Sir Herbert Macauley

Sir Herbert Macauley (1864-1946)

HERBERT MACAULEY, politician, nationalist and founder of Nigerian nationalism was born in Lagos on 14th November 1864, the son of a school principal. He trained as a land surveyor and civil engineer in Plymouth, England.

Upon his graduation and return to Nigeria in 1893, he worked with the colonial government, and later resigned to establish a private practice in Lagos. Subsequently, he began a campaign against colonial rule and discrimination, and in 1922, he founded the Nigeria National Democratic Party, which won all the seats to the Legislative Council. He was later to become the first president of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon's founder by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1944.

Sir Herbert Macauley died in Kano on 7th May 1946 in the course of leading the party on a nation wide campaign tour.

Sir Herbert Macauley's portrait appears on the N1 coin.