Becoming 'European' (2); West Indian officers in British West Africa were treated as "Europeans" by the colonial governments. this led to a conflict in 1904 over their employment in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).

In the first installment on this two-part series, we explored why British colonial administrators began to recruit West Indians to works as "Euporean" colonial officers in Sierra Leone during the middle of the 19th century. Despite the fact that colonial racism led to a backlash against these officers, who were ultimately barred from serving in all but the most rudimentary positions in Sierra Leone, at the turn of the century the Gold Coast colonial government embarked on its own policy of recruiting West Indians. It was not long, however, before these officers became the target of another racist campaign.

The first all-out attack against West Indian officers in the Gold Coast occurred in 1904, just a few months after the retirement of Governor Nathan, who had vigorously supported their recruitment. This attack, spearheaded by the Comptroller of Customs, Mr. G. Attrill, employed a racial rhetoric which positioned West Indians of African descent, whom he called "Native West Indians", as a problematic interstitial group between Africans and Europeans that disturbed the racial dichotomy which underpinned colonial rule. In the course of making a standard request for a replacement officer to fill the position of an outgoing supervisor of customs, the newly appointed governor, Sir John Rodger, informed the Colonial Office in London that Comptroller of Customs Attrill had requested that no more "Native West Indians" be hired as supervisors in the Customs Department. According to Attrill "such officers are not satisfactory, either when dealing with Europeans or with natives of this colony".

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Rodger took Attrill's request a step further, stating: "If, in future, a Native West Indian be appointed in any capacity, to a post in this colony, I venture to suggest that, in justice to Native West Africans, he should receive only the 'bative' terms" as specified by the rules governing the appointment of native officers.

Couched in the language of equality and fairness vis-a-vis African officers, Governor Rodger's two-pronged proposal that (1) the government cease hiring "non-white" West Indians and (2) in the event that "non-white" West Indians were hired they be reclassified as natives was, in short, an attempt to redefine the proper racial place of "non-white" West Indians as either being in the West Indies or in the native sphere of the colony's administration.

Rodger's dispatch created confusion at the Colonial Office with regards to precisely what was meant by the term "Native West Indian". In an attempt to discern who in the Customs Department this term referred to, the Colonial Office undertook a survey of the racial makeup of the West Indians employed by the department in the Gold Coast. The survey concluded that of the 13 West Indians, five were "white," two were "slightly coloured," and two "a good deal coloured." While the racial identity of the remaining four was unknown, it was suggested that "none are black or even nearly so." This prompted the secretary of state's advisors to wonder whether Rodger objected to West Indians of all skin tones or "only to the deeper tinges" and in turn to suggest that perhaps he would be satisfied if future West Indian appointees were "white or nearly so."

Secretary of State Alfred Lyttelton asked Rodger to clarify what was meant by the term "Native West Indian" and requested evidence to support the claim that they were unsatisfactory employees. Lyttelton's remarks are worth repeating at length because they reveal how the discourse on West Indians was shaped in large part by the question of skin colour and its perceived relationship to eligibility to hold office and job performance, as well as the challenge posed by the ambiguous nature of their racial identity. He states:

"I am not sure that I understand what is intended by the expression 'native West Indians' ... Most West Indian officers have some admixture of African blood, and, if selection is to be restricted to men of pure European descent, the number of candidates available will be greatly reduced. If on the other hand men who are only slightly coloured are to be regarded as eligible, it is not clear how dissatisfaction has arisen, since nearly all of the present members of the Gold Coast Customs who are of West Indian origin are not more than slightly coloured.

"It is, as you are aware, a most difficult thing to define the race of a West Indian officer, and if the men are selected in this Office from such information as is available, it must sometimes happen that a men more deeply coloured than usual is chosen."

Given what appears to be a hiring policy that at the very least favoured white and light-skinned West Indians, it is not surprising that Lyttelton rejected Rodger's suggestion that West Indians of colour be reclassified as natives. Lyttelton likely foresaw the difficulties involved in deciding which West Indians should be reclassified as natives and on what basis, as he readily admitted the near impossibility of defining the race of West Indian officers.

