Hesse family

The Hesse family (/ˈhɛsə/)[1] is a Ghanaian family of Danish and German origins.[2] The progenitor of the family was Dr. Lebrecht Wilhelm Hesse, a German medical doctor and a subject of the Danish Crown under King Christian VII. Hesse was an employee of the Danish Missionary Society. After qualifying as a surgeon, he sailed to the Gold Coast as a young bachelor in the late 1700s to treat Danish missionaries, civil servants and garrison soldiers stationed at the Christiansborg Castle, now called the Osu Castle.[3] He married a local Ga woman from Osu Amantra in Accra.[3]

This article is about the Hesse family of Accra, Ghana. For the European dynasty, see House of Hesse.

Hesse family
Current region	Accra, Ghana
Place of origin	Denmark Germany
Founded	18th century in Osu, Accra
Founder	Lebrecht Wilhelm Hesse
Members	Regina Hesse L. J. Chinery-Hesse Chris Tsui Hesse L. W. Fifi Hesse Virginia Hesse Adukwei Hesse Herman Chinery-Hesse
Connected members	Mary Chinery-Hesse Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse
Connected families	Clerk family
Distinctions	broadcast journalism cinematography civil service diplomacy education filmmaking law medicine ministry public administration technology entrepreneurship trade
Traditions	Presbyterian

During the nineteenth century, the Euro-Ga descendants of Dr. L. W. Hesse were influential in commerce in the Gold Coast colony. Family members later branched into other occupations, becoming bureaucrats and ministers.[3] Additionally, the Hesse family is directly related to the Clerk family through Dr. Hesse's granddaughter, Pauline Hesse (1831–1909), a trader who was married to Alexander Worthy Clerk (1820–1906), a Jamaican Moravian teacher.[4] Clerk was among 24 individuals from the West Indies recruited by the Basel Mission of Switzerland in 1843 and sent to Ghana to establish Protestant churches and schools.[3]

Notable members

• Herman Chinery-Hesse (born 1963), technology entrepreneur and founder of theSOFTribe
• L. J. Chinery-Hesse (1930–2018), parliamentary draftsman, Solicitor-General and Acting Attorney General (1979)
• Mary Chinery-Hesse, international civil servant and diplomat, first woman Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon
• Adukwei Hesse, physician-academic, tuberculosis control expert, prison reform advocate and Presbyterian minister[5][6][7][8][9][10]
• Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse, First Ghanaian woman to train as a paediatric surgeon
• Chris Tsui Hesse (born 1932), cinematographer, filmmaker, prison reform campaigner and Presbyterian minister
• L. W. Fifi Hesse (1934–2000), First black African Rhodes Scholar, Director-General, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), 1972–1974; 1984–1988 and Member, Public Services Commission of Ghana[11][12][13][14][15][16]
• Regina Hesse (1832–1898), pioneer woman educator-administrator in colonial Ghana[3]
• Virginia Hesse (born 1944), civil servant and commercial officer at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ambassador of Ghana to the Czech Republic (2017–present)[17][18][19]

See also

• Gold Coast Euro-Africans

References

1. "Definition of HESSE". merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
2. "Hesse Family Tree". familytreenow.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
3. Sill, Ulrike (2010). Encounters in Quest of Christian Womanhood: The Basel Mission in Pre- and Early Colonial Ghana. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-18888-4.
4. Kingdon, Zachary (21 February 2019). Ethnographic Collecting and African Agency in Early Colonial West Africa: A Study of Trans-Imperial Cultural Flows. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781501337949.
5. "Adukwei Hesse, BSc MB ChB (UG), MRCP (UK), PhD (Birm), FGCP". ResearchGate.
6. "Executive Healthcare & Consult: Our Consultants". executivehealthcaregh.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
7. "Rev. Prof. Adukwei Hesse". Prison Ministry of Ghana. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
8. "Prof Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital tells youth, "Do not procrastinate."". Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
9. "Bridging doctor- population ratio – Accra College of Medicine to our rescue". myjoyonline.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
10. "Joy FM's Personality Profile : Prof. Afua Hesse, Korle-Bu CEO talks about love". Modern Ghana. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
11. Burial memorial and thanksgiving service for the late Mr. L.W. Fifi Hesse, aged 65, member, Public Services Commission, at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu, on Saturday, 18th November, 2000, at 10.00 A.M. : burial at Basel Mission Cemetery, Osu. Osu, Ghana: [Legendesignhouse. 2000.
12. Burial Memorial and Thanksgiving Service for the Late Mr. L.W. Fifi Hesse, Aged 65, Member, Public Services Commission, at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu, on Saturday, 18th November, 2000, at 10.00 A.M.: Burial at Basel Mission Cemetery, Osu. Legendesignhouse. 2000.
13. Ghartey-Tagoe, David Kwesi (28 July 2010). David Ghartey-Tagoe: A Broadcast Icon. Xlibris Corporation. p. 126. ISBN 9781453542071.
14. Clegg, Sam (7 November 1988). Daily Graphic: Issue 11811, November 7 1988. Graphic Communications Group.
15. Uncategorized, admin in. "MAYA ANGELOU R.I.P. – Cameron Duodu". Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
16. "Goodbye, Comrade Vc By Cameron Duodu". Modern Ghana. 23 December 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
17. "Akufo-Addo's alleged 'baby-mama' runs away – Report". ghanaweb.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
18. "The Diplomatic Breakfast – Meeting with Her Excellency Virginia Hesse, Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana in Prague : Czech – Ghanaian Chamber of Commerce (CGCC)". ghanatrade.cz. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
19. "Staff – Ghana Embassy Prague". ghanaembassy.cz. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2019.