Sir Frederick Lugard

Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858–1945), Baron Lugard of Abinger, took over from Goldie on 1 January 1900 at the new garrison town of Lokoja with a 2,000-strong West African Frontier Force he had raised in 1898. Between 1900 and 1903 he conducted the systematic conquest of the Sokoto Caliphate: Kontagora (1901), Yola (1901), Bauchi (1902), Bornu (1902), Zaria (1902), Kano (3 February 1903, under Col. Morland) and finally Sokoto itself (15 March 1903 — battle of Burmi 27 July 1903, where Caliph Attahiru I was killed). The conquest cost fewer than 100 British casualties because Lugard followed Goldie's Bida template — Maxim-gunned squares against cavalry charges.

Lugard's innovation was political. Rather than dismantle the emirates he kept the Emir of Kano, Sultan of Sokoto, Shehu of Borno, Lamido of Adamawa and the rest in place as 'Native Authorities', collecting tax under British 'Residents'. This was the doctrine of indirect rule he codified in his *Political Memoranda* (1906) and his book *The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa* (1922). It became the British colonial template across Africa.