Post Image
  Talabi Braithwaite was born on 2 July 1928 in Lagos. He was born into a family of many firsts, the Braithwaite family in Lagos. In 1880, Rev. I. Braithwaite led the first Anglican missionary expedition, which introduced the gospel to the Ijebu province in today’s Ogun State.
Read more about Nigerians in history
In 1894, the reverend built St. Michael’s, the first church in Epe in today’s Lagos State, after which his efforts led to the growth of church attendance. There is now a second Anglican church – the Reverend Braithwaite Memorial Anglican Church – named after him in Papa Epe. He attended the CMS Grammar School, Lagos and in 1946 obtained a first-grade Senior Cambridge Certificate with exemption from London Matriculation. In 1949 he went to London where he gained experience in general insurance at the Royal Exchange, London. He was the first African to pass the examination to become an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London in 1951.

Career

Braithwaite returned to Nigeria in October 1952 to start the chief agency of the Law Union & Rock Insurance Company. In the 1950s he shared a flat on Hawley Street with Sonny Odogwu, who would also become a leader in the Nigerian corporate world and Michael Kubenje. In 1958 he launched T.A. Braithwaite Insurance Brokers & Co. The company specialized in the new fields, for Nigeria, of Marine Insurance and Life Assurance Underwriting. In 1959 Braithwaite presided over the meeting of the Nigerian Insurance Consultative Committee that resolved to form the Insurance Institute of Nigeria and was on the steering committee that planned for the launch of the Institute. In 1960 Braithwaite and other Nigerian partners founded the Life Underwriting Company of African Alliance Insurance Company in partnership with the Munich Reinsurance Company.
Sign up to the Connect Nigeria daily newsletter
Braithwaite advised the government of the Western Region of Nigeria in 1960 as a risk consultant when it formed the Great Nigeria Insurance Company. He assisted with setting up other insurance companies including the West African Provincial Company and the African Insurance Company. Between 1963 and 1966 Braithwaite was the first indigenous president of the Insurance Institute of Nigeria (IIN), the insurance industry’s professional association. He was also the first president of the Nigerian Corporation of Insurance Brokers for sixteen years starting in 1963. In 1969 he became an underwriting member of Lloyd’s of London, and from 1 January 1970 started underwriting on the Merrett Syndicate. On 16 November 2000 President Olusegun Obasanjo made him a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

Talabi Braithwaite Personal Life

Talabi was married to Mrs Rosetta Adebisi Braithwaite. She worked briefly in Inland Revenue, then proceeded to London where she read law and was called to Bar in Middle Temple Inn of Court London in February 1959. They had five children and several grandchildren. Talabi died on May 2nd, 2011, in London, UK. His wife died two years later in May 2013. His daughter, Mrs Derin Disu, was a former Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government.

Talabi Braithwaite Awards

He was conferred with a National Award of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2000 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Sources:  Infohub.projecttopics.org Manpower Featured Image Source: Wikipedia
Got a suggestion? Contact us: editor@connectnigeria.com
You might also like:
This article was first published on 12th November 2021

jeremiah

Jeremiah is a scholar and a poet. He has a keen eye for studying the world and is passionate about people. He tweets at @jeremiahaluwong.

Comments (631)

631 thoughts on “Nigerians In History: Talabi Braithwaite”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *