Item: i81972


Authentic Coin of:

British West Africa under King George V: 6 May 1910 - 20 January 1936
1913 Silver Shilling 23mm (5.66 grams) 0.925 Silver (0.1682 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 12
Certification: NGC  VF DETAILS  2834619-015
· GEORGIVS V D.G.BRITT: OMN:REX F.D.IND:IMP:, George V facing left.
BRITISH WEST AFRICA ONE SHILLING, Palm tree.

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George  V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions , and Emperor of India , from 6 May 1910 until his  death in 1936.

He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King  Edward VII), and the grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria . From the time of his birth, he  was third in the line of succession behind his father and his  elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale .  From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy , until the unexpected death of his  elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On the  death of his grandmother in 1901, George's father became King-Emperor of the British Empire , and George was created Prince of Wales . He succeeded his father in  1910. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.

His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism , Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which  radically changed the political landscape. The Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy  of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. As a result of the First World War (1914–18) the empires of his  first cousins Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany fell while the  British Empire expanded to its greatest effective extent. In 1917, George became  the first monarch of the House of Windsor , which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of  anti-German public sentiment. In 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions  of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations . He was plagued by  illness throughout much of his later reign and at his death was succeeded by his  eldest son, Edward VIII.

British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or the formal colonial administrative entity. The United Kingdom held varying parts of these territories or the whole throughout the 19th century. From west to east, the colonies became the independent countries of The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. Until independence, Ghana was referred to as Gold Coast.

Historical jurisdiction

British West Africa as a colonial entity was originally known as Colony of Sierra Leone and its Dependencies, then British West African Territories and finally British West African Settlements. It constituted during two periods (17 October 1821, until its first dissolution on 13 January 1850, and again 19 February 1866, until its final demise on 28 November 1888) as an administrative entity under a governor-in-chief (comparable in rank to a governor-general), an office vested in the governor of Sierra Leone (at Freetown).

The other colonies originally included in the jurisdiction were the Gambia and the British Gold Coast (modern Ghana). Also western Nigeria, eastern Nigeria and northern Nigeria were included.

Social and cultural development

British West Africa's present makeup includes Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Western Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria. Each of these countries and areas are a post-colonial period, or what the Ghanaian writer Kwame Appiah dubs neo-colonialism.

British West Africa's development was solely based on modernization, and autonomous educational systems were the first step to modernising indigenous culture. Cultures and interests of indigenous peoples were ignored. A new social order, as well as European influences within schools and local traditions, helped mould British West Africa's culture. Significant was the British West African colonial school curriculum. Local elites developed, with new values and philosophies, who changed the overall cultural development.

In terms of social issues with British West Africa; sex and race usually conflicted each other (Carina E. Ray called it the "White Wife Problem"). During British West Africa's history, interracial relations were frowned upon, and couples might be discriminated against. There were even certain policies that deported the wives of these relationships back to Britain and denied them access to any of these colonies.

Economic development

Colonial banks might develop monopolies to control competition, at the expense of British West African citizens. There were only two major banks that operated in British West Africa: Barclays and the Bank of British West Africa. They had major economic and financial influence in British West Africa from about 1916 to 1960. From a dependency theory view point, these banks took advantage through price fixing and certain unfair regulations.

Coverage of West African economics by historians, mostly British, has left a legacy of controversy. Three historians, in particular, were accused by Adu Boahen for inaccurate reportage, mainly of Gold Coast and Ghana: William Walton Claridge, in A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti (1915, reprint by Frank Cass in 1964); William Ernest Frank Ward in History of the Gold Coast (1940, published 1948, as A History of Ghana in 1958); and John Donnelly Fage in Ghana: A Historical Interpretation.

Economic development was mostly attributed to each region's agricultural developments. Development of the financial markets through colonial banking often disadvantaged the colonies as producers of commodities.

Aftermath

Even after its final dissolution, a single currency, the British West African pound, was in effect throughout the region-including Nigeria-from 1907 to 1962.

Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Sierra Leone was self-governing by 1958 and gained independence in 1961. Gambia gained independence in 1965. In 1954, the British Gold Coast was allowed by Britain to self-govern and in 1957, the Gold Coast was given independence from Britain, under the name Ghana.