Page "History of Sierra Leone" Paragraph 103

Almost every chieftaincy in Sierra Leone responded to the British arrogation of power with armed resistance.

The Protectorate Ordinances ( passed in the Colony in 1896 and 1897 ) abolished the title of King and replaced it with " Paramount Chief "; chiefs and kings had formerly been selected by the leading members of their own communities, now all chiefs, even paramount ones, could be deposed or installed at the will of the Governor ; most of the judicial powers of the chiefs were removed and given to courts presided over by British " District Commissioners "; the Governor decreed that a house tax of 5s to 10s was to be levied annually on every dwelling in the Protectorate.

To the chiefs, these reductions in their power and prestige were unbearable.

When, in 1898, attempts were made to actually collect the tax, they rose up, first in the north, led by a dominant Temne chief called Bai Bureh, and then in Mende country to the south.

The two struggles took on quite different characteristics.