Sir James Marshall is buried here.
Sir James Marshall (1829–1889) was a Scottish Anglican clergyman who converted to Roman Catholicism and became Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, now Ghana. He played a significant role in enhancing the growth of the Roman Catholic Church there and also in Nigeria. He lost his right arm as the result of an accident at the age of 16.
He became a High Church Anglican minister in 1852. In 1854, he became curate at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Moor Lane, in London. Marshall was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1857 but never became a Catholic priest. He studied law and was called to the Bar in Middle Temple in 1868.
In 1873 he accepted an appointment in the British Colonial Service as Chief Magistrate and Judicial Assessor to the native chiefs in the Gold Coast. On the breaking out of the Ashanti War in 1874, he secured the chiefs’ assent to the impressment of their tribesmen, and was of great use throughout the campaign in raising levies. He made a good impression on the Ashanti people, who regarded him as a veteran general who had lost his arm in battle.
In 1874 Marshall left the Cape Coast and transferred to Lagos. He served as Chief Justice of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) from 1880 to 1882. When he became chief magistrate in the Gold Coast there was no Roman Catholic church in the country. Marshall believed that the Gold Coast offered a very favourable environment for Roman Catholic missionaries. Marshall played a significant role in enhancing the growth of the Church in Ghana and Nigeria.
Marshall was a great believer in the value of publicity and the written word. In 1889 he was received by Pope Leo XIII in private audience. Subsequently the Pope bestowed upon him the order of Knight Commander of Saint Gregory in recognition of his service to the cause of the African missions.
His funeral took place at Saint Joseph’s Roehampton. His body was then laid to rest at Mortlake. His widow survived him until 1926 when she too was buried in the same grave.
In 1926 a group of Catholic men in Ghana requested help from the Knights of Columbus. They had brought the Catholic faith to America. They recommended that the Catholic Laymen in Ghana should look for someone who had played a similar role in their history and so it came about that the Knights and Ladies of Marshall were founded.
The Knights of Marshall are a West African and London Roman Catholic male and female fraternal society, founded 18 November 1926; 98 years ago. Membership is open to “any literate and practicing Catholic or communicant and between the ages of 18 and 60 years . . . of good character not convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction for an offence involving dishonest or moral turpitude”. Current membership extends to many countries of West Africa, along with London, England. As of 2021, the Knights of Marshall is organised into 146 groups, known as Councils, and can be found throughout Ghana, Togo, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and England and the United Kingdom.
The Knights and Ladies do charitable work, look after a school, orphanage and hospital.
In 1989 a delegation from Ghana visited Marshall’s grave on the centenary of his death and explained that they were taking steps to have him canonised as he was to the Ghanaians what St Augustine was to the English. No progress has been made in that respect yet.
They visit the Mortlake Parish every year on the first Sunday of May. The next visit has been arranged for 4 May 2025, when Mass will be celebrated at 11am.
