Bishop Hannington: the martyr Ugandans know little about
Katureebe says Bishop James Hannington was a modern-day martyr who was killed on October 29th 1885, under the orders of Kabaka Mwanga after being captured and imprisoned by Busoga Chiefs at Kyando in Mayuge District near Lake Victoria in Busoga.
Obed K. Katureebe
By Obed K. Katureebe
The Government of Uganda declared 29th October as a National Day to commemorate the martyrdom of Bishop James Hannington.
This year, the national commemoration will take place in Mayuge District at Kyando and H. E. the President of Uganda is expected to be the Chief Guest.
Bishop James Hannington was a modern-day martyr who was killed on October 29th 1885, under the orders of Kabaka Mwanga after being captured and imprisoned by Busoga Chiefs at Kyando in Mayuge District near Lake Victoria in Busoga.
He was murdered during a time when the Kingdom of Buganda, under the reign of Kabaka Mwanga, was under tension and threat from groups of Arab Muslim traders, British Anglican Missionaries, and French Catholic White Fathers, all vying for influence at the royal court. Each group had its converts, creating powerful and rival factions within the Ganda leadership.
Kabaka Mwanga was acutely worried that missionary activity was often the precursor to a military takeover. He saw the growing influence of these foreign religions as a direct threat to his authority and the sovereignty of his kingdom. Due to that wave of fear, Bishop Hannington was not spared.
Who was Bishop Hannington James?
His birth and early childhood life
Bishop James Hannington was born on 3rd September 1847 at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, England, about eight miles from Brighton, where his father ran a warehouse, and was part of the family that ran Hannington’s Department Stores. His father, Charles Smith Hannington, had earlier acquired the property known as St. George’s. As a boy, Hannington James was a collector
For Hannington’s early education a tutor had been engaged, but when he was thirteen he was sent to the Temple School at Brighton, where he remained for two and a half years, although he was an indifferent student.
Hannington left school at fifteen to work in his father’s Brighton counting-house. He obtained a commission in the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers and rose to the rank of major. Under his training and supervision, his detachment won prizes at the annual camp competitions.
The family of Bishop Hannington were Congregationalists but joined the Church of England in 1867. In that year the chapel which Hannington's father had built on the grounds of his property in 1852 was licensed for Anglican services. At twenty-one, Hannington decided to pursue a clerical career and entered university at St Mary Hall, Oxford. He was President of the Red Club and Captain of the St. Mary Hall Boat.
In 1872, the death of his mother spurred a change in Hannington’s life; he was awarded his B.A., and on 1st March 1874 he was ordained as a Deacon and took charge of the small parish of St Peter in Trentishoe, Devon.
In 1875 James Hannington became curate-in-charge at St George’s, Hurstpierpoint where he stayed until volunteering for missionary work in East Africa in 1882. He had by then been married for five years.
The journey to Uganda-Busoga
Around 1882, Hannington heard of the murder of two missionaries on the shores of Lake Victoria. This led to him offering himself to the Church Missionary Society (CMS), and he left England on 17th May, setting sail for Zanzibar on 29th June, as the head of a party of six missionaries.
Crippled by fever and dysentery, Hannington was forced to return to England in 1883.
In June 1884, having recovered, Hannington was ordained Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, and in January 1885, at age thirty-seven, Hannington again departed for Africa. His diocese included missions of the CMS on the coast and inland in Buganda. His primary goal was to reach the Kingdom of Buganda and strengthen the small group of Christian converts there.
Earlier, in the 1880s, the Kingdom of Buganda was a powerful and centralised state. Its king, or Kabaka Muteesa I, had initially shown some interest in the Christian message brought by explorers like Henry Morton Stanley. This encouraged missionary societies to send workers, Bishop Hannington being one of them.
The murder of Bishop Hannington
The murder of Bishop Hannington is said to have stemmed from a mix of complex issues: political intrigue, a royal prophecy (mandwa) which coincidentally predicted that the conqueror of the Buganda Kingdom would emerge from the East as well as the fear of colonial expansion in Buganda.
Buganda's fragile sovereignty
In the 1880s, the Kingdom of Buganda (in modern-day Uganda) was a powerful and sophisticated state. However, its king, or Kabaka, Mwanga II, was facing immense external pressure.
The Arab Muslim traders, British Anglican missionaries, and French Catholic White Fathers were all vying for influence at the royal court. Each group had its converts, creating powerful and rival factions within the Ganda leadership.
He saw the growing influence of these foreign religions as a direct threat to his authority and the sovereignty of his kingdom.
Hannington's approach
The "Back Door" Route: Instead of taking the well-established southern route to Buganda (from the south, via Lake Victoria), Hannington chose a direct but politically sensitive eastern approach through Busoga. This route was known as the "back door."
A Royal Prophecy: There was an old prophecy in Buganda that stated the kingdom would be conquered by an enemy approaching from the east. By taking this route, Hannington unintentionally cast himself as the fulfiller of this prophecy in the eyes of Kabaka Mwanga and his advisors.
The final decision
When Mwanga received news that a white leader (Hannington) with a large armed party (his porters) was approaching from the east, he interpreted it not as a peaceful missionary journey, but as an invasion. Mwanga saw Hannington as a military commander leading a vanguard for a British colonial force.
Fearing for his throne, Kabaka Mwanga sent a swift and decisive order to his representatives in Busoga: "Bring me the head of the white man who is coming to my kingdom by the back door."
On October 29, 1885, Bishop Hannington and his porters were captured on the eastern shores of the Nile. After being held for a few days, he was led out of his hut and speared to death.
His final, recorded words were: "Tell the Kabaka that I die for the Baganda, and that I have purchased the road to Uganda with my life."