Frederick Hodgson

Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson KCMG
Governor of Gold Coast
In office 29 May 1898 – 29 August 1900
Preceded by	William Edward Maxwell
Succeeded by	Matthew Nathan
Governor of Barbados
In office 18 February 1900 – 1904
Preceded by	James Shaw Hay
Succeeded by	Gilbert Thomas Carter
Governor of British Guiana
In office 26 September 1904 – 5 July 1912
Preceded by	James Alexander Swettenham
Succeeded by	Walter Egerton
Personal details
Born	1851
Died	6 August 1925
Nationality	British

Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, KCMG (1851–6 August 1925) was a British colonial administrator who was Governor of the Gold Coast (1898–1900), Barbados (1900–04) and British Guiana (1904–11).

Hodgson was the son of the Reverend Octavius Arthur Hodgson, Rector of East Stoke, Dorset, England. He joined the General Post Office, and worked in the Savings Bank department between 1868 and 1869. He was Postmaster General of British Guiana from 1882 to 1888.

Hodgson was appointed Colonial Secretary of Gold Coast from 1888 to 1898. In 1892 he raised the Gold Coast Rifle Volunteers, and was Major commanding this force. Hodgson was Governor and Commander in Chief of Gold Coast from 1898 to 1900. He was appointed K.C.M.G. on 3 June 1899.

The 1896 British expedition against the Ashanti led by Sir Francis Scott had entered Kumasi and forced King Prempeh to submit, with all his treasures being seized except the Golden Stool of Ashanti, which had been hidden. The Golden Stool was said to be an immense throne of solid gold. The other treasures were taken to London, where they were greatly admired for their artistic workmanship. When the Asante demanded more political autonomy and the return of Prempeh, who had been banished, Hodgson justified British rule on the grounds that autonomy would lead to a return to the traffic in slaves.

In 1899 Hodgson sent his private secretary, Captain Armitage, on a secret expedition to find the Golden Stool. The expedition succeeded only in arousing the suspicions of the Asante. Hodgson summoned the Asante chiefs to an assembly at Kumasi held on 28 March 1900. He asked them: "What must I do to the man, whoever he is, who has failed to give to the Queen, who is the paramount power in the country, the stool to which she is entitled? Where is the Golden Stool? Why am I not sitting on the Golden Stool at this moment? I am the representative of the paramount power in this country; why have you relegated me to this chair? Why did you not take the opportunity of my coming to Kumasi to bring the Golden Stool and give it to me to sit upon?" The chiefs listened in silence, then went home to prepare for war.

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