The British Central Africa Company Ltd was one of the four largest European-owned companies that operated in colonial Nyasaland (current Malawi). The company was incorporated in 1902 to acquire the business interests that Eugene Sharrer, an early settler and entrepreneur, had developed in the British Central Africa Protectorate. Sharrer became the majority shareholder of the company on its foundation.C. Baker (1993). Seeds of Trouble, pp. 5, 80-1. The company initially had trading and transport interests, but these were sold by the 1930s. For most of the colonial period, its extensive estates produced cotton, tobacco or tea but the British Central Africa Company Ltd developed the reputation of being a harsh and exploitative landlord whose relations with its tenants were poor.M Vaughan (1987). The Story of an African Famine, pp. 61, 64, 73.R. Palmer (1986). Working Conditions and Worker Responses on the Nyasaland Tea Estates, 1930-1953, pp. 119, 121-2, 126. In 1962, shortly before independence, the company sold most of its undeveloped land to the Nyasaland government,J. McCracken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, pp. 393 but it retained some plantations and two tea factories. It changed its name to The Central Africa Company Ltd and was acquired by the Lonrho group, both in 1964.Tom Bower (1993). Tiny Rowland: A Rebel Tycoon. p.75.
Corporate history The British Central Africa Company Ltd was said to be "of London", implying that it was once registered in England, but no current English registration can now be traced, although the company had a London office based at Thames House London EC2.J. Telford (1987). The life story of John Telford: Footprints in the Sands of my Time, p.17.Companies House website /companysearch?disp=1&frfsh=1360521787&#result The company's name was changed to The Central Africa Company Ltd and it became a subsidiary of Lonrho (Malawi) Ltd in 1964. The original Malawi headquarters of the company were at the Kabula Stores Ltd offices and warehouses on Kabula Hill, part of one of Eugene Sharrer's estates. The company moved from Kabula to Limbe around the time of the opening of the Shire Highlands Railway to Limbe. The company's base is still in Limbe and the company is still in existence.J. Lamport-Stokes (1983). Blantyre's Early Buildings, p. 39.Europa Publications (2003). Africa South of the Sahara 32nd Edition, p.632. Lonrho sold the Central Africa Company Ltd to African Plantations Corporation in June 1997.See Industrial Relations Court of Malawi
Predecessor Eugene Sharrer, who was described as an archetypal colonial outsider, arrived in Central Africa in 1888 and soon began working in the ivory trade.J. McCraken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, pp. 50, 78. His trading venture developed into the wholesale and retail business of Kubula Stores Ltd, and he diversified by acquiring large landholdings and building up a successful farming business.W H J Rangeley (1958). The Origins of the Principal Street Names of Blantyre and Limbe, pp. 46-7. Sharrer also built up and operated one of the fleets of steamers on the Zambezi and Shire rivers through the Sharrer's Zambezi Traffic Company Ltd. These rivers formed the main route into British Central Africa, and to improve transport links, he promoted the development of the first railway in the country, whose construction was agreed in 1902.S. Tenney and N.K. Humphreys (2011). Historical Dictionary of the International Monetary Fund, p. 359. Shortly after this, he left Africa permanently for London, although he retained his financial interests there.C. Baker (1993). Seeds of Trouble, p. 87.
Trading The British Central Africa Company Ltd took over Sharrer's Kubula Stores Ltd in 1902. This was one of several European-owned firms engaged in general wholesale and retail trading. The largest of these was Mandala, owned by the African Lakes Corporation which, in addition to its main urban stores, had opened a chain of around 50 rural retail stores. After the First World War, Kubula Stores was the main rival to Mandala but it largely failed to penetrate the rural areas.J. McCraken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, p. 178. The Kubula Stores business was sold to the African Lakes Corporation in the 1920s and the Kubula Stores Ltd company was struck-off the Register of Companies in 1943.The London Gazette, 30 April 1943, p. 1965
Transport River transport The business of Sharrer's Zambezi Traffic Company Ltd was transferred to the British Central Africa Company Ltd in 1902.J. McCraken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, p. 92. The company ran riverboat services from the British concession of Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi to Chiromo on the Shire River until the opening of the Shire Highlands Railway to Port Herald downriver of Chiromo in 1908. Port Herald then became the new terminus for river services. The Central Africa Railway Ltd was opened from Port Herald to Chindio on the north bank of the Zambezi in 1914, after which the British Central Africa Company ran its service from Chinde to Port Herald in the wet season, but only to Chindio when water levels were low.G.L. Gamlen (1935). Transport on the River Shire, Nyasaland, p.451-2. When the Trans-Zambezia Railway Ltd completed its line from the south bank of the Zambezi to Beira in 1922, that company took over the British Central Africa Company's remaining river fleet for use as cross-river ferries.J. Perry (1969). The growth of the transport network of Malawi, pp. 29-30.
