Kirk-Greene, English Nigerianist, dies at 93

A British scholar Professor Anthony Hamilton Millard Kirk-Greene, also known as the English Nigerianist on account of his extensive work on Nigeria, has died at the age of 93.

Kirk-Greene, who was a Senior Lecturer at Nigeria’s Ahmadu Bello University, from 1961 to 1965 died in Oxford, England on Saturday, July 7.

An announcement by the African Studies Centre, Oxford, said “A.H.M Kirk-Greene was one of the leading Africanists at Oxford for about four decades. This African Studies Centre seminar room is named after him.”

It said Kirk-Greene served as a Captain in the Indian Army from 1943 to 1947 and graduated from Cambridge University in 1950, gaining his Bachelor and Masters of Arts degrees in 1954. 

“He was Senior District Commissioner and Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1950-1960, and a Senior Lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University, in Nigeria, from 1961 to 1965.  He came to St Antony’s in 1967 as a Professor of History, and an Adjunct Professor from 1992 to 1999 at the Stanford Program at Oxford. Tony was known for his works on 20th century British colonial history.  He was president of the African Studies Association of the UK from 1988 to 1990, and vice-president of the Royal African Society.”

Some of his works on Nigeria include: This is Northern Nigeria: background to an invitation (1956); The capitals of Northern Nigeria (1957); Adamawa, past and present; an historical approach to the development of a northern Cameroons province. (1958); Maiduguri and the capitals of Bornu. Maiduguri da manyan biranen Barno (1958); The principles of native administration in Nigeria; selected documents, 1900-1947 (1965); Hausa ba dabo ba ne; a collection of 500 proverbs (1966); A modern Hausa reader. With Yahaya Aliyu (1967); West African travels and adventures; two autobiographical narratives from Northern Nigeria (1971).

Others are: Crisis and conflict in Nigeria: a documentary sourcebook. (1971); The genesis of the Nigerian civil war and the theory of fear (1975); A biographical dictionary of the British colonial governor (1980); “Stay by your radios”: documentation for a study of military government in tropical Africa. (1981); Nigeria since 1970: a political and economic outline (1981); A biographical dictionary of the British Colonial Service, 1939-1966 (1991); On crown service: a history of HM colonial and overseas civil services, 1837-1997 (1999); Britain’s imperial administrators, 1858-1966. (2000); Symbol of authority: the British district officer in Africa (2006); Glimpses of empire: a Corona anthology (2012); Aspects of empire: a second Corona anthology (2012).