Instead, he suggested that a new tactic could be employed to further ensure that darker-skinned candidates were weeded out by making the governors of the West Indian colonies responsible for selecting candidates for positions in West Africa. This would allow them to physically see the candidates before appointing them.

Ultimately, however, Lyttelton found it "impracticable to draw a colour line between West Indians and European supervisors of Customs or to pay them on different scales of salary," but added the caveat that "there is of course no difficulty in offering lower terms to West Indians than would be offered to Europeans if the former are employed in a class by themselves with distinct duties."

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In asking for the full particulars of why "Native West Indians" were not found to give satisfaction in their jobs, Lyttelton expressed his surprise at Comptroller Attrill's claims and pointed to the consistently favourable reports received by the Colonial Office on their performance. The local colonial government's official response to Lyttelton's request for clarification on the "West Indian problem" articulated the complicated set of racial dynamics that was, in its view, at work in the Gold Coast. Although administratively categorised as Europeans, those West Indians described as "negroes" or "mulattoes" were in practice viewed as "coloured," by white Europeans and Native officers, and it was to this group that the term "Native West Indian" referred.

According to Attrill, "Native West Indians" were indeed competent in their work; however, he argued that there was "undoubtedly a feeling of jealousy towards them on the part of the natives of the colony." He attributed this jealousy to the fact that "Native West Indians" had the same leave privileges as Europeans and that they were "placed in a position of authority over natives and mulattos of this colony who are unable to see any superiority in them, and who, if not openly expressing resentment, work less willingly and cordially under their supervision."

Comptroller Attrill then turned to the question of the position of "Native West Indians" vis-a-vis Europeans. In addition to being "frequently treated with less courtesy than is due their position" by European traders, he argued that "Native West Indians" were "worse situated on the Coast than a white man as regards recreation and society and is more a stranger in the land". Citing their exclusion from the pastimes of both Europeans and Africans due to a language barrier with the latter, he described them as leading "a broody and forlorn existence." Conspicuously, he limited his negative comments to European traders-never suggesting that European government officers mistreated their "Native West Indian" colleagues, although their admitted exclusion from white social circulars suggests otherwise.

With regard to the lack of popularity "Native West Indians" experienced in their professional lives, Attrill accused them of bringing it on themselves because of their inclination to "watch for treatment from both [their] brother officers and [European] traders which [they] can wrongly construe as a slight or insult". He then insinuated that this inclination resulted from their fraught racial status, which caused them to be "extremely sensitive".

Upon receipt at the Colonial Office, Attrill's report and Governor Rodger's accompanying dispatch solicited great interest. The claims made by Rodger and Attrill were met with a far less favourable response from the Colonial Office than similar claims made by Sierra Leonean administrators in the late 1850s.

In 1858 Edward Lytton, Secretary of State for the Colonies, summed up the West Indian experiment as "a complete failure as it was likely to prove according to the ordinary principle of prejudice by which society is held together. The blacks have little respect, [and] jealous dislike for one of their own colour in authority-and we all know how the whites dislike the idea of being made inferior to a black."

In contrast to this, Secretary of State Lyttelton, in 1904, rejected Governor Rodger's request to cease employing West Indians because in his view it was "futile and short-sighted statesmanship to make unnecessary concessions to [colour] prejudice".

In the end, neither Rodger's proposal to reclassify West Indians of African descent as natives, nor Lyttelton's suggestion that they be "employed in a class by themselves with distinct duties" was adopted. Rather they continued to be classified as Europeans.

Lyttleton's refusal to ban West Indians of African descent from being employed in the colonial service exemplifies the instrumental use of racism within Britain's colonial regime: if racist ideologies furthered colonial agendas they were employed, if such ideologies hindered or compromised the efficiency and economy of colonial projects, they could also be rejected.