The Empire's Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958
| dc.contributor.advisor | Stapleton, Tim J. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Estep, Charles Joseph | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Bercuson, David Jay | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Apentiik, Caesar Roland | |
| dc.date | 2020-11 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2020-09-25T20:28:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2020-09-25T20:28:13Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020-09-23 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Within the greater historiography of European led African colonial militaries, the history of the Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force is largely unknown. The Gambia Company initially formed in 1902 from a nucleus of Sierra Leoneans. It continued to rely on Sierra Leonean recruits out of British fears of Gambian disloyalty and the belief that the small, seemingly insignificant Gambian territory would eventually fall under the administrative authority of the French. Such policies and mindsets initially limited the Gambia Company’s development into an efficient and independent military organization. Despite its smallness and structural shortcomings, the Gambia Company functioned as an effective unit in the African campaigns of the First World War. Following the war, the company finally transitioned into an all-Gambian force and secured its institutional independence after British realization that the Gambia would remain a British territory. However, imperial strategic concerns and training deficiencies during the interwar period forced the Gambia Company’s attachment to a larger military organization, the Sierra Leone Battalion. With the onset of the Second World War and the emergence of unforeseen territorial threats in West Africa, the Gambia Company expanded to unprecedented levels, a total strength of two infantry battalions. During the war, the now renamed Gambia Regiment contributed significantly to the defense of British West Africa and the Allied war effort fighting in the Burma campaign. Eventually, the company sized Gambia Regiment disbanded in 1958 after over 50 years of service for the Gambia and the greater British Empire. This thesis hopes to fill the historiographical void by providing a valuable history of the Gambia Company and shed light on the experiences of ordinary Gambian soldiers, while also exposing the greater historical trends of the British colonial military in West Africa. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Estep, C. J. (2020). The Empire's Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38239 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112579 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Arts | en_US |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Gambia | en_US |
| dc.subject | West Africa | en_US |
| dc.subject | West African Frontier Force | en_US |
| dc.subject | Colonial Military | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | History--African | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | History--Military | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Military Studies | en_US |
| dc.title | The Empire's Smallest Regiment: The Gambia Company of the West African Frontier Force, 1902-1958 | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | History | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Arts (MA) | en_US |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true | en_US |