the goods that had been sent out to Popo Factory by the various ships between June 20 1792 (date of the inventory) and Thomas Miles' voyage to the West African coast.
40 T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 4 January 1794. See Appendix E no. 2.
41 For examples of John Searle's letters, see Appendix E nos. 1-7.
42 T70/1498, Thomas Miles: Private Books.
43 Such an analysis has been made by George Metcalf of Richards Miles' papers. See his “Gold” and “Microcosm.”
44 Hopkins, A. G., An Economic History of West Africa (Harlow, 1996), 109.Google Scholar This concept of a “moral community” was original used by Christopher Fyfe in his discussion of landlords and indigenous “strangers” in Sierra Leone. See Dorjahn, V.R. and Fyfe, C., “Landlord and Stranger: Change in Tenancy Relations in Sierra Leone,” JAH 3 (1962), 391–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Archibald Dalzel, Popo, 10 October 1793.
46 T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 4 January 1794. See Appendix E no. 2.
47 John Ansah is listed in an account of slaves purchased by Popo Factory as having sold 4 slaves (Latévi sold 40, Quam 2) (T70/1484, n.d.). Perhaps he also sold ivory to the factory, but this we do not know as the “Journal” does not give details of the slaves and goods purchased by the Factory. For details of the articles that John Ansah purchased at the factory and cowries he lent to the factory, see T70/584, “Journal of Popo Factory,” pp. 11, 29, 32, 33, 34, 38, 41, and 42.
48 T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 23 October 1794.
49 T70/1560, Robert Macauley to Thomas Miles, Popo 8 March 1791.
50 T70/1573, A. Hackney to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 28 February 1796. See Appendix E, no. 8.
51 “Grand Livre Lolamé,” 1.1: G.L. Lawson to William Helu, Ship “L[ittle] African”, Accra Road, 22 December 1806. The “Grand Livre Lolamé” is currently being edited for publication by Adam Jones and Peter Sebald.
52 11 February 1823, 18 March 1823, 15 April 1823, 20 September 1823.
53 For identification of the newly-founded town see ADM55/11, Clapperton's Journal, November 1825. In retrospective accounts from local traditions, Ansan's role in the civil war at Little Popo and the foundation of Agoué is assumed by one Komlagan, who is described as “the chief of the beach” at Popo. See, e.g., Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 64–67.Google Scholar
54 T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 4 January 1794.
55 Biørn, , Beretning 1788, 226Google Scholar; Isert, , Letters, 91.Google Scholar It is interesting that it was not Latévi who built the first European-style house in Popo. See also Gayibor, N.L., “Villes négrières,” 41Google Scholar, where Akué is referred to as the “founder of Dégbénu.”
56 Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 45–47.Google Scholar Agbanon furthermore relates that Akué subsequently married two more women and had many children, of whom one later married Francisco Felix de Souza and another Akuété Zankli alias George Lawson.
57 According to Biørn, king “Offolli-adjalu” had succeeded king “Oblie” who had died in 1786 (Beretning 1788, 226). N.L. Gayibor refers to “Offolli-adjalu” as “Foli Adjalo” (Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, ed. by Gayibor, N. L., 189Google Scholar). According to Fio Agbanon II, it was Foli Dekpo who was king at the time, but this is not corroborated by any historical evidence.
58 T70/1584, “Journal of Popo Factory,” 2.
59 From September to December 1793 the king is entered in the “Journal” as creditor: “The King Cr. by his Custom on … Slaves purchased this Month … OZ … ac … £.” However, as the spaces where the number of slaves and the amount of tax were to be filled in are left blank, it is to be presumed that no tax was paid (Ibid., 4, 8, 15).
60 This remoteness of the king from Popo affairs was observed in 1825 by Clapperton: “[the Popos] have a strong feeling of independence—and are proud of their country—their government being municipal and no one afraid of the King.” (ADM55/11).
61 T70/33, Governor Archibald Dalzel to the Committee of the Merchants Trading to Africa, Cape Coast Castle, 3 June 1795. Fio Agbanon II, who gives a detailed version of the circumstances surrounding Latévi's death, does not mention the death of the king (Histoire, 57-59).
62 Isert, Paul Erdmann, Letters (1788), 62, 90Google Scholar; M. de Champagny au Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies, “Mémoire” (1786), quoted in Gayibor, Nicoué Lodjou, Le Genyi; Un royaume oublié de la Côte de Guinée au temps de la traite des noirs (Lomé, 1990), 181Google Scholar; Biørn, , Beretning, 226.Google Scholar
63 Isert, Paul Erdmann, Letters, 90.Google Scholar
64 “Grand Livre Lolamé,” §7.12.
