Murray Town, Sierra Leone Explained

Murray Town is a suburb in Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown. The Amputees and War Wounded Association is based here arising from the local camp for such people. The Sierra Leone Grammar School is also located here.[1] Murray Town contains many colonial style board houses dating back to the turn of the 20th century.[2] 8.5°N -29°W

History

Murray Town was founded in April 1829 to provide accommodation for liberated enslaved Africans, who had been brought to Freetown by the British Royal Navy West Africa Squadron.[3] It originally housed three hundred and twenty six liberated Africans, under the management of a former African soldier of the Royal African Corps. It was constructed as four wide streets.[4]

Famous people

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Murray Town Community Freetown. West African Medical Missions. West African Medical Missions. 29 April 2016. 8 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160508092258/http://www.westafricanmedicalmissions.org/page/show/780606-murray-town-community-freetown-sierra-leone. live.
  2. Web site: O'Reilly. Finbarr. Colonial-era wooden buildings decay in Sierra Leone. https://archive.today/20130104022711/http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/03/11523155-colonial-era-wooden-buildings-decay-in-sierra-leone?lite. dead. 4 January 2013. Reuters/MSNBC. 25 June 2012.
  3. Book: Sanneh. Lamin. Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa. 2009. Harvard University Press. Cammbrideg, Mass..
  4. Negores in Africa. The Tourist: A Literary and Anti-slavery Journal. 1833. 1. 44. 331.