page_title: Gilbert Thomas Carter
section_title: Leeward Islands, the Gold Coast and the Gambia
hierarchical_section_title: Gilbert Thomas Carter / Leeward Islands, the Gold Coast and the Gambia
caption_attribution_description: English: The caption in The Illustrated London News reads: "The British Administrator of the Gambia interviewing a native chief."
context_page_description: Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter KCMG was an administrative officer in the Royal Navy and a colonial official for the British Empire.
  Starting as a Collector of Customs for the Gold Coast, he then became a Treasurer of the Gold Coast and the Gambia. Moving on to colonial administration, he started as the Administrator for the Gambia, where he dealt with the aggression of the native king of Gambia.
  His next post was as Governor for the Lagos Colony where he negotiated treaties with the local chiefs which protected Christian missionaries and ending human sacrifies. He later served as the Governor for The Bahamas and Barbados and finally as the Governor for Trinidad and Tobago.
context_section_description: Carter became the private secretary to Sir George Berkeley, Governor of the Leeward Islands, in 1875. In August 1879, he was appointed Collector of Customs and Treasurer of the Gold Coast, an appointment he kept until 1882. From 1882 until December 1888, Carter administered the Settlement on the Gambia as a Treasurer and Postmaster. From 1886, he was acting Administrator of the Colony of the Gambia, and on 1 December 1888 he was appointed Administrator on that colony's separation from Sierra Leone. While working in the Gambia, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 1 January 1890.
  In 1891, the native King of Gambia had been organising abusive acts towards the British colonists. Carter (from his official residence in Bathurst) sent an envoy with a message that if the abuses continued, "he might expect a visit of a disciplinary nature from the marine forces of the Queen of England." The King sent the envoy back mutilated, with a message: "This is the King's answer." In response, Carter sent three British gunboats to avenge the outrage upon the envoy.
caption: Illustration of Carter meeting with Musa Molloh, Prince of Fehrdoo, in 1889.
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