John Johnson’s (JJ) photos from Calabar, Nigeria dated 1922 and 1924. JJ annotated them at the time and the transcriptions follow.
Calabar 1922 – Victory Challenge Sports on armistice day
JJ seems to have sent these photos back to his wife Mary, living at the time in Harrogate, England.
Annotation on the back reads as follows:
Victory Challenge Shield Sports at Calabar
Armistice Day 1922
Our house in background with Waff band in centre
Start of 100 yards race is shown
Merry Christmas
JJ
Another photo of the same occasion:
Annotated: – I (JJ) am on left of white post holding tape for finish of race in progress.
Calabar 1924 – War Memorial
This later photo, taken during Mary’s visit to Nigeria in 1924:
Annotation on the rear reads as follows:
Calabar War Memorial
Erected in 1923 JJ. PWD Engineer
Photo given to MJ S/S Edmund
Dec/24 by Capt Harding. WAFF
My interpretation of of the above is that JJ appears to have been responsible for the erection of this memorial, MJ is JJ’s wife Mary and WAFF is the West African Frontier Force[2].
Calabar brass tray
The final connection with Calabar is a large decorated brass tray. This tray imported from England and decorated in Calabar. Nigerian artefacts from Bida and Kano shows details of this tray and its history.
Refererences
Wrongly placed link
#DiscoverEnuguGov: Iva Valley, Then & Now | by Discover Enugu | Medium Youtube video Enugu mine history