François Coillard
Encyclopedia
François Coillard was a missionary who worked for the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society
in southern Africa.
Coillard was the youngest of the seven children of François Coillard and his wife Madeleine. Both parents were of Huguenot
descent. In 1836, Coillard’s father died, leaving behind a nearly destitute widow.
Coillard enrolled in the Protestant School at Asnières at the age of 15 and later attended Strasbourg University. He offered himself in 1854 to the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS or, in French, Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris). He trained under Eugène Casalis, a veteran southern African missionary, and in 1857 was ordained at the Oratoire in Paris. His first posting was to the independent kingdom of Basutoland
(present-day Lesotho
), where the PEMS had been established since 1833. When Coillard reached Cape Town
on 6 November 1857, it was the eve of a war between Basutoland and the Boer republic of the Orange Free State
; during the war, the French mission stations in Basutoland were destroyed. Coillard’s first task was to open a new station at Leribe
.
On 26 February 1861 he married Christina Mackintosh in Cape Town, South Africa. She was the daughter of a Scottish Baptist
minister and was five years older than her husband. Christina's enthusiasm for missions was kindled at the age of 14, after listening to the preaching of veteran southern African missionary Robert Moffat
. She toiled as her husband's missionary co-worker and shared all the hardships of their travels throughout their marriage. They never had any children.
In 1865 Basutoland became involved in disputes with its neighbouring Boer nations of Natal
and the Orange Free State. Coillard assisted in fruitful negotiations between local Basuto chiefs and Theophilus Shepstone
, Natal's secretary for native affairs. In April 1866, Boer invaders from the Orange Free State forced the evacuation of Leribé mission. Coillard moved to Natal, where he assisted American missionaries. He occupied a vacant mission station there until Britain proclaimed a protectorate
over Basutoland in 1868. Coillard then returned to Leribé.
Robert Moffat
at Kuruman
strongly encouraged Coillard to move north. Also, Basutoland churches proposed a mission by their own evangelists to peoples across the Limpopo River
, who spoke Sotho-related languages. After the Boer government of Transvaal Republic turned back two Sotho expeditions, Coillard was asked to lead a third attempt. The new party consisted of Christina Coillard, four Basuto evangelists, and Elise Coillard (a niece to Coillard). When they arrived in Pretoria
in May 1877, they found that the British crown had annexed the Transvaal Republic, which was now ruled under the governorship of Theophilus Shepstone.
After the missionaries crossed the Limpopo River, Shona
chiefs would not welcome the group; instead, the party was forced to go to Bulawayo
, the headquarters of King Lobengula
of the Ndebele people. Lobengula prohibited the missionaries from preaching in his domains, so Coillard led the group southwest to the territory of Khama III
, a Christian Tswana ruler. Khama suggested that the group could try their luck with Barotseland
(the Lozi
kingdom), north of the Zambezi River, where a Sotho-related language was spoken. Although the missionaries failed to arrange a meeting with the recently elected Lozi king, Coillard convinced the PEMS to support an attempt to plant mission stations in Barotseland. This plan was delayed by a trip Coillard made to Europe in 1880–82 and other complications in Basutoland.
Coillard finally mounted his expedition to Barotseland in 1884. The country was in turmoil with Lewanika
, the former king, exiled and a usurper on the throne. Soon after Coillard established friendly relations with the usurper, another revolution brought Lewanika back to power. Coillard’s credibility was compromised by his initial diplomacy with the usurper, and it was only in March 1886 that he was received by Lewanika at Lealui
, the capital of the kingdom.
From 1886 until 1891 Coillard worked to establish strong mission stations at various locations in Barotseland: Sesheke
, Lealui, and Sefula. In an attempt to strengthen his grip on the kingship, Lewanika enlisted Coillard's assistance in negotiating for a British protectorate to be declared over Barotseland, similar to the one that had recently been extended over neighbouring Bechuanaland. However, the king and the missionary misunderstood the connections between the British crown and the British South Africa Company
(BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes. Lewanika and Coillard were gradually entangled in a web of intrigue, which resulted in the signing of the Lochner Concession, which assigned the Lozi kingdom to the BSAC's domains on 27 June 1890. During the first seven years after signing the Concession, the BSAC failed to make any of its promised annual payments of £2000 or to provide any of the educational assistance that it had pledged to Lewanika.
Christina Coillard died on 28 October 1891 and the group of missionaries suffered a persistent high mortality rate, due primarily to tropical fevers. However, Coillard’s lively and moving letters to the PEM's offices in Paris made him a heroic figure to mission supporters in many countries. Many of these letters were published in 1889 as Sur le Haut-Zambèze: voyages et travaux de mission. His letters also appeared in an English translation by his niece, Catherine Winkworth Mackintosh (On the Threshold of Central Africa, 1897).
