A Victorian Gentleman and Ethiopian Nationalist: The Life and Times of Hakim Wärqenäh, Dr. Charles Martin

338 Pages·2012·12.081 MB·English

by  Peter P. Garretson

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Peter Garretson is Associate ‘...an Ethiopian statesman, diplomat and reformer whose almost fairy- G
Professor of History and Director of tale story has long awaited a biographer. Found as a child of three by A
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the Middle East Center, Florida Anglo-Indian troops on the battlefield of Magdala in 1868 he was
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State University. taken to India where he became a doctor before eventually returning to E
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his native land. This ground-breaking biography, on which Peter
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Garretson has spent almost a life-time, is a work of major importance. O
It opens up the Ethiopian political scene from Magdala in the N
nineteenth century to the fall of the Fascist Empire in the twentieth, and
makes a memorable and fascinating read.’ – Richard Pankhurst
Cover: Wärqenäh with his family This is the first full biography of Hakim Wärqenäh Eshäté, or Dr. &A
and servants in Addis Ababa, c. 1920 Charles Martin, a man of overlapping identities as a world citizen,
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(Photograph © and reprinted by a citizen of the British empire and an Ethiopian nationalist. He was
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permission of The Workeneh a major progressive force in Ethiopia, played a significant role as a hc
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Family Foundation) spokesman for the African diaspora during the 1930s, became an i
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A Victorian Gentleman
& Ethiopian Nationalist
JAMES CURREY
The life & times of Hakim Wärqenäh, Dr. Charles Martin
an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB) and PETER P. GARRETSON
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620-2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com
www.jamescurrey.com
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A Victorian Gentleman
& Ethiopian Nationalist
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A Victorian Gentleman
& Ethiopian Nationalist
The Life & Times of Hakim Wärqenäh,
Dr. Charles Martin

PETER P. GARRETSON
Senior Lecturer in the Department of English
University of the Western Cape
James Currey
is an imprint of Boydell and Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB)
www.jamescurrey.com
and of
Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com
© Peter P. Garretson, 2012
First published 2012
1 2 3 4 5 16 15 14 13 12
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Peter P. Garretson to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or
third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on
such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record is available on request
from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-84701-044-5 (James Currey cloth)
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Typeset in 10.5/12 pt Monotype Garamond
by Long House Publishing Services, Cumbria, UK
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
This book is dedicated to my wife,
Rufina Alamo,
for her endless support, patience & understanding

Contents

List of Illustrations ix
Transliteration x
Note on the Ethiopian Calendar x
Glossary xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction
1
1

Youth & education
7

Ethiopia, India & Burma (1865–1896)
2
Return to Ethiopia
23

(1896–1901)
3
Campaigning in the Ogaden
35
& return to Burma

(1901–1907)
4

Transitions in life
51
From Burma to England to Ethiopia
(1907–1910)
vii
Contents
5

A man of substance in Ethiopia & Burma
73

Marriage & political influence
(1910–1919)
6

Return of a progressive to Addis Ababa
101
(1919–1924)
7

An increased pace of modernization
124
(1924–1930)
8

International diplomacy, education
153
& recruitment

Wärqenäh in Britain, the USA and India (1927–1931)
9

Governor of a model province, Chärchär
173

(1930–1935)
10

Ethiopian ambassador to the Court of St. James
204
(1935–1936)
11

London & India
237

‘So the whole thing is finished’ (1936–1942)
12

Ethiopia
276

Family & elder statesman (1942–1952)
Conclusion
301
Bibliography 304
Index 311
viii
List of Illustrations

Maps
1. Map of Ethiopia xiv
2. Map of Burma xv
Table
9.1 Income of Chärchär Province, 1931–1934 176
Photographs
1.1 Wärqenäh six years old in India, 1871 6
3.1 Wärqenäh, holding a rifle, with friends in Burma at the turn of the
century 50
6.1 Wärqenäh with his family and servants in Addis Ababa, c.1920 105
10.1 Wärqenäh in uniform in his London legation study, c.1936 205
10.2 Good times with the emperor. Wärqenäh with the Emperor Haylä
Sellasé and his family. Left to right, Princess Tsehay, Prince
Mäkonnen, Wärqenäh, the emperor and the emperor’s heir,
Asfa Wäsän. In background on right Wäldä Giyorgis 213
11.1 Memorial service for those killed in the Graziani massacre in 1937.
Left to right, Foreign Minister Heruy, Wärqenäh, Ras Kassa
& the emperor 238
11.2 Marriage of Astér Wärqenäh to Emmañu Yemär and Elsabét
Wärqenäh to Tädla Haylé Zälläqä in Addis Ababa at Giyorgis
Church, 1933 252
12.1 Wärqenäh in his signature cape 300
Source of illustrations. The photographs above are reprinted by kind permission of
the Workeneh Family Foundation.
ix