Cyril Henriques

Arthur Nicholas Carter was from Sierra Leone, born on 3 April 1883. In the 1911 census, when he was 27 years old, he was listed as a boarder and employee at the Africa Institute in Colwyn Bay, Wales. He first entered University College two years later in 1913 to study law and medicine after passing the University of London Matriculation in September 1912. During his degree he lived in Bloomsbury; when he enrolled in late 1912 he lived at 12 Guilford Street, Russell Square; in 1918 he lived at 43 Tavistock Square, London WC1. He passed the Conjoint Examination in January 1919 and was then based at University College Hospital. In 1922 he married Marguerite Frances Anne. He died on 31 March 1930 at the Nelson Hospital, Merton. At the time of his death he resided at 17 Haydon Park Road in Wimbledon.

In April 1930 Arthur’s brother, E.A.G. Carter wrote to Sir Gregory Foster, University College London asking him to ascertain the truth of a Reuter’s Telegram, which read: “Dr. Arthur Nicholas Adanla Carter, a native of Sierra Leone and a nephew of an African Prince, died on the day he was to give evidence at Old Bailey in a case of alleged robbery with violence. He treated a man for two crushed fingers on the day of the offence while he was on the staff of the University College Hospital. His wife states he is forty years of age and was born in Sierra Leone of native father and white mother. His father’s brother is a Prince of Monrovia, West Africa.” E.A.G. Carter asked Gregory Foster that ‘if it is true I shall be thankful if a short Biography can be given during his University creer [sic] for which the family out here will gladly accept. We extend sympathy to the University and your good self.’ In reply H.J. Harris, the Senior Tutor wrote on 22 May 1930 ‘in reply to your letter of the 24th April, 1930, your brother entered here in 1913, an after several attempts, he eventually passed the Second Conjoint Examination in January 1919. He then entered University College Hospital, and I understand from the Secretary of that Institution that he has forwarded you his record while there.’

Carter’s death was reported in the British press. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reported on 1 April 1930 the ‘death of Witness in Court Case’ stating:

‘A medical man, Mr. Arthur Nicholas Adania [sic] Carter, a native of Sierra Leone, who was to have given evidence in a case of alleged robbery with violence and theft at the Old Bailey, was stated to have died earlier in the day. Mr Carter lived at Hasdon [sic] Park Road, Wimbledon. His wife told a reporter that she first met her husband ten years ago, when she was a patient at a London hospital. He told her that his father was a native barrister, while his mother was a white woman. He said that an uncle - his father’s brother - was a prince in West Africa. Mrs Carter, who has been a teacher of the piano for 20 years, claims direct descent from Lady Anne Lindsay, later Lady Anne Barnard, the composer of “Auld Robin Gray,” who lived at Gothic Lodge, Wimbledon Common.’