Contents

Charles Arden-Clarke

Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke GCMG GCStJ
Governor-General of Ghana
In office 6 March 1957 – 24 June 1957
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Kwame Nkrumah
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	The Earl of Listowel
Governor of the Gold Coast
In office 11 August 1949 – 6 March 1957
Monarchs	George VI Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Kwame Nkrumah (21 March 1952 – 6 March 1957)
Preceded by	Sir Robert Scott
Succeeded by	Position abolished
British High Commissioner to Brunei
In office 1948–1949
Preceded by	Malcolm MacDonald
Succeeded by	C.W. Dawson
Resident Commissioner of Bechuanaland
In office 1937–1942
Preceded by	Charles Fernand Rey
Succeeded by	Aubrey Denzil Forsyth-Thompson
1st Governor of Sarawak
In office 1 July 1946 – 26 July 1949
Monarch	George VI
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Duncan George Stewart
Personal details
Born	(1898-07-25)25 July 1898[1] Bournemouth, England
Died	16 December 1962(1962-12-16) (aged 64)[2] Syleham, England

Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke GCMG GCStJ ^[3] (25 July 1898 – 16 December 1962) was a British colonial administrator.

Biography[edit]

Arden-Clarke was educated at Rossall School.^[4] He was the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (later Botswana) between 1937 and 1942, a time at which the ruling regent Tshekedi Khama was in violent conflict with the British authorities.^[5] He was the Resident Commissioner of Basutoland from August 1942 to November 1946, and in 1946 was appointed as the first Governor of the newly created British Crown Colony of Sarawak, which was ceded in 1946 by the Kingdom of Sarawak. During his governorship in Sarawak he was despised by locals as, upon his appointment, Sarawak was engulfed with the Anti-cession Movement, which led to the assassination of his successor, Duncan Stewart in 1949 by the radical members of the Anti-cession movement.

On 1 May 1948, he assumed the position of High Commissioner to Brunei. Documents were neither signed nor exchanged between Arden-Clarke and Anthony Abell, only the reading of the appointment for him was made in front of Brunei dignitaries in the State Court House. He promised the people of Brunei that it was his duty and responsibility to protect the interests and welfare of Brunei and its inhabitants and to contribute to its future development and progress. He was replaced by C.W. Dawson in October 1949.^[6]

After Sarawak, he was the last governor of the Gold Coast (later Ghana), from August 1949^[5] until 1957, taking up residence in Fort Christiansborg.^[7] On 12 February 1951, he authorised Kwame Nkrumah's release from imprisonment in James Fort. After independence, he was named the first Governor-General of Ghana in 1957. Arden-Clarke's acceptance of the Africans and his attitude towards Kwame Nkrumah likely contributed to Ghana's relatively smooth transition to independence. ^{[citation needed]}

References[edit]

Archives[edit]

Papers of Charles Arden-Clarke giving an insight into events during the transition of the Gold Coast to independent Ghana (1949-1957) are held by SOAS Special Collections