After experiencing serious illness in 1895, Coillard spent the period 1896-8 in Europe. By February 1899 he was back at Leribé in Basutoland, on his way back to Barotseland. However, a large number of fatalities ensued among the missionary recruits of 1897 and onwards. Coillard was further shaken in 1903 by a breakaway movement of his converts, led by Willie Mokalapa.
Coillard suffered a fatal attack of haematuric fever at Lealui in Northern Rhodesia and died on 27 May 1904; he was buried near his wife at Sefula.
C. W. Mackintosh, Coillard of the Zambesi (1907)
E. Favre, François Coillard: enfance et jeunesse (1908)
F. Coillard, ‘Preface’, in H. Dieterlen, Adolphe Mabille, missionnaire (1898)
Journal des Missions Evangéliques (1865–1904)
M. Wilson and L. Thompson, eds., The Oxford history of South Africa, 2 vols. (1971), vol. 2
J. Du Plessis, A history of Christian missions in South Africa (1965)
R. C. Germond, Chronicles of Basutoland (1967)
L. H. Gann, A history of Southern Rhodesia: early days to 1934 (1965)
A. Hastings, The church in Africa, 1450–1950 (1994); repr. (1996)
Paris Evangelical Missionary Society
The Paris Evangelical Missionary Society , also known as the SMEP or Mission de Paris, was a Protestant missionary association created in 1822...
in southern Africa.
Coillard was the youngest of the seven children of François Coillard and his wife Madeleine. Both parents were of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
descent. In 1836, Coillard’s father died, leaving behind a nearly destitute widow.
Coillard enrolled in the Protestant School at Asnières at the age of 15 and later attended Strasbourg University. He offered himself in 1854 to the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS or, in French, Société des Missions Evangéliques de Paris). He trained under Eugène Casalis, a veteran southern African missionary, and in 1857 was ordained at the Oratoire in Paris. His first posting was to the independent kingdom of Basutoland
Basutoland
Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British Crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory...
(present-day Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
), where the PEMS had been established since 1833. When Coillard reached Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
on 6 November 1857, it was the eve of a war between Basutoland and the Boer republic of the Orange Free State
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
; during the war, the French mission stations in Basutoland were destroyed. Coillard’s first task was to open a new station at Leribe
Leribe
Leribe may refer to:* Hlotse or Leribe, market town in Lesotho founded in 1876* Leribe District, a district in Lesotho...
.
On 26 February 1861 he married Christina Mackintosh in Cape Town, South Africa. She was the daughter of a Scottish Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister and was five years older than her husband. Christina's enthusiasm for missions was kindled at the age of 14, after listening to the preaching of veteran southern African missionary Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, and father in law of David Livingstone....
. She toiled as her husband's missionary co-worker and shared all the hardships of their travels throughout their marriage. They never had any children.
In 1865 Basutoland became involved in disputes with its neighbouring Boer nations of Natal
Colony of Natal
The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...
and the Orange Free State. Coillard assisted in fruitful negotiations between local Basuto chiefs and Theophilus Shepstone
Theophilus Shepstone
thumb|Theophilus ShepstoneSir Theophilus Shepstone was a British South African statesman who was responsible for the annexation of the Transvaal to Britain in 1877.-Early life:...
, Natal's secretary for native affairs. In April 1866, Boer invaders from the Orange Free State forced the evacuation of Leribé mission. Coillard moved to Natal, where he assisted American missionaries. He occupied a vacant mission station there until Britain proclaimed a protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
over Basutoland in 1868. Coillard then returned to Leribé.
Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, and father in law of David Livingstone....
at Kuruman
Kuruman
Kuruman is a town with 12,701 inhabitants in Northern Cape province of South Africa, famous for its scenic beauty and the Eye of Kuruman, a geological feature bringing water from deep underground to the surface in the Kalahari Desert....
strongly encouraged Coillard to move north. Also, Basutoland churches proposed a mission by their own evangelists to peoples across the Limpopo River
Limpopo River
The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. It is around long, with a drainage basin in size. Its mean annual discharge is 170 m³/s at its mouth...
, who spoke Sotho-related languages. After the Boer government of Transvaal Republic turned back two Sotho expeditions, Coillard was asked to lead a third attempt. The new party consisted of Christina Coillard, four Basuto evangelists, and Elise Coillard (a niece to Coillard). When they arrived in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
in May 1877, they found that the British crown had annexed the Transvaal Republic, which was now ruled under the governorship of Theophilus Shepstone.
After the missionaries crossed the Limpopo River, Shona
Shona people
Shona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...
chiefs would not welcome the group; instead, the party was forced to go to Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...
