Biography

DR. REGINALD HAWORTH ELEADY-COLE
1929-1997

Reginald Haworth Eleady-Cole was born on the 2nd of January 1929, to George and Rebecca Eleady-Cole. He was the youngest child of his parents who had made their home in central Freetown, after building successful commercial enterprises in the city. The Eleady-Coles were a highly respected family with a reputation for Christian charity which they displaced across all sections of the Sierra Leone Community. This generous spirit and kindness towards those less fortunate than themselves was nurtured in their children and blended with the social graces and moral tenets valued in the decades preceding independence.

Though brought up more privileged than most of his childhood friends, he kept a humble presence, moving among, with, and around companions from diverse streams of tribe and class. But he showed great talent beyond his age and environment, and kept the sparks of high intellect flying well into his early prime. Most of his friends called him “Reggie”. Those closer to him call him “Dede” – a title they believe conveyed his dapper and dandy lifestyle and his characteristic swaying gait. He loved sports, and played some. Tennis was his passion; cricket came next. But all these were field games and kept him firmly on dry ground, since in these youthful years, he used to dread the water’s edge, though nursing secretly the wish to ride the billows like most swimmers do. So once, his friends, all swimmers from school, enticed him to the sea for a dip. They chose a stretch of coast where the kroo Bay waters wash the sea walls protecting the Prince of Wales School at King Tom. But when the waves beat upon the diving planks, he panicked; and in disparate haste yelled out for help offering a reward in cash to anyone who would save him. His friends saved him without claiming their reward, but he was never able to live down that episode ever. That reaction and others in his early years showed that he wanted to take no risks, which would ruin his chances of achieving his ultimate academic and professional ambition.

Reggie was an all round academic, who was at ease, with any subject. He was attracted to cultural pursuits. He joined social clubs, libraries, drama and music clubs. He sang in choir, organized choral groups, and debating groups which met anytime it was convenient to congregate at church steps and every outdoor venue where youthful energies could safely find intellectual release. The disciplined and rigorous training he received in the liberal arts at the Methodist Boys High School, where he became head boy and the foundation he was given in the sciences at the Prince Of Wales School, both in Freetown, satisfied some of his restiveness for learning.

However, Sierra Leone in the early fifties did not have opportunities for higher education in disciplines outside of theology and the humanities. Ambitious young thus had to seek opportunities abroad for professional training in other fields. Reggie had developed an interest in Medicine since transferring from the Methodist Boys High School to the Prince Of Wales School. He won a government scholarship to Caius College Cambridge, where he took the degrees of MA MB BChir. A pattern of achievement was set, with honours following honours like waves in quick succession up to his attainment of the rank of the Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh). He became consultant Physician and built an enviable reputation in cardiology.

His career spanned three decades and more, holding appointments as Senior Consultant, Connaught Hospital, Freetown, and Physician to several Presidents and Prelates. By the Nature of the man and his practice, he was Physician to artisans, labourers and all who could reach him. Many could not. So a system of flying service was initiated to transport him to threat critical cases in emergencies all over the country where his skill was indispensable. He won the state honour of Order of the Republic for distinguished service to the nation in the field of medicine.

Service and success did bring him joy, yet he was given little back for his sacrifices. He gave others happiness, sincerity of friendship, concern for their distress and help to those who could not pay for his services. Even in the midst of fierce fighting during the civil conflict, which engulfed the country, he was always willing to risk his life to attend to causalities in high risk areas. Sadly, the continuing insecurity and threats to his life forced him to seek sanctuary outside the country. Unfortunately, during his escape, he fell ill… Incredibly though it may sound, Reggie, in his state of ill health still had the tenderness of heart to dispense away to others the only drugs he had that could cure him. To him the responsibility to care for others was more important than any selfish concern for himself. That is the quality of the sacrifice, which made Reggie Haworth Eleady-Cole so uncommon among men.

If there must be an epitaph to his memory, none can be more fitting than that, which says,

“There never was a doctor so compassionate and Kind”
Reginald Haworth Eleady-Cole, an endearing example

(written in October 1997 by a close friend)