William Henry Fitzjohn

William Henry Fitzjohn (5 November 1915 – 20 December 1989) was a Sierra Leonean churchman, educator and diplomat.

William Henry Fitzjohn
Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the United States
of Sierra Leone
to United States
In office
27 April 1961 – 18 July 1961
Succeeded byRichard Edmund Kelfa-Caulker
Sierra Leonean High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
of Sierra Leone
to United Kingdom[1]
In office
18 July 1961 – 1964
Preceded byRichard Edmund Kelfa-Caulker
Succeeded byRichard Edmund Kelfa-Caulker
Sierra Leonean Ambassador to Nigeria
of Sierra Leone
to Nigeria
In office
November 1971 – 1972
Preceded byH.C. Mansaray
Succeeded by1993–2002: Joe Blell
Personal details
Born(1915-11-05)5 November 1915
Mattru Jong
Died20 December 1989(1989-12-20) (aged 74)
Freetown
SpouseMuriel Alice Ayodele Cole
ChildrenAmelia, Dwight, William Jr., Kwame, Walter, Mamei Katie and Jonathan Musselman
Parents
  • Jonathan Fitzjohn (father)
  • Eva Fitzjohn (mother)
Alma materAlbert Academy (Freetown), Diploma and Sierra Leone Teachers Certificate.
  • 1943: Lincoln University (Pa.), B.A..
  • 1946: United Theological Seminary (Dayton, Ohio), B.D..
  • 1949: Teachers College, Columbia University (NY), M.A. and Ed.D.
  • 1962: LL.D (Lincoln).

Life

Fitzjohn was ordained into the ministry of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (Dayton, Ohio) in 1946. From 1950 to 1959 he taught educational sociology and religion at Fourah Bay College, University of Durham, and was associate minister at King memorial, Evangelical United Brethren church. From 1951 to 1959 he was also Member of the Sierra Leone House of Parliament.

From 1959 to 1961 he was Chargé d'affaires in Washington DC. Early in the spring of 1961, a snub turned into an international incident, when he stopped for dinner with his driver at a Howard Johnson's restaurant on the outskirts of Hagerstown, Maryland en route to Pittsburgh for a lecture.[2] Both men were refused service because of their color. President John F. Kennedy, appalled by what had transpired, received Fitzjohn in the White House. The president of Howard Johnson's apologized for the snub while the mayor of Hagerstown, Winslow F. Burhans, invited him to a dinner with several of the city's leading citizens.[3]

From 1961 to 1965 he and his wife served as Principal and Vice-Principal of Harford Secondary School for Girls in Sierra Leone.[4] From 1961 to 1964 he was High Commissioner in London (United Kingdom). In 1962 he became Director of Sierra Leone Selection Trust Ltd.[5][6][7][8][9][10] From November 1971 to 1976 he was High Commissioner in Lagos.[11]

References
  1. "SLHC". Slhc-uk.org. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  2. "Nation: Most Embarrassing". Content.time.com. 21 April 1961. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. "Meeting with Dr. W. H. Fitzjohn, Charge d'Affaires, Sierra Leone, 9:40AM - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum". Jfklibrary.org. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  4. Abdul Rashid Thomas, Jonathan Fitzjohn remembered – gone too soon, Sierra Leone Telegraph, 23 March 2019. Accessed 10 January 2021.
  5. "West Africa". West Africa Publishing Company, Limited. 10 October 1990. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  6. "Sierra Leone Year Book". Daily Mail Publication. 10 October 1965. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  7. "Sierra Leone Year Book". Daily Mail Publication. 10 October 1965. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  8. "Sierra Leone Year Book". Daily Mail Publication. 10 October 1965. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  9. "Sierra Leone Year Book". Daily Mail Publication. 10 October 1965. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  10. Uwechue, Raph; Limited, Africa Books (10 October 1991). "Makers of Modern Africa". Africa Journal Limited. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  11. Dixon-Fyle, Mac (10 October 1999). A Saro Community in the Niger Delta, 1912-1984: The Potts-Johnsons of Port Harcourt and Their Heirs. University Rochester Press. p. 174. ISBN 9781580460385. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
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