Joseph de Graft Hayford (1840–1919) was a Ghanaian Wesleyan Methodist minister who was a prominent figure in Fante politics and society in the Gold Coast.[3] He was one of the founders of the Fante Confederation[4] of 1867 and one of the first political detainees in Ghanaian history.[5]
Background
De Graft Hayford was a supporter of the Methodist church planter Thomas Birch Freeman and when Freeman was forced to resign from his post in 1857, de Graft Hayford also left the church; he later returned and became a preacher for the denomination.[6]
He has been described as "one of the greatest politicians of his day, and the most active member of the Fanti Confederacy of 1867".[7] When the Confederacy was declared illegal, he was one of the four leaders to be arrested on a charge of conspiracy, the others being James Hutton Brew, James F. Amissah and George Kunto Blankson.[8]
Family
Of the Anona clan of Cape Coast, he was the son of Rev. James Hayford and Elizabeth de Graft.[9] He was the husband of Mary Awuraba Brew[10] (daughter of the prominent Gold Coast trader Samuel Collins Brew and Adjuah Esson) and his children were: Rev. Josiah Hayford, Isaac Hayford, Ibinijah Hayford, Rev. Dr Ernest James Hayford,[11] Rev. Mark Christian Hayford, [6] Rev. Mark Christian Hayford, Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford,[12][13] Hester Hayford, Helen Mary Hayford and Sydney Spencer Hayford; he was the brother of Rev. Isaac Hayford and Lucy Hayford.[14]
His descendants continued to be leaders in law, politics and arts, and in 2008, the Casely-Hayfords were named as the most influential black family in the UK.[17]
^ abBrill website "Mark Christian Hayford: A non-success story", article by G. M. Haliburton published in the Journal of Religion in Africa XII, I (1981).
