Cecil Ames, (centre) in Egypt in 1917, aged 19.
sir cecil ames, born 1897
Soldier, Colonial Administrator and judge in west africa
Son of a Frome Solicitor, Cecil Geraint Ames served as a junior officer in the Somerset Light Infantry during the First World War. Using his photos and papers his daughter has reconstructed his war experience, which took him via India and Egypt into the successful but often forgotten Palestine campaign of 1917-18. He returned to Frome and qualified as a Solicitor. The second part of his story continues with his life from 1922-34 as a District Officer in Northern Nigeria, where he wrote the 1934 official handbook on the Plateau Province. He later became a Judge of the Nigerian Supreme Court and of the West African Court of Appeal. He was knighted in 1965.
Source: Provided to Lives Retold in 2020 by Jennifer Ridley, the author of this life story and daughter of Cecil Ames.