Dr Robert Wellsey-Cole

Robert Benjamin Ageh Wellesley-Cole was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1907. His father Wilfred Sidney Ageh was a civil engineer and superintendent of Freetown's waterworks and his mother Elizabeth was from a prominent family. He was initially educated in Sierra Leone where he earned degrees in Mathematics and Classics before travelling to England in 1928 to pursue medical studies at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Medical School.

Dr Wellesley-Cole practiced medicine and surgery in London hospitals, including St Mary’s and St Olave’s and also served communities as a GP. Dr Wellesley-Cole became the first West African to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, England in 1944.

Dr Wellesley-Cole returned to Sierra Leone a number of times to assist with the development of their health care system, as well as mentor young doctors. He was appointed to Chief Medical Officer and Surgeon Specialist. Outside the operating theatre Dr. Wellesley-Cole was a powerful 

voice advocating for African rights. He sat on the Colonial Office Advisory Committee for the Welfare of Colonial Peoples and served as a director of the West African Students' Union, championing policies that supported African communities in Africa and in the UK. When Dr Harold Moody died in 1947 Dr Wellesley-Cole took over and ran the League of Coloured Peoples Britain’s first civil rights organisation founded by Dr Harold Moody, for two years.

His autobiography, Kossoh Town Boy offers a vivid account of his early life and the challenges he overcame.

Robert Benjamin Ageh Wellesley-Cole passed away on the 31st October 1995.

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