THE MWELE CAMPAIGN 1895 - 1896
by Kevin Patience
While engaged in research in the Zanzibar archives, I came
across a set of photographs marked 'Mazrui Uprising 1895'. These faded
sepia prints may well have been part of the collection of General Lloyd
Mathews given to the archives after his death in 1901.
He was born in Madeira of Welsh parents in 1850 and became
a naval cadet in 1864. As a young lieutenant he served in the Ashanti war
before being seconded to H.M.S. London at Zanzibar in 1875. London
was an old ship of the line built for sail and subsequently modified to
steam, which became the Royal Navy's headquarters on the East African
coast for the anti-slavery patrols around the islands of Pemba and
Zanzibar. He spent the next two years chasing slave dhows before being
seconded in 1877 to train the Sultan's troops
In June 1881 he retired from the Navy and was appointed
Officer Commanding the Sultan's army with the rank of General; a notable
feat in terms of promotion. Mathews raised a fine body of over 1,300 men
that took part in a number of punitive expeditions including Witu near the
town of Lamu in August 1893 and Mwele, south of Mombasa two years later.
The
pictures showed sailors and native troops engaged in what was evidently a
punitive expedition. Mathews played an active part in many of these
skirmishes both on the mainland and Pemba. A view of sailors outside a
stockade and another with Mathews in the background together with his
description of Mwele as a palisade of vertical logs, led me to believe
these were the Mwele expedition photographs probably taken by Gomes,
Zanzibar's principal photographer.
The background to the Mwele campaign began nearly seventy
years earlier when Seyyid Said, ruler of Oman moved his capital from
Muscat to Zanzibar in 1828. Mombasa had been the centre of power of the
Mazrui family who held sway along the mainland coast until 1837 when they
were overthrown by Said. Despite being ousted from Mombasa the Mazrui
managed to hold on to two small areas of the coast around Takaungu and
Gazi, the two being villages, respectively about thirty miles north and
south of Mombasa.
Seyyid
Said died in 1856 and was succeeded by his son Majid who ruled until 1870
when Sultan Bargash a second son, was appointed ruler by the British. It
was Bargash who under pressure from the British Government and the threat
of a Royal Navy blockade that closed the slave market in Zanzibar in 1873.
By the early 1880's the Mazrui under Mbaruk bin Rashid were becoming a
threat to the stability of the region by subduing native tribes who had
for years acknowledged the authority of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Fearing an
uprising Bargash despatched an expedition under General Mathews in March
1882 to capture Mbaruk and seize Gazi. On arrival, the village was found
to be deserted, Mbaruk had taken refuge at his stronghold of El Hazem at
Mwele on the summit of a hill deep in the Shimba Hills forest, sixteen
miles inland. Mwele was surrounded by a stockade with pits full of stakes
covered with a thin layer of earth and grass. Mathews with a force of
1,200 troops laid seige to Mwele for eighteen days before capturing and
destroying it. Mbaruk surrendered and was allowed to return to Gazi with
an undertaking not to engage in further hostilities against the Sultan.
On the death of Salim bin Hamis ruler of Takaungu in
February 1895, his son Rashid bin Salim was appointed successor by the
Imperial British East Africa Company who then held a charter for the area,
however Salim's brother Mbaruk bin Rashid, nephew to Mbaruk at Gazi,
refused recognition and together with another brother Aziz set up as
rivals in the nearby fortified village of Konjoro.
An
attempt at negotiation with Mbaruk by Sir Arthur Hardinge representing the
British Government, and Sir Lloyd Mathews representing the Sultan of
Zanzibar failed. Mbaruk and Aziz attacked Takaungu where they were
repulsed by Zanzibari troops under Captain Raikes, one of Mathew's
officers. War was inevitable and an expedition consisting of 310
bluejackets, 50 Royal Marines, 54 Sudanese and 164 Zanzibari troops
disembarked in Kilifi Creek and marched to Konjoro where they were fired
on. The troops responded by destroying the village and Mbaruk fled to Gazi,
while Aziz continued with looting and burning before he also took refuge
at Gazi having been routed from the Sokoki Forest.
Mbaruk senior received a subsidy of £1,000 per annum from
the I.B.E.A. Co. and it was expected he would give up his rebellious
nephews. He failed to do so, explaining that having combined they were
stronger than himself. He did however suggest that a party could collect
the rebels from Gazi. On 23 July. Admiral Rawson C. in C. of the Royal
Navy's Cape of Good Hope Squadron in the flagship H.M.S. St George,
organised a force of 400 bluejackets and marines under Captain Egerton to
march on Gazi. They arrived after a five day march to find the village
deserted, Mbaruk and his followers had left a few hours earlier for the
stronghold at Mwele now rebuilt since Mathews had destroyed it thirteen
years before. An ultimatum was sent to Mbaruk commanding him to give up
the two nephews within a fortnight or face an attack at Mwele.
With no response from Mbaruk, a second expedition was
organised from Mombasa under the command of Admiral Rawson. Six warships,
H.M.S. St George, Barrosa, Phoebe, Racoon, Thrush and Widgeon
anchored in Kilindini harbour and a base camp was set up at Likoni. 220
bluejackets and 80 marines, together with 60 Sudanese and 50 Zanzibaris
led by Captain Rogers, formed two divisions under Captain Egerton of
H.M.S. St. George and Captain MacGill of H.M.S. Phoebe. There
were also 700 native porters to carry supplies and ammunition for the 7
pdr gun, rocket tubes and maxim guns. General Mathews represented the
Sultan, while Mr Hardinge looked after the interests of Her Majesty's
Government.
