In early twentieth-century Lagos, when the city was evolving from a colonial trading hub into a cosmopolitan capital, a remarkable civic initiative emerged in the heart of Idumota. The Tom Jones Memorial Hall and Library, long associated with No. 80 Victoria Street (today Nnamdi Azikiwe Street), became one of the earliest dedicated spaces for learning and civic gathering in Nigeria.
At a time when formal education and reading were still largely missionary-driven, this privately endowed facility represented a rare act of local philanthropy, the vision of Thomas “Tom” Jones, a Lagos merchant whose 1913 bequest sought to advance education, community life, and civic progress in his city.
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Origins and the 1913 Bequest
Thomas Jones lived during a transformative era in Lagos’s history, when African merchants and professionals were beginning to invest in public causes. Before his death in 1913, Jones made provisions in his will for the establishment of a memorial hall and reading room. His trustees carried out these wishes, and by the late 1910s, the Tom Jones Memorial Hall and Library had been established on Victoria Street.
Archival mentions in colonial municipal records and later directories confirm the building’s dual purpose: a public hall for meetings and events, and a library offering reading access to the educated public. Though modest in scale, the project reflected a civic ideal, that literacy and dialogue were foundations of a modern African city.
Early Library Culture in Colonial Lagos
The Tom Jones Library occupies a significant place in the evolution of Nigeria’s library system. According to research from the University of Lagos and the U.S. Department of Education’s ERIC archives (1971), the hall was among Lagos’s earliest organised reading facilities, operating on a subscription basis.
Readers paid small fees to borrow or consult books, a model similar to that of contemporary reading societies in British West Africa. While not a “public library” in the modern sense, it prefigured the later Lagos Library (1932), which also began as a subscription service funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation.
This continuity shows that Jones’s initiative helped seed a reading culture that bridged the colonial and postcolonial eras, combining private philanthropy, local initiative, and public benefit.
Civic Role and Urban Identity
Beyond its role as a reading space, the Tom Jones Memorial Hall became a civic and social hub. Lagos newspapers and municipal reports from the 1930s to the 1950s reference the hall as a venue for community meetings, lectures, and cultural events, reflecting the rise of civic engagement on Lagos Island.
Architecturally, period photographs, depict a three-storey structure typical of early twentieth-century Lagos architecture: Afro-Brazilian influences combined with colonial design. Situated in the busy Idumota district, it stood as a visible symbol of Lagos’s emerging urban modernity.
Through these functions, the building embodied the vision that education and civic life should coexist, an idea that would later define Nigeria’s postcolonial approach to public institutions.
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Trusteeship, Decline, and Redevelopment
The hall continued to serve the community for decades. However, by the late twentieth century, it had fallen into disrepair.
During the administration of Colonel Mohammed Buba Marwa (1996–1999), the Lagos State Government revived the Tom Jones Memorial Hall Trustees, acknowledging the site’s historical significance. Reports from 1997 in Lagos State archives mention plans for rehabilitation and redevelopment to restore its civic and educational role.
While the full project faced logistical hurdles and was never fully realised, these efforts underscored official recognition of the site’s cultural and historical importance.
Clarifying the Historical Record
Several misconceptions have surrounded Tom Jones’s legacy. One common claim is that he was the first Nigerian to drive a car, a distinction actually belonging to Herbert Macaulay, the nationalist and civil engineer. While Jones may have owned a car early on, no primary evidence confirms he was the first.
Similarly, it is sometimes stated that the Tom Jones Library was Nigeria’s first public library. In truth, it was a semi-private, subscription-based facility. Nevertheless, it represented one of the earliest organised reading environments in Nigeria, an essential precursor to later state-supported public libraries.
Legacy and Contemporary Relevance
More than a century after Jones’s death, the Tom Jones Memorial Hall and Library remains part of Lagos’s architectural and civic heritage. The building continues to appear in city directories, archives, and photographic collections, testifying to its endurance as both a landmark and a legacy of civic philanthropy.
Jones’s foresight anticipated modern ideas about access to knowledge as a public good. His bequest demonstrated that education was not solely the preserve of missionaries or colonial administrators, it could be driven by local visionaries who saw learning as key to civic development.
The hall’s survival, amid the rapid transformation of Lagos Island, reminds today’s residents that urban progress depends not only on government planning but also on the generosity and imagination of citizens.
Author’s Note
The story of the Tom Jones Memorial Hall and Library captures a defining moment in Lagos’s history, when private initiative and public purpose converged to create a civic institution rooted in education and community. Thomas Jones’s 1913 bequest turned personal wealth into collective opportunity, giving Lagos one of its first spaces where learning met public life. Though the man himself remains partly shadowed by time, his vision endures in the fabric of Lagos’s civic identity: a testament to the power of philanthropy, knowledge, and community spirit in shaping Nigeria’s early modern city.
References:
U.S. Department of Education Archive – Development of Libraries in Africa, ERIC Document ED053768 (1971).
University of Lagos Institutional Repository – The Development of Libraries in Nigeria: Historical Overview (2020).
Archivi Nigeria Digital Collection – Trusteeship of the Tom Jones Memorial Hall and Library, Lagos (retrieved 1997).
Lagos State Historical Records Office – Press summaries on rehabilitation of civic buildings, 1997.
Azikiwe Street, Lagos Island (photographic record).
