Regent, Sierra Leone
Regent | |
|---|---|
  Regent Location in Sierra Leone | |
| Coordinates: 8°26′3″N 13°13′23″W / 8.43417°N 13.22306°W | |
| Country |  Sierra Leone |
| Region | Western Area |
| District | Western Area Rural District |
| Government | |
| • Type | Town Council |
| • Town Head | John R. Benjamin [1] |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (GMT) |
Regent is a mountainous town in the Western Area Rural District of Sierra Leone. Regent lies approximately six miles east of Freetown, and close to the village of Gloucester.
The population of Regent is ethnically and religiously very diverse.
Regent is the hometown of Sierra Leonean economist and politician Solomon A.J Pratt
History
Regent was founded in 1812 to provide accommodation for liberated enslaved Africans, who had been brought to Freetown by the British Royal Navy West Africa Squadron.[1]: 122 Originally called Hogbrook,[2] Regent was named in honour of the George IV of the United Kingdom, at the time Prince Regent of England.
St Charles Church
The St Charles’ Church was built in 1816 as part of the Parish Plan.[2] This stone church was financed by the colonial government, and from 1817 the Church Missionary Society paid for a minister, a position taken up by Rev. William Johnson, nicknamed the “Apostle of Regent”.[2] He was so successful in his evangelicism that soon his congregation exceded the 500 person capacity of the church, and a gallery was added so that another 200 worshippers could be catered for.[2] However after Johnson's death in 1823, the size of the congregation became much smaller.[2]
2017 mudslide
On the morning of August 14, 2017, a large landslide killed at least 350 people after a night of heavy rains, with the death toll expected to rise.[3]
References
- ^ Sanneh, Lamin (2009). Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b c d e "St Charles' Church and King's Yard wall". SierraLeoneHeritage.org. SierraLeoneHeritage.org. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Sierra Leone mudslide claims 350 lives". Central Queensland Radio. Retrieved 15 August 2017.