John Roscoe

Revd. John Roscoe
File:Roscoe, John.jpg
Born	1861
Died	1932
Residence	Uganda [1901] Ovington Rectory, Watton, Norfolk [1911]
Occupation	church
Society Membership membership Local Correspondent 1901 Ordinary fellow from 1912 left 1932 deceased elected_AI 1901.06.11 1912.12.02

Notes

House Notes

proposed by Arthur Keith, seconded by T.A. Joyce [A63/2/163 with 1912 election date]
List for 1900 gives Rev. H.E. Roscoe, Uganda in list of Local Correspondents - is he the same or different?
1912.06.11 It was further resolved that the Revd. J. Roscoe’s name should be removed from the list of Local Correspondents, as he was now settled in England, and he be asked to join as an Ordinary Fellow
1912.10.29 nominated as an Ordinary Fellow
1913.10.21 The Treasurer was authorised to write to Messrs A.W. Battersby and H.C. Jackson and Revd. R. Roscoe and ask if they wished to take up their Fellowship.
death noted in Report of the Council 1932-1933
obituary in Man 1933, 54

Notes From Elsewhere

John Roscoe (1861–1932)[1] was an Anglican missionary to East Africa. He conducted anthropological data collection of the Africans he encountered on mission.
Roscoe was born in 1861, during the height of the Victorian era. Roscoe's career heavily echoed the Victorian notion of improving natives under British rule. He studied civil engineering before joining the Anglican Church Missionary Society. In 1884, on mission, he travelled to what became the Uganda Protectorate, and lived there among several African tribes until 1909. From his experiences in Africa, Roscoe wrote Twenty-Five Years in East Africa, which was published in 1921. He intended the book to be an anthropological reference for Britons.
The trajectory of Roscoe’s career seems to mimic that of David Livingstone, and indeed, Livingstone was a prominent influence on Roscoe. Though Roscoe’s attitude toward Africa’s salvation was more pragmatic and less fervent than that of Livingstone, reflective of his later imperial era in which the British had already established their presence in Africa, he recognized Livingstone’s contributions to British endeavours on the continent. He directly cited Livingstone’s “excellent work in exposing [slavery],”[2] and references and expands upon Livingstone’s ideas of how to best approach the continent. Like Livingstone, Roscoe believed that Christianity would benefit the Africans, and like Livingstone, Roscoe also believed that the scientific study of Africa was necessary.

Publications

External Publications

Twenty-Five Years in East Africa, which was published in 1921

The Baganda, 1911

THE SOUL OF CENTRAL AFRICA: A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE MACKIE ETHNOLOGICAL EXPEDITION 1922

The Bagesu and other tribes of the Uganda Protectorate. The Third Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa 1924

BAKITARA OR BANYORO, The First Part of the Report of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa
Roscoe Rev. John