(Important Association Copy) The Benin Massacre

London: Methuen & Co., 1897. RARE, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR to his fellow survivor, Ralph Locke at the half-title page . -"Ralph Locke from Alan ? Boisragon, October 1st, 1897". Boisragon, Commandant of the Constabulary of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force, was one of only two survivors of the massacre, and Ralph Locke, District Commissioner of the Warri., was the other. With Locke's pencil annotations at the margins of several pages of the chapter "Our Escape" giving added details from his personal experience, making this copy likely the best copy imaginable. Bound in the original brick cloth, Very Good, the first signature detached, the cloth well rubbed. vii, 190, 40 (Publisher's catalogue) pages : map, portrait. Contents: History of Benin; The Royal Niger Company and H.B.M.'s Niger Coast Protectorate; Position of Benin; Our Expedition; Our Escape; The Punitive Expedition. "On January 4, 1897, a British party led by vice Consular general James Philip entered the Benin Kingdom. He was accompanied by six other British officials, two businessmen, translators, and 215 porters. His intention was to depose Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. The Benin Monarch had resisted attempts to take over the Kingdom and so it had remained independent of British rule despite pressure to annex it with the British empire. When they entered through the north side of the Kingdom, they were ambushed by the guards of the king who had gotten foreknowledge of their plan. Unfortunately for them, their weapons were locked in their head packs. Philip and other members of his party were killed. At the end of the attack, only two Britons survived what was later known as the "Benin Massacre". ("The story of the Benin Bronzes and how they ended up in Germany" by Omotayo Yusuf , January 5, 2022,). Eight days later, the British punitive force arrived with 1,200 Royal Marines, who proceeded to set fire to the palace and famed wall, killing hundreds of people, removing the king, and putting an end to the independence of the Benin Kingdom while carrying out a large-scale looting of the Palace, shrines, and homes of chiefs of what was later known as the Benin bronzes. A truly dark event in the history of British colonialism in Africa. . SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ARTIST. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Association Copy.