Railways The British Central Africa Company Ltd was a major shareholder in the Shire Highlands Railway Company and the Central Africa Railway Ltd. In 1930, Nyasaland Railways Ltd was formed to acquire the business of the Shire Highlands Railway Ltd and the share capital of the Central Africa Railway Ltd. This left the British Central Africa Company as a significant shareholder in Nyasaland Railways Ltd.C. Baker (1994). Development Governor, pp. 149-50. The company, whose name was now The Central Africa Company, became a subsidiary of Lonrho (Malawi) Ltd in 1964 Lonrho bought The Central Africa Company Ltd mainly because of its railway shares, but also acquired a 3,500 acre tea plantation, two tea factories and some other small estates.Sunday Times (South Africa). 8 June 1997, Tiny mourns Lonrho's journey to the breaker's yard, http://www.btimes.co.za/97/0608/news/news5.htm
Landholdings The British Central Africa Company Ltd was the second-largest of four estate-owning companies in colonial Nyasaland which together owned over 3.4 million acres of land, including the majority of the fertile land in the Shire Highlands. Eugene Sharrer had been the owner of three large and two smaller estates, all largely undeveloped when he transferred them to the company. These included land in the Shire Highlands, but also in the Shire valley.B. Pachai (1978). Land and Politics in Malawi 1875-1975, pp. 37-40. The British Central Africa Company Ltd acquired 372,500 acres from Sharrer in 1902. Its two most productive estates were in the Shire valley: Kupimbi of around 68,000 acres in the Middle Shire, which grew tobacco, and Chelumbo of about 132,000 acres in the Upper Shire, which grew cotton.M. Vaughan (1987). The Story of an African Famine, p. 61. A third Shire valley estate of about 17,000 acres near Chikwawa also grew cotton. The company also owned two estates in the Shire Highlands. Its estate at Cholo was originally its largest one, of over 150,000 acres, but by 1920 around 20,000 acres had been sold or leased. Around 6,000 acres of the 28,000 acre Kubula estate, northwest of the centre of Blantyre had also been sold or leased, but it was overpopulated, with 5,713 registered tenants on 1929 and 4,500 in 1939, most of whom were heads of families. By 1924, the company had sold or leased almost 77,000 acres of its original 372,500 acres. Of the 295,500 acres the British Central Africa Company Ltd held directly in that year, it actively farmed only 6,000 acres itself, the remainder was cultivated by tenants or fallow.UK Colonial Office (1921). Nyasaland Report for 1920, p. 13, London, HMSO.M. Vaughan (1987). The Story of an African Famine, p. 64, 71-3. Until the mid-1930s, the British Central Africa Company Ltd was relatively relaxed about collecting rents from its tenants, but as the Natives on Private Estates Ordinance 1928 allowed estate owners to evict 10% of their tenants without cause in 1933 and every five years thereafter, it began to evict significant numbers its of tenants.M. Vaughan (1987). The Story of an African Famine, pp. 73-4. The company Ltd exercised its right to expel the full 10% from its Cholo estates in 1933, the only estate owner in the protectorate to do so. C. Baker (1994). Development Governor p. 217. By 1947, some of the earlier leases had ended, and the company directly held 329,000 acres and it actively farmed 29,000 of them.M. Vaughan (1987). The Story of an African Famine, p. 73.
In 1948 the government set up a Land Planning Committee, whose first report recommended that government should re-acquire land which was either undeveloped or occupied by large numbers of Africans. This included the projected re-purchase of about two-thirds of the British Central Africa Company's freehold land. The company had long fought to retain its landholdings, much of which was undeveloped, claiming that soil exhaustion and erosion, deforestation and poor husbandry would result if the land were resettled by smallholders. In 1948, the company was still unwilling to sell its better land to the government.B. Pachai (1973). Land Policies in Malawi: An Examination of the Colonial Legacy, p. 691 However, it was prepared to sell inferior land, and in 1948 the government bought freehold land from the British Central Africa Company in the Chingale area in the western part of Zomba District to convert it to land held by customary tenure and resettle Africans evacuated from other estates in the Shire valley and highlands on it. The Chingale resettlement scheme took place from 1948 to 1954.J.A.K. Kandawire (1977). Thangata in Pre-Colonial and Colonial Systems of Land Tenure in Southern Malawi, p. 188. Following a serious famine in 1949, Geoffrey Colby, the Governor of Nyasaland from 1948 to 1956, attempted to get the major estate companies to sell the under-used parts of their land to the government for resettlement. However, Colby made it clear he would not use the compulsory purchase powers he had been granted, preferring voluntary agreement. By ruling compulsion out, he gave unintended encouragement to the British Central Africa Company's plans to retain its estates.J. McCracken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, pp. 306-9. In 1955, the Nyasaland government agreed to purchase almost 36,470 acres in Cholo District with 24,600 residents from the British Central Africa Company for resettlement. Before this, the company had owned 74,262 acres with 36,400 residents. The company retained 38,143 acres, but of the 11,800 residents, 3,240 were moved onto Crown lands. However, it was only in 1962, when independence was clearly in prospect, that the company accepted the need to sell its surplus land, retaining only its most profitable assets.J. McCracken (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859-1966, pp. 393. At the time of its takeover by Lonrho (Malawi) Ltd in 1964, the Central Africa Company Ltd owned a 3,500 acre tea plantation, two tea factories and some other small estates. The Central Africa Company Ltd, with its remaining agricultural assets, was sold by Lonrho to African Plantations Corporation June 1997.
Agricultural activities