Richard Edward Dennett
| Richard Edward Dennett | |||||||||
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| File:Dennett, Richard Edward.jpg | |||||||||
| Born | 1857 | ||||||||
| Died | 1921 | ||||||||
| Residence | Benin and c/o Messrs H.S. King & Co., 9 Pall Mall, W | ||||||||
| Occupation | business | ||||||||
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Contents
Notes
Office Notes
House Notes
Proposed by E.S. Hartland; seconded by T.A. Joyce 1904.10.25
death reported in Report of the Council for 1921
Notes From Elsewhere
Richard Edward Dennett was an English trader operating out of the Kongo (present day Republic of Congo) in the early 20th century who wrote a number of books that were influential on sociological and anthropological research on the cultures of West Africa.
Richard Edward Dennett was born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1857. He was the son of Reverend R. Dennett MA DCL (1829 to 1908), who was a rector and private patron of Ashton Church near Chudleigh, Devon, for sixteen years from 1881 to 1897.
Dennett worked for Thomas Wilson, Sons & Co., a shipping company based in Kingston-upon-Hull, from 1875 until 1879. He left the UK for Africa in the employment of Hatton & Cookson in 1879. This trading company was responsible for bringing resources such as ivory into the country.
However, he began to notice the harsh treatment given to the people of the Congo and in 1886 he drew attention to these irregularities through his letters to the Manchester Guardian. However, he also edited a manuscript newspaper called “Congo Mirror” and accused the Congo officials of the murders and atrocities being committed. He was to become an active member of the Congo Reform Association.
Dennett traded in ivory, but was also involved in the Congo reform movement to improve conditions for indigenous workers. Through his writings he met and frequently communicated with a number of influential people such as Roger Casement, Consul for the British government and journalist Edward Dene Morel, who produced the famous 1903 Congo Report. Dennett was a strong opponent of the injustices of the colonial system in West Africa.
Dennett left the Congo when he joined the Nigerian Forest Service in 1902, but felt that he did not understand the Nigerian people as he had understood the Congolese.
Between 1886 and 1906, Dennett wrote and published three books and numerous articles in Britain about life in the Congo. Much of this material is ethnographic but other articles discuss trade. Between 1903 and 1916 he published a number of ethnographic articles on Nigerian language and ethnography. During this time he became friends with Mary Kingsley, a writer, explorer and advocate of African culture.
Dennett retired to Britain on a pension 1918 and died in 1921. Letters addressed to his publisher, George Macmillan, demonstrate that he was still writing and planning further publications at the time of his death.
Publications
External Publications
Seven years among the Fjort; Being an English trader's experiences in the Congo district (S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1887)
At the Back of the Black Man's Mind; Or, Notes on the kingly office in West Africa (Cass library of African studies, 1906)
Nigerian studies; Or, The religious and political system of the Yoruba (Cass library of African studies, 1910)
My Yoruba alphabet (Macmillan, 1916)
Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (French Congo) (Publications of the Folklore Society. 41, 1967)
"The Congo: from a trader's point of view," Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, 1886, pp. 283–306.
"From Banana, at the Mouth of the Congo, to Boma; etc. [Letters by R.E. Dennet]," Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, 1887, pp. 112–23.
"The Fjort: the Manners and Customs of the native Congo People," The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society, 1890, 1, pp. 26–29.
"Death and Ritual of the Fiote," Folklore, 8, 1897, pp. 132–137.
"Laws and Customs of the Fjort or Bavili Family, Kingdom of Loango," Journal of the African Society, 3, April 1902, pp. 259–87. "The religion of the Fjort or Fiote: 'Mavungu'," Journal of the African Society, 1901–02, pp. 452–54.
"King Maluango's Court," Journal of the African Society, 1903–04, pp. 154–58.
"The Court of the Slave Mamboma," Journal of the African Society, 1903–04, pp. 159–62.
"A few Notes on the History of Loango (Northern Portion of Congo Coast)," Journal of the African Society, 1903–04, pp. 277–80. "Bavili Notes," Folklore, 16, 1905, pp. 371–406.
House Publications
Philosophy of the Bavili 1905
Related Material Details
RAI Material
lantern slides
Other Material
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter