Statecraft & Independence
Peerless
Edward Francis Small
1891 – 1958
The trailblazer of Gambian political consciousness
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the The Gambia Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He founded the Gambia's first trade union, its first political party and its first nationalist newspaper, and became the first Gambian elected to its own legislature. There is no Gambian politics before him.
Edward Francis Small has been described as the trailblazer of Gambian political consciousness.
He founded the country's first trade union, the Bathurst Trade Union; its first political party, the Rate Payers' Association; and its first nationalist newspaper, The Gambian Outlook and Senegalese Reporter, one of the earliest papers anywhere to argue a Pan-African and Senegambian case. He was the first Gambian citizen elected to the legislature, and was active in politics from 1942 to 1951.
The country's main referral hospital was renamed the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in his honour in 2013.
He founded the country's first trade union, the Bathurst Trade Union; its first political party, the Rate Payers' Association; and its first nationalist newspaper, The Gambian Outlook and Senegalese Reporter, one of the earliest papers anywhere to argue a Pan-African and Senegambian case. He was the first Gambian citizen elected to the legislature, and was active in politics from 1942 to 1951.
The country's main referral hospital was renamed the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in his honour in 2013.
- Wikipedia — Edward Francis Small
- Dictionary of African Christian Biography — Small, Edward Francis
- The Point — Edward Francis Small, watchdog of the Gambia
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