As there were no roads the expedition formed up into a
column a mile and a half long and left the base camp on 12 August. They
made their way along paths and tracks through heavy bush in the tropical
heat beseiged by flies and mosquitos while keeping a sharp lookout for
wild animals. The pace was slow due to the straggling nature of the long
column and the 7 pdr. gun which had to be frequently dismantled and
carried over obstacles. The expedition averaged about six miles a day and
pitched camp in the early afternoon, placing sentries and patrols around
the perimeter.
Four days later on the lower slopes of the Shimba Hills,
the party was ambushed, a Soudanese and a porter were killed and Mathews
wounded in the shoulder. The 7 pdr and a maxim gun were brought into
action and the enemy disappeared into the forest. The following morning
the expedition arrived at Mwele having hacked their way up the forested
slopes to the summit at 1,600ft. The approaches to the stockade were two
narrow paths leading to the north and south gates set in a wall of thick
vertical logs twelve feet high, loopholed and reinforced on the inside
with a parapet, proof against small arms and maxim fire.
By lunchtime the two divisions had surrounded the stockade
and laid seige to the walls with the 7 pdr and rockets. The 7 pdr under
Captain Edgerton made short work of the perimeter wall and gate and within
two hours the defences had collapsed and Mwele was overrun. Of Mbaruk and
friends there was no sign, they had escaped and made their way north to
Takaungu. Mwele having become a refuge for dissidents was systematically
destroyed. Three days were spent razing the huts and stockade to the
ground, blowing up or burying any ammunition found and levelling an area
300 yards long by 150 wide using gun cotton to fell the trees. Casualties
had been light with two sailors wounded.
Mbaruk continued to fight, organising raids along the
coast. In October an intelligence report indicated Mbaruk was back in the
Gazi area. In Zanzibar a newly arrived officer, Captain Frederick Lawrence
of the Rifle Brigade, was despatched by Mathews together with 100
Zanzibari soldiers to Gazi to effect an arrest. On arrival, Lawrence was
advised that Mbaruk was in a village some fourteen miles away and set off
in hot pursuit with half his force. As they entered the village on the
16th, Mbaruk was leaving. Inexplicably Lawrence set off alone and was
ambushed and killed. He was later buried with military honours at Shimoni
where his marble gravestone can be seen today.
Two weeks later a camel caravan was plundered, and a
mission station near Mombasa attacked. Further raids made reinforcements
imperative and 300 Indian troops arrived at Mombasa shortly afterwards.
Early in the new year the mission at Freretown near Mombasa and another at
Malindi were also raided. The troops were stretched to the limits carrying
out a scorched earth policy of burning rebel villages and land. Additional
reinforcements from India arrived at Mombasa on 15 March 1896 with the
24th Baluchistan Regiment, who were swiftly deployed across the region.
Mbaruk fled into German East Africa where he surrendered on 16 April and
was moved to Dar es Salaam. With the loss of their leader, the followers
quickly disappeared back to their villages and the uprising came to an
end. It had been an ardous campaign chasing rebels through thick bush and
forest plagued by insects, lack of water, heat and humidity. The following
month saw the laying of the first rails at Mombasa of the line to Lake
Victoria known as the Uganda Railway. Within a few months Mombasa replaced
Zanzibar as the prominent town on the East African coast, and opened up
the country for colonisation.
Mathews became H.M. Consul for East Africa and later
Zanzibar's first Prime Minister and was honoured with a K.C.M.G. for his
services to the region. Twenty six years of life in the tropics took its
toll and he died from malaria at Zanzibar and was buried with full
military honours.
The Sultan of Zanzibar Hamud bin Thuwain authorised a
silver military campaign medal for operations on the East African coast
following the end of the uprising. Suspended from a 32mm wide bright red
ribbon, the obverse bears the turbanned and bearded head of the Sultan
facing half left with a circumscription in Arabic anti clockwise which
read 'El Seyyid Hamud bin Thuwain, Sultan of Zanzibar, 1313.' The reverse
showed the same inscription in four lines reading from right to left. The
suspender was straight swivelling or in the case of the miniatures either
straight or with a double ring. The full size medal was 36mm in diameter
while the miniature was 18mm.
Four clasps were awarded inscribed in Arabic, Pumwani and
Jongeni named after villages destroyed near the town of Lamu during the
Witu 1893 campaign and Mwele and Takaungu after the scene of operations
during the Mazrui uprising. Medals to African troops have been seen with
all four bars.
On 22 January 1897 the London Gazette announced that
silver medals impressed 'Mwele 1895' were now ready for issue to those
officers, seamen and marines who landed from H.M. Ships and formed part of
the expedition. Bronze medals were issued to the porters. The East and
West Africa medal had been instituted to cover small wars and punitive
expeditions in East and West Africa. No bar was issued for this incident
only the name 'Mwele 1895' was impressed round the medal rim together with
the recipients name and ship. Indian and African troops who continued the
campaign into the new year received the medal impressed 'Mwele 1895-6'.
Those who already had the Ashantee medal which was similar could send it
in to have it impressed.
In the entire history of British campaign medals this is
the only example of a campaign being inscribed on the rim instead of a
bar. Both the Witu 1890 and the '93 campaigns which were of shorter
duration were commemorated with a bar. Considering that at least 300 naval
personnel took part it seems odd that only 106 were nominated in the
London Gazette. In recent years about thirty 'Mwele 1895' naval medals
have appeared for sale. The medal entitlement to H.M.Ships was: Barrosa
- 5, Phoebe - 4, Racoon - 70, St George - 22,
Thrush - 4, Widgeon - 1.
A recent visit to the site of Mwele, about a mile from the
nearest road in thick forest, shows mounds of earth, broken pot shards and
craters, that may have been the result of Rawson's gun cotton crews
blowing up the surrounding defences.
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