65 Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 39.Google Scholar
66 Ibid., 56-9.
67 T70/1498, Thomas Miles: Private Books.
68 T70/1571, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 1 January 1795.
69 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Popo Factory, 26 August 1793.
70 T70/1566, Lattie's Account with Popo Factory 1792-93 [30 August 1793].
71 T70/1484, Thomas Miles: letters to and from Thomas Miles, p. 1 (left hand).
72 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Popo Factory, 26 August 1793; T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, 4 January 1794.
73 T70/584, “Journal of Popo Factory,” p. 4.
74 T70/1484, James Hogg to Thomas Miles, Ship Fly, 20 October 1793; ibid., Thomas Miles to James Hogg [no date]: “Your Lady is now on Board Thornborrow”s Ship, Lattie I am told has advanced some Trifle to her Family.”
75 See, for example, Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 43Google Scholar; Skinner, David D., Thomas George Lawson. African Historian and Administrator in Sierra Leone (Stanford, 1980), 10Google Scholar; Gayibor, , Genyi, 183.Google Scholar
76 The earliest reference to George Lawson's activity on the west African coast that I was able to find dates from 1782. See T70/1545, Lionel Abson to Richard Miles, William's Fort Whydah, 20 November 1783.
77 T70/1569, Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, London, 22 August 1794.
78 These letters are preserved in T70/1573.
79 See T70/1574, [Cape Coast Castle:] “Arrivals and Departures between 1 July and 30 September 1797.”
80 T70/1569, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, London, 10 October 1794.
81 T70/1569, Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, London, 22 August 1794. “Lahtie” is Richard Miles' spelling for Laté.
82 None of the sons of Latévi who were at Popo at the time knew how to read or write, at least English. This is indicated by a letter that was written by an English trader on their behalf in January 1796 (T70/1572, J. Brown to Thomas Miles, Popo, 8 January 1796. See Appendix E no. 6). European visitors to the area agree that Akueté Zankli had been sent away in his youth to be taught by the English. However, opinion differs as to where he was taught or trained, on a ship, in Sierra Leone, or in Europe. Isert, writing in 1785, notes that two of Latévi's sons were being educated in Europe, one in England and another in Portugal (Letters, 90). Clapperton states that George A. Lawson “was brot [sic] up on board an English vessel as cabin boy” (ADM55/11, Journal, 11). Thomas Birch Freeman, who visited George Lawson in 1843, observes that he “visited Europe many years back & has by some means obtained a little English Education” (Methodist Missionary Society Archives London, “Journal December 1842-December 1845,” 165). Frederick E. Forbes, an officer with the Royal Navy who met George A. Lawson in 1850, states that he had returned to Popo in 1812, which, if Forbes is referring to the same person that Isert reported to be in England in 1785, would mean that he was away for almost 30 years! (Forbes, Frederick E., Dahomey and the Dahomans [2 vols, London, 1851], 1:100–01.CrossRefGoogle Scholar) See also Jones, Adam, “Little Popo and Agoué at the End of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Glimpses from the Lawson Correspondence and Other Sources” in Ports of the Slave Trade (Bights of Benin and Biafra), eds. Law, Robin and Strickrodt, Silke (Stirling, 1999), 122–34.Google Scholar
83 For references to Quam in the Thomas Miles papers, see T70/1484, p.1 (left hand); T70/1569, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, London, 10 October 1794; T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 4 January 1794 (see Appendix E no 2); T70/1569, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 23 October 1794.
84 Gayibor, , Genyi, 181.Google Scholar
85 This tripartite division of power at Popo was also noted by de Champagny (181) and A.R. Biørn (T70/1565, A.R. Biørn to Archibald Dalzel, Christiansborg Castle, 12 May 1792).
86 T70/584, “Journal of Popo Factory.” Toofsoo's engagement in the slave trade is indicated by a note in the “Journal” that says that he had been overpaid on a slave (30). However, it is not clear whether he regularly sold slaves to the Factory or how many he sold because the “Journal” does not give such details.
87 Ibid., p. 5, 16. See also T70/1567, John Searle to Thomas Miles, Popo Factory, 18 November 1793: “I was over at Toofsoo's Crome Yesterday afternoon; and find that all your Stock well there; as are what is in the Yard here.”
