Henry Rawlingson Carr

Henry Carr (August 15, 1863–1945) was a Nigerian educator and administrator. He was one of the most prominent West Africans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and was a member of the legislative council in Lagos from 1918–1924.

Henry Carr was born in Lagos on August 15, 1863 to Amuwo Carr and Rebecca Carr, liberated Saro emigrants. Amuwo Carr died in Abeokuta when Henry was seven years old, leaving Rebecca Carr in charge of young Henry's education. Henry attended Wesleyan School, Olowogbowo for his elementary education. He was sponsored by Reverend T.B. Thomas, a close friend of his mother, to attend Wesleyan Highs School in Freetown, Sierra Leone for his secondary education. In Sierra Leone, he attended Fourah Bay College where he received an honours degree in 1880. He was the first graduate of the school to achieve the feat. He then went to England and signed up for courses at Lincoln's Inn, St. Mark's College, Chelsea and the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. Thereafter, he graduated with an honors B.A. in mathematics and physical science at Durham University in 1882. In 1906 he took a B.C.L degree at Lincoln's Inn and in the same year was made Chancellor of the Diocese of Western Equatorial Africa. Henry Carr was married to the former Henrietta Robbin.

He returned to Nigeria in 1885 and taught at the CMS Grammar School, Lagos until joining the Colonial Civil Service in 1889 as chief clerk in the Secretariat and sub-inspector of schools.

He was appointed inspector of schools in 1892 (becoming the first black man to do so) and assistant colonial secretary for native affairs in 1900. In Lagos, Nigeria, he continued to progress doing much work on the Board of Education, serving as director of education between 1906 and 1918, and became the Resident of the Colony of Nigeria in 1918. He appears to be the first black man under British colonial rule to achieve this position. Henry Carr was one of the few West Africans during the early twentieth century that broke barriers in colonial governance.

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