Carrier KORGAY, Sierra Leone Carrier Corps

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

Carrier KORGAY, 1593 Sierra Leone Carrier Corps, who died on 21.07.17. Freetown Memorial, Sierra Leone

Name: KORGAY

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Carrier

Regiment: Sierra Leone Carrier Corps, W.A.F.F.

Unit Text: "A" Coy.

Date of Death: 21/07/1917

Service No: 1593

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Cemetery: FREETOWN MEMORIAL

Cemetery: FREETOWN MEMORIAL

Country: Sierra Leone

Locality: unspecified

Location Information: The Freetown Memorial is located outside the Secretariate Building in the centre of Freetown.

Historical Information: The West Africans who died whilst serving with the Royal West African Frontier Force in West Africa, whose graves are not known, or are unmaintainable, are commemorated by name on memorials in the countries of their enlistment: men of Sierra Leone at Freetown, Nigerians at Lagos, men of Ghana at Accra, and of Gambia at Bathurst (now Banjul). The Freetown Memorial commemorates 1,109 First World War casualties and 247 from the Second World War.

No. of Identified Casualties: 1356

[christine liava'a]

West African Frontier (WAFF)

In 1897, the need to have a more effective military force to counter French incursions into Northern Nigeria led to the secondment of Col. F. D. Lugard with a team of other officers to Nigeria to raise two battalions. Lugard did a good job in the brief time between 1897 and December 1898.

At the end of this conflict with the French, the British government reorganised the forces in Nigeria and this reorganisation ended In 1900. At the same time, the charter granted to the Royal Niger Company was revoked. Consequently, two battallions were established in Northern Nigeria compris ing the original battalions established by Lugard and the fragment of the Royal Niger Constabulary Quartered in the south Another Scomoanv battalion was formed in the Lagos colony.

With the amalgamation of the Lagos colony and protectorate with the Southern protectorate in 1906, the battalion and the Southern Nigerian regi ment were also amalgamated to form two distinct battalions i.e.

1. Battalion with Calabar as Head quarters

2. Battalion with Lagos as Headquarters.

In 1897, all constabulary forces in British West African territories were fused together by Lugard to form the West African Frontier Force, The amalga mation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914 led to the fusion of both regiments to form a single Nigeria Regiment in the WAFF. Thus, Nigeria Regiment was then divided into four battalions with 1 and 2 in the north while 3 and 4 were in the south and the whole force came under one unified command. In 1940, WAFF was conferred with the royal charter to become the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). This was in recognition of the gallant performance of Nigerian soldiers in the two world wars.

It is pertinent to note that during Worid War 1, of the 30,000 soldiers raised for the war effort in the West African area, 13,980 were 'from Nigeria.

...............................................

West African Frontier Force First formed in 1900 to administer the regular colonial forces in British West Africa, the West African Frontier Force was composed mainly of African troops and consisted of the Queen's Own Nigeria Regiment; the Gold Coast Regiment; the Royal Sierra Leone Regiment; and the Gambia Regiment. It was re-named the Royal West African Frontier Force in 1928 and finally disbanded in 1960.