At Historycal Roots we stumbled across the story of Dr Macormack Charles Farrell Easmon somewhat by chance. Researching Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s life story we saw a mention of Kathleen Easmon who Coleridge-Taylor worked with, writing musical settings for some of her poetry. Looking into Kathleen’s life, we saw a brother, Charles, mentioned and decided to find out more about him. And what a fascinating story it is!There is a good article about Dr Easmon on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macormack_Charles_Farrell_Easmon, the family have a very interesting website about him and the historian Nigel Browne-Davis has written a thoroughly researched paper that focuses on Dr Easmon’s contribution during the First World War [http://www.academia.edu/16555640/Lieutenant_Macormack_Charles_Farrell_Easmon_A_Sierra_Leonean_Medical_Officer_in_the_First_World_War]. As Nigel says: ‘in scholarly works examining the First World War, the service of African, Asian and African-Caribbean combatants and non-combatants during the Great War has often been marginalised or overlooked’. At Historycal Roots we agree that the story of Dr Easmon and people like him deserves to be more widely known.
Macormack Charles Farrell Easmon (more often called Charles Easmon) was born in Accra, in the Gold Coast (now known as Ghana), on 11th April 1890. He was the son of Dr John Farrell Easmon and Annette Kathleen Easmon (née Smith). John, described as ‘creole’, was a prominent physician, credited with discovering an effective treatment for Black Water fever. The Easmon’s could trace their lineage back to the original founders of Freetown, Sierra Leone (Simon Schama tells the story of the founding of Freetown in ‘Rough Crossings’ (BBC books, 2005). Although Annette Kathleen Smith was ‘white’ her grandmother was black. Dr John Easmon died in June 1900.
Charles attended the grammar school in Freetown before his widowed mother moved the family to London in pursuit of a better education for her two children (Charles and his sister Kathleen). The family doesn’t appear in the 1901 census, completed on 31st March / 1st April, so it seems likely they arrived after this date. Charles attended Colet Court School in London and subsequently Epsom College where he was a member of the rugby team. Epsom College have kindly given permission to use this photograph of the team:
Looking at photographs like this is always a poignant experience as just eight years later World War One erupted and no doubt many of these young men fought and died in Flanders or elsewhere.
Charles graduated in 1907 and went on to study medicine at the medical school attached to St Marys Hospital in London. He qualified in medicine and surgery in 1912 and in 1913 passed the examination of the London School of Tropical Medicine. His memory is still honoured there.
He moved to Sierra Leone to practice medicine but when war broke out he enlisted for service and was mentioned in the September 1915 issue of ‘The Crisis’: ‘now serving the wounded and sick of the expeditionary forces at the Kameroons’ (The Crisis was the monthly journal of the NAACP, edited by W.E.B.DuBois. All issues are available online at www.modjourn.org). His medal cards are available at the National Archives at Kew (Reference: WO 372/6/145110).
In 1945 Charles retired from medicine. He subsequently devoted much energy to the founding of the Sierra Leone Museum and became its first curator.
In 1954 he was awarded the OBE in the 1954 New Year Honours (announced on 1st January 1954: ‘Macormack Charles Farrell Easmon, MD, Senior Medical Officer, Sierra Leone’ OBE).
He returned to England in 1969 and died in Croydon, South London in 1972. He is buried at Bandon Hill cemetery (also the final resting place of Samuel Coeridge-Taylor).
The inscription gives no clue as to his eventful life, it reads: ‘IN LOVING MEMORY OF MACORMACK CHARLES FARRELL EASMON DIED 30TH APRIL 1972 AGED 82 YEARS REST IN PEACE
Summary
Dr Easmon’s story deserves to be more widely known. How many residents of South London know that, buried in quiet corner of Bandon Hill Cemetery, lies a Black man who served his country during World War One and went on to achieve so much more in his life?