, the headquarters of King Lobengula
Lobengula
Lobengula Khumalo was the second and last king of the Ndebele people, usually pronounced Matabele in English. Both names, in the Sindebele language, mean "The men of the long shields", a reference to the Matabele warriors' use of the Zulu shield and spear.- Background :The Matabele were related to...
of the Ndebele people. Lobengula prohibited the missionaries from preaching in his domains, so Coillard led the group southwest to the territory of Khama III
Khama III
Khama III , also known as Khama the Good, was the kgosi of the Bamangwato people of Bechuanaland , who made his country a protectorate of the United Kingdom to ensure its survival against Boer and Ndebele encroachments.-Ancestry and Youth:During the 18th century, Malope, chief of the Bakwena...
, a Christian Tswana ruler. Khama suggested that the group could try their luck with Barotseland
Barotseland
Barotseland is a region in the western part of Zambia, and is the homeland of the Lozi people or Barotse who were previously known as Luyi or Aluyi. Its heartland is the Barotse Floodplain on the upper Zambezi River, also known as Bulozi or Lyondo, but it includes the surrounding higher ground of...
(the Lozi
Lozi
Lozi may refer to:*The Lozi language*The Lozi people*Lozi in South West Africa...
kingdom), north of the Zambezi River, where a Sotho-related language was spoken. Although the missionaries failed to arrange a meeting with the recently elected Lozi king, Coillard convinced the PEMS to support an attempt to plant mission stations in Barotseland. This plan was delayed by a trip Coillard made to Europe in 1880–82 and other complications in Basutoland.
Coillard finally mounted his expedition to Barotseland in 1884. The country was in turmoil with Lewanika
Lewanika
Lewanika was the Lozi Litunga of Barotseland from 1878 to 1916...
, the former king, exiled and a usurper on the throne. Soon after Coillard established friendly relations with the usurper, another revolution brought Lewanika back to power. Coillard’s credibility was compromised by his initial diplomacy with the usurper, and it was only in March 1886 that he was received by Lewanika at Lealui
Lealui
Lealui is the dry season residence on the Barotse Floodplain of the Litunga, king Troverman of the Lozi people of western Zambia, located about 14 km west of the town of Mongu and about 10 km east of the river's main channel...
, the capital of the kingdom.
From 1886 until 1891 Coillard worked to establish strong mission stations at various locations in Barotseland: Sesheke
Sesheke
Sesheke is a border town in the Western Province of Zambia, and a district of the same name. It lies on the northern bank of the Zambezi River which forms the border with Namibia's Caprivi Strip at that point....
, Lealui, and Sefula. In an attempt to strengthen his grip on the kingship, Lewanika enlisted Coillard's assistance in negotiating for a British protectorate to be declared over Barotseland, similar to the one that had recently been extended over neighbouring Bechuanaland. However, the king and the missionary misunderstood the connections between the British crown and the British South Africa Company
British South Africa Company
The British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889...
(BSAC) of Cecil Rhodes. Lewanika and Coillard were gradually entangled in a web of intrigue, which resulted in the signing of the Lochner Concession, which assigned the Lozi kingdom to the BSAC's domains on 27 June 1890. During the first seven years after signing the Concession, the BSAC failed to make any of its promised annual payments of £2000 or to provide any of the educational assistance that it had pledged to Lewanika.
Christina Coillard died on 28 October 1891 and the group of missionaries suffered a persistent high mortality rate, due primarily to tropical fevers. However, Coillard’s lively and moving letters to the PEM's offices in Paris made him a heroic figure to mission supporters in many countries. Many of these letters were published in 1889 as Sur le Haut-Zambèze: voyages et travaux de mission. His letters also appeared in an English translation by his niece, Catherine Winkworth Mackintosh (On the Threshold of Central Africa, 1897).
After experiencing serious illness in 1895, Coillard spent the period 1896-8 in Europe. By February 1899 he was back at Leribé in Basutoland, on his way back to Barotseland. However, a large number of fatalities ensued among the missionary recruits of 1897 and onwards. Coillard was further shaken in 1903 by a breakaway movement of his converts, led by Willie Mokalapa.
Coillard suffered a fatal attack of haematuric fever at Lealui in Northern Rhodesia and died on 27 May 1904; he was buried near his wife at Sefula.
Sources
Norman Etherington, ‘Coillard, François (1834–1904)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 16 July 2006C. W. Mackintosh, Coillard of the Zambesi (1907)
E. Favre, François Coillard: enfance et jeunesse (1908)
F. Coillard, ‘Preface’, in H. Dieterlen, Adolphe Mabille, missionnaire (1898)
Journal des Missions Evangéliques (1865–1904)
M. Wilson and L. Thompson, eds., The Oxford history of South Africa, 2 vols. (1971), vol. 2
J. Du Plessis, A history of Christian missions in South Africa (1965)
R. C. Germond, Chronicles of Basutoland (1967)
L. H. Gann, A history of Southern Rhodesia: early days to 1934 (1965)
A. Hastings, The church in Africa, 1450–1950 (1994); repr. (1996)