John Mensah Sarbah
| John Mensah Sarbah | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 June 1864 Anomabu, Gold Coast |
| Died | 27 November 1910 (aged 46) |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Occupation | Lawyer, political leader |
John Mensah Sarbah CMG (3 June 1864 – 27 November 1910) was a lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
John Mensah Sarbah was born on Friday, 3 June 1864, in Anomabu, in the Fante Confederacy in the Gold Coast. He was the eldest son of John Sarbah (1834–1892), a merchant of Anomabu and Cape Coast and a member of the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast, and his wife Sarah. Mensah Sarbah was educated at the Cape Coast Wesleyan School (later renamed – by Mensah Sarbah himself – as Mfantsipim School) and then at Taunton School in Somerset, England, matriculating in 1884. He subsequently entered Lincoln's Inn in London to train as a barrister, and was called to the English bar in 1887 – the first African from his country to qualify in this way.
In 1897, along with J.W. de Graft-Johnson, J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown and J. E. Casely Hayford, Mensah Sarbah co-founded the Aborigines' Rights Protection Society, which became the main political organisation that led organised and sustained opposition against the colonial government, laying the foundation for Ghanaian independence.
Mensah Sarbah was appointed a member of the Legislative Council in 1901, and was re-appointed in 1906.
In the first birthday honours of King George V, Mensah Sarbah was recognised with the award of a CMG in 1910, a few months before his sudden death at the age of 46, on Sunday, 27 November 1910.
In 1904 he married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children.
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