14/08/2026
So What Happened to James Picot, Our First Headmaster? 🔴⚫️
By Daniel Adu Gyamfi and Nana Dadzie Ghansah
Dear MOBA Fraternity, have you ever wondered what happened to the young James Picot after he left the school and the then Gold Coast in 1878?
Well, he did not vanish into thin air.
James Picot was born on December 23, 1858, in Alderney, Guernsey, part of the Channel Islands. The Picots were a strong Methodist family. His brother, Rev. Thomas Picot, was Head of the Wesleyan Synod in the Gold Coast and really made the school's opening happen.
So, as of April 3, 1876, when he started as the first headmaster of the Wesleyan High School, he was still 17. After two years as headmaster, he wanted to return to the UK to complete his education. Remember, he may have been a pupil teacher at Claremont College when his brother dragged him to Cape Coast. Per Bartels, he only had the College of Preceptors certificate, which was equivalent to the “O”-Level certificate. (There may be some research that points to the fact that he was training to be a teacher and so he may have had a much higher level of education than previously thought).
When he returned to the UK, he became a lay preacher. He was subsequently accepted into Richmond College, a seminary, in 1881.
Since he was fluent in both English and French, his first station out of school was in Rouen, France. After 3 years there, he joined his brother, Rev. Thomas Picot, in Haiti, who had moved there to head the mission. He spent three years there, too.
Back home, he would serve the Church for the next 43 years, working in missions in the Channel Islands and the western part of the UK.
James Picot was married three times and had a total of nine children.
His first wife was Ann Le Brocq, and they married around 1890. They had four children before she passed away in 1900. He then married Laure Ahier in 1903. They had three children. She died two days after delivering their third child in 1906. With seven children on his hands, he remarried for the third time later that year. Her name was Edith Gliddon. They had two children together.
His last wife, Edith, outlived him, then James Picot passed on August 12, 1930 in Letchworth, Hertfordshire in England. She passed eight years later.
In his obituary, Rev. James Picot was described as “ a wide reader and original thinker”. His sermons were described as being “…clear and thoughtful expositions of the truth of Christian life and experience.” His last words were reportedly, “I am happy in the love of my Father.”
One of the children of James and Laure, was born in 1904 and named Caroline. In 1989, when the Mfantsipim Foundation UK & Ireland officially launched, Ms Caroline Picot was a guest.
The last of their three children was also named James. Unfortunately, Laura died 2 days after delivering him. James Picot Jr. would, as a young man, migrate to Australia, where he became a famous poet. He joined the Australian Imperial Force during WWII and was posted to Singapore, where he was captured by the Japanese. Forced to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway, he died of beriberi on 11 April 1944.
It is truly impressive that James Picot spent his life serving others, and the school he helped start at the age of 17 still stands today. I wonder what he would say if he were to see the school now. May he truly rest in peace.
References:
1. Wikitree-dot-com
2. Genealogy-dot -com
3. Minutes of the 188th Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, in Birmingham, July 1931
4. F.L. Bartel’s “The Roots of Ghana Methodism", 1965
