Background
Seth Anthony was born at Adafienu in the Volta Region of Ghana.
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Seth Anthony
Edit ProfileEducation
He completed in 1929.
Career
He was the first black African soldier to be commissioned as an officer in the British Army. Seth Anthony started his elementary education at the Bremen Mission School at Keta also in the Volta Region of Ghana in 1920. He proceeded to the Achimota School intending to train as a teacher.
His admission was deferred for a year as he was thought to be too young.
His progress was so impressive he was fast tracked to the secondary education section. One of his course mates at the time was Kofi Abrefa Busia.
He was the head prefect in 1935. Anthony joined the staff of the Achimota School to teach Latin, English and Mathematics in 1937.
Later during the Second World War he enlisted as a Private with the British Army.
His unit was the Fifth Battalion of the Gold Coast Regiment. He enrolled at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in England in 1941 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1942. He served with the 81st Division of the Royal West African Frontier Force, where he became the first African commissioned officer in the history British Army.
Following the Second World War, Anthony served as an Assistant District Officer, a position held by only two other Africans at the time (one was Kofi Busia, who became Prime Minister of Ghana in 1969).
Prior to Ghana"s independence in March 1957, Anthony was in the infant diplomatic service and attached to the British embassy in Washington, District of Columbia He later opened Ghana"s embassy there, and was the first Chargé d"affaires of the newly opened Ghanaian diplomatic mission in Washington, District of Columbia He was at the same time Ghana"s Acting Representative to the United Nations and delivered the acceptance speech when Ghana was admitted into the United Nations. He was the Ghanaian High Commissioner to India between 1962 and 1966, after which he was the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom until 1970. He also served as High Commissioner to Canada until his retirement in 1973.
Seth Anthony was married to Adelaide Arajoah Anthony.
Achievements
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Anthony was awarded the Order of the Star of Ghana, the highest national civilian award in Ghana in July 2006. He was also awarded an Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire after seeing action in Myohaung, Burma in 1945. The Ghana army"s Jungle Warfare School at Akyem Achiase is named Seth Anthony Barracks after Major Anthony. Viscount Slim, son of the Field Marshal and president of the Burma Star Association, awarded Major Anthony with the Burma Star Badge in 2008.
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Born
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Died
November 20, 2008 (aged 93) -
Nationality
United Kingdom