Born in Ghana, Dr. Francis Lodowic Bartels was educated at Cape Coast Methodist Primary School from 1915 and later at Mfantsipim School. With a King Edward VII scholarship he attended Westminster College, then in London, between 1931-35. He was in the second year of students who took a degree at the University of London (in his case Kings College), before a final year of teacher training.
He returned to Ghana to teach at Mfantsipim School until 1945 (latterly as acting headmaster), when he left to train in England as a professional teacher. From 1949-1961 he was the first black African headmaster of Mfantsipim School, and was appointed O.B.E. in 1956.
An outstanding and innovative educator, among his many talented and influential pupils was Kofi Annan, later Secretary-General of the United Nations, who said of him:
Most of us can point to a teacher who changed our lives. In my case there can be no doubt that that teacher is Francis Bartels. Each day takes me a little further on the road he helped to pave. Each day I look back in gratitude….
I can remember his never-tiring efforts to broaden our horizons. To encourage us to open our eyes, speak our minds, and engage with the issues of the day and the world at large while never forgetting the traditions and values of our own society… he taught from the heart, not merely from books. He inspired thought and encouraged doubt, allowing us to discover ourselves in the process.For Headmaster Bartels, education was about the formation of character rather than the mere transmission of knowledge. The mind was not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.
Following increased involvement in international educational organisations, in 1961 he joined UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) becoming head of the Africa Division, then 1967-69 Adviser on African Education to the Assistant Director-General for Education. In 1969-70 he was Senior Lecturer at the University College of Nairobi, then in May 1970 was appointed Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, in Bonn.
Following a coup in 1972 that appointment ended but he continued to be closely involved in UNESCO work for the remainder of his life. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the University of Ghana in 1989. He lived in Paris, where he died on 20 March 2010, just one week after his 100th birthday.
Dr Peter Forsaith is Research Fellow at the OCMCH, and is currently cataloguing Dr Bartels’s papers which are among our collections
Westminster Oxford Research Network 