88 There are two references to the attempts of Toofsoo's brother to settle Toofsoo's affairs. One is a request by him to Thomas Miles, dated 8 January 1796, for all outstanding debts to be paid in liquor “as he wishes also to be a Custom maker” (T70/1573, John Brown to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 8 January 1796). This request is very similar to that sent on the same date by the relatives of the late Laté. [See Appendix E nos. 6 and 7.] The other is a request of payment of the cowries that Toofsoo had lent to the factory (T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 25 February 1796).
89 Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 57.Google Scholar
90 According to a letter from Governor Dalzel, which quotes information given by Thomas Miles, all three of Latévi's war chiefs (“generals”) were killed during the encounter. T70/33, Governor Archibald Dalzel to the Committee of the Merchants Trading to Africa, Cape Coast Castle, 3 June 1795.
91 Agbanon, Fio II, Histoire, 59.Google Scholar
92 T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Messrs Miles & Weuves, Ship Iris, 14 January 1794. “Mr D.” possibly refers to Archibald Dalzel, the Governor at Cape Coast Castle, who engaged in private trade along the west African coast (see T70/584, p.41).
93 T70/1573, A. Hackney to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 28 February 1796. See Appendix E no. 8.
94 T70/1560, George Lawson to Thomas Miles [off Popo, early 1795].
95 T70/1571, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Iris, 27 July 1785; T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles or Captain Anderson, Popoe, 17 January 1796; George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 25 February 1796.
96 T70/1569, Account of Cloths expended by and remaining in Popo Factory, 9 March 1794.
97 Ibid., “Goods Remain[in]g in the factory at Popo,” 19 September 1794.
98 T70/1573, George Lawson to Thomas Miles, Popoe, 10 January 1796.
99 For covering letter, see T70/1560, Thomas Miles to Hugh Colville, Annomaboe Fort, 6 November 1789 (Appendix A).
100 See note 99.
101 For covering letter, see T70/1569, Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, April 11 1794. The “Expedition” with the articles mentioned in the inventory was captured on her way out to Africa. Among the articles were “an Elegant arm Chair,” “a neat square stool to match,” and “scarlet Serge, Deal bare, & Tack[in]g[?]” that were meant to be presents for Latévi.
102 “Mr. Alexander:” Charles Alexander was an officer of the African Company (a surgeon) and a friend of Thomas Miles, who from October 1793 to his death in 1795 was stationed at Whydah (T70/1484, Thomas Miles to Captain Marshall, Popo, 15 October 1793; T70/1571, James Merry to Thomas Miles, Williams Fort Whydah, 8 August 1795).
103 “Brown:” James Brown was the agent at the factory of Captain Thomas Eagles at Popo.
104 “Copeling”: A. Copeling was a Dutchman and servant of the Dutch Company, who from 1792 to early 1794 had a factory at Popo.
105 “Ashley:” ship's captain.
106 “Maison:” ship's captain.
107 “Marshall:” ship's captain.
108 “Neizer:” Jan Neizer was a trader at Dutch Accra.
109 “Robertson:” ship's captain.
110 “Weuves:” As noted above, Jerome Bernard Weuves, a former officer of the African Company and Governor-in-Chief, was partner in Messrs Miles & Weuves, the owners of Popo Factory. He visited the factories at Accra and Popo in 1794 and died during his voyage back to England (via Jamaica) (T70/1569, Richard Miles to J. B. Weuves, London, 1 January 1794; Richard Miles to Thomas Miles, London, 11 November 1794).
111 “Anderson:” Charles Anderson was a ship's captain in the service of Messrs Miles & Weuves.
112 The brig L'Mutine was one of six vessels belonging to a French squadron that harassed British vessels on the west African coast in December 1794 and early 1795. Among the British casualties were the ship Lady Penrhyn and the cutter Bee, which were wrecked at Popo (see note 22; T70/1570, Luke Man to Archibald Dalzel, Popo, 8 December 1795; Archibald Dalzel to Captain Man, Cape Coast Castle, 19 December 1795; Luke Man to Archibald Dalzel, Popo Town, 21 December 1795; T70/33, Governor and Council to Committee, Cape Coast Castle, 8 January 1795).
113 “Captain Mann & his People:” Luke Man was captain of the Lady Penrhyn, which on 7 December 1795 was chased by a French squadron and shipwrecked at Popo (ibid.).
114 “Gov. Dalzel:” Archibald Dalzel, Governor-in-Chief of the British settlements on the west African coast, whose seat was at Cape Coast Castle.
115 “Capt. Lawson:” George Lawson was a ship's captain in the service of Messrs Miles & Weuves.