John Glover and the Gold Coast's Mortuary Politics

In 1870s Gold Coast, the British governor John Hawley Glover fought a strange war over bodies. When the king of Winneba died, Glover insisted on a Christian burial — and the town erupted. This episode follows the 1875 'Winneba Disturbances', the ritual politics of Akan death and succession, and how one colonial governor's obsession with control turned a funeral into a crisis. We explore the role of the Omanhene, the significance of stool burial, and the clash between customary rites and Victorian propriety. Along the way, we meet the Fante merchant James Bannerman, the exiled king of Accra, and the British gunboats that enforced Glover's vision. A forgotten episode that reveals how the smallest rituals became battlegrounds for sovereignty. #Winneba #JohnGlover #GoldCoast #Akan #Omanhene #StoolBurial #MortuaryPolitics #ColonialGhana #Fante #JamesBannerman #Accra #BritishEmpire #RitualResistance #1870s #FexingoHistory #History #AfricanHistory #WestAfrica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo