Henry Rawlingson Carr

Henry Carr (15 August 1863 – 1945) was a Nigerian educator and administrator. He was one of the most prominent West Africans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and was a member of the legislative council in Lagos from 1918–1924.

Background and education Henry Carr was born in the Colony of Lagos on 15 August 1863 to Amuwo Carr and Rebecca Carr, liberated Saro emigrants of Yoruba extraction. Amuwo Carr died in Abeokuta when Henry was seven years old, leaving Rebecca Carr in charge of young Henry's education. Henry Carr was married to the former Henrietta Robbin.

Career in West Africa He returned to Nigeria in 1885 and taught at the CMS Grammar School, Lagos until joining the Colonial Civil Service in 1889 as chief clerk in the Secretariat and sub-inspector of schools.

He was appointed inspector of schools in 1892 (becoming the first black man to do so) and assistant colonial secretary for native affairs in 1900. In Lagos, Nigeria, he continued to progress doing much work on the Board of Education, serving as director of education between 1906 and 1918, and became the Resident of the Colony of Nigeria in 1918. Henry Carr was one of the few West Africans during the early twentieth century that broke barriers in colonial governance.

Before the Second World War, few Africans rose beyond the position of chief clerk in colonial administration. As the death rate of Europeans declined in west Africa, many expatriates came to the country and gained administrative positions, as the colonial officers readily accepted them and helped advance their careers. All of this further diminished the chances of West Africans to take more administrative responsibilities. Reasons given to limit the career advancement of Africans at the time were the suspicions British officials had about Africans' ethical disposition due to an earlier embezzlement case in Ghana. However, this was a single case, and some critics have questioned whether there were sinister motives behind the policy. In Carr's diaries, he writes of Macaulay "Among all human monsters with whom we have been brought into contact none has displayed the devilish ingenuity of this man", concluding that Macaulay was a "crooked mind and dangerous fool". Carr abhorred the political reality that Macaulay, who was barred from partaking in politics because of his criminal convictions, was a political kingmaker through Macaulay's control of the NNDP.

Carr's 18,000 book library, according to Hope Rossiter, showed marks of personal selection. Rossiter further noted that Carr "represented simply the heights of achievement by an African of ability who through all his life had no material advantage that is not available to every young man in Nigeria...It was because Carr...used his wide education and tremendous culture as a background and not as a profession, that he is, in Africa, so outstanding. He is a perfect example of the cultured man - the quite well read, well-behaved and completely educated and cultivated man".

Carr also played an instrumental role in the set up of King's College Lagos. As Acting Director of Education with the British colonial government in Nigeria, Carr advised Governor Walter Egerton on the educational scheme to be implemented at King's College Lagos and convinced the London Board of Education that the institution was integral to Nigeria's development.