CMS Grammar School, Lagos

CMS Grammar School, Lagos
Address
Asani Road, Bariga

Bariga-Lagos
,
Lagos State

Nigeria
Coordinates6°32′04″N 3°23′19″E / 6.534583°N 3.388638°E / 6.534583; 3.388638
Information
School typeSecondary
MottoNisi Dominus Frustra
(Without God we labor in vain)
Established6 June 1859 (1859-06-06)
PrincipalThe Revd' Jacob Ayokunle Ogunyinka

The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in the Lagos Colony.[1]

Foundation

The seed funding for CMS Grammar School, Lagos was made possible by James Pinson Labulo Davies who in April 1859 provided Babington Macaulay with £50 (equivalent of ₦1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on 6 June 1859, which made it the first secondary school in Nigeria.[2] In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (₦2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund.[3] Other contributors to the CMS Building Fund were non Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40.[4] The CMS Grammar School in Freetown, founded in 1848, served as a model.

The school began with six students, all boarders in a small, single story building called the 'Cotton House' at Broad Street. The first pupils were destined to be clergymen.[1] The curriculum included English, Logic, Greek, Arithmetic, Geometry, Geography, History, Bible Knowledge and Latin.[5] The first principal of the school was the scholar and theologian Babington Macaulay, who served until his death in 1878.[6] He was the father of Herbert Macaulay.[7] When the British colony of Lagos was established in 1861, the colonial authorities obtained most of their African clerical and administrative staff from the school.[1]

Principals

  • Babington Macaulay, 1859–1878.
  • Henry Johnson, 1879–1881 (acting).
  • Isaac Oluwole, 1881–1893.
  • James Johnson, 1893–1894 (acting).
  • E. A. Godson, 1894–1895.
  • Melville Jones 1895–1896 (acting)
  • Joseph Suberu Fanimokun, 1896–1914.
  • E. J. Evans, 1915–1927.
  • A. Hobson, 1927–1929.
  • F. Watherton 1929–1932.
  • J. Olumide Lucas, 1932–1935 (acting).
  • C. G. Thorne, 1935–1936.
  • Solomon Odunaiya Odutola, 1936–1938. (acting)
  • Leonard John Lewis, 1938–1943.
  • Seth Irunsewe Kale, 1944–1950.
  • B. A. Adelaja, 1950–1970.
  • T. A. Ojo, 1970–1972, (acting).
  • I. A. Olowu 1972–1984.
  • B. A. Nigwo, 1984–1986.
  • J. B. A. Edema, 1986–1997.
  • Taiwo O. Jemilugba, 1997–2001.
  • Johnson Onayinka, 2001–2005.
  • Tunde Oduwole, 2005–2017
  • OlaOluwa Adeyemi, 2017–2018
  • Sunday O. Sofekun, 2021
  • Jacob Ogunyinka, 2022- Till date

Alumni

Some notable alumni:

  • 9ice (born 1980), musician
  • Olusola Allen-Taylor nee Faulkner-Shaw (1908-1996), Matron St. Anne's School Ibadan
  • Adebesin Folarin (1877-1949), lawyer and historian
  • Adeyemo Alakija (1884–1952), media entrepreneur and co-founder of Daily Times of Nigeria
  • Adeniji Adele (1893–1964), Oba (King) of Lagos from 1 October 1949, to 12 July 1964
  • Akin Babalola Kamar Odunsi, businessman and Senator
  • Akin Euba (born 1935), professor of music
  • Akintola Williams (born 1919), accountant
  • Alexander Akinyele (1875–1968), Bishop
  • Ayodele Awojobi (1937–84), academic and activist
  • Babs Fafunwa (1923–2010), Federal Minister of Education
  • Bode Thomas (1918–53), politician
  • Candido Da Rocha (1860–1959), businessman
  • Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips (born 1966), lawyer
  • Dandeson Crowther, Archbishop of the Niger and son of Samuel Ajayi Crowther
  • Dare Art Alade, musician
  • Ernest Shonekan (1936–2022), Interim president of Nigeria
  • Fela Sowande (1905–87), musician and composer
  • Frederick Rotimi Williams (1920–2005), lawyer
  • George Da Costa (1853–1929), photographer
  • GOK Ajayi (21 May 1931 – 31 March 2014), Prominent Nigerian Jurist
  • Henry Adefope (1926–2012), Minister of External Affairs
  • Henry Fajemirokun, Business Magnate
  • Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), surveyor and nationalist
  • Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1891–1955), Educationist and father of Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Beko Ransome-Kuti, and Fela Kuti
  • Ibikunle Akitoye (1871–1928), Oba of Lagos
  • J. K. Randle (1909–1956), Businessman and Socialite
  • Karim Olowu (born 1924), athlete
  • Kitoye Ajasa (1866–1937), lawyer and politician
  • Niyi Adebayo (born 1958), Governor, Ekiti State
  • Mobolaji Bank Anthony (11 June 1907 – 26 May 1991), President of the Lagos Stock Exchange
  • Oguntola Sapara (1861–1935), medical doctor, gynaecologist.
  • Ola Vincent (1925–2012), Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
  • Oluyombo Awojobi (1963-2015), Rural Surgeon
  • Oliver Ogedengbe Macaulay, son of Herbert Macaulay, journalist, and nationalist
  • Remi Fani-Kayode (1921–95), politician
  • Samuel Herbert Pearse (born 1865), businessman
  • Samuel Manuwa (1903–76), surgeon
  • Isaac Delano (1904-1979), author, linguist, teacher
  • Talabi Braithwaite (1928–2011), insurance broker
  • Taslim Olawale Elias (1914–91), Chief Justice of Nigeria
  • Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips (1884–1969), musicologist, father of Nigerian church music
  • Thomas Leighton Decker (1916–78), linguist and journalist
  • T. O. S. Benson (1917–2008), lawyer, politician
  • Tunji Sowande (1912–96), lawyer and musician
  • Victor Adetunji Haffner (born 1919), engineer
  • Wahab Goodluck (died 1991), President, Nigeria Labour Congress
  • Nelson Amaine Okwuonu(died 2000), Engineer, attended Cambridge and Oxford. Participated in installation of the First Automatic Telephone Exchange in Nigeria

See also

  • List of schools in Lagos

References

  1. ^ a b c "School History". Old Grammarians Society. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  2. ^ Elebute, Adeyemo. The Life of James Pinson Labulo Davies: A Colossus of Victorian Lagos. Kachifo Limited/Prestige. p. 190. ISBN 9789785205763.
  3. ^ Herskovits Kopytoff, Jean. A preface to modern Nigeria: the "Sierra Leonians" in Yoruba, 1830–1890. University of Wisconsin Press, 1965. p. 244.
  4. ^ Herskovits Kopytoff, Jean. A preface to modern Nigeria: the "Sierra Leonians" in Yoruba, 1830–1890. University of Wisconsin Press, 1965. p. 365 note 87.
  5. ^ Ambassador Dapo Fafowora (4 June 2009). "150 years of the CMS Grammar School, Lagos". The Nation (Nigeria). Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Macaulay, Thomas Babington 1826 to 1878 Anglican Nigeria". Dictionary of African Christian Biography. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Brief History of CMS Grammar School". CMS Grammar School. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
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