Page 8 - 2020 SoM Journal Vol 73 No 1 FINAL_Neat

In Memoriam

Emeritus Professor George Albert Shepperson, C. B. E.,

B. A., M. A., Hon. D. Univ. Edinburgh, Dr. h. c. York,
D. Litt. h. c. Malawi, F. E. I. S.

7 January 1922 – 2 April 2020
th
nd

In 2002, the Malawi High Commissioner, London, the Hon. Bright
Msaka presented George ‘Sam’ Shepperson with the degree of D. Litt, honoris
causa, on behalf of the University of Malawi in recognition of his outstanding
contributions as a pre-eminent Africanist and African (most notably Malawi)
historian for over half-a-century. Serving with a Nyasa battalion of the King’s
African Rifles in the Burmese jungles during WWII, Shepperson became a fluent
speaker of Chinyanja and developed a deep and abiding love and respect for
Malawi, Malawians and Malawi’s colourful history. He was a strong advocate for
Malawi’s independence. Indeed, President Kamuzu Banda invited him to become
the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Malawi.
It was Shepperson who, while researching in the cellars of the Anti-
Slavery Society in London, happened upon an unlisted box of unpublished papers
and correspondence which in time resulted, through the publication of the seminal
Independent African , in the name of John Chilembwe becoming known upon the
1
world stage and recognised as Malawi’s first national hero. Editor

1 Shepperson, George & Price, Thomas. INDEPENDENT AFRICAN. John Chilembwe and
the Origins, Setting & Significance of the Nyasaland Native Rising of 1915. Edinburgh
University Press. 1958.
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