A. G. Forman

A. G. Forman
Allegiance	United Kingdom Ghana
Service/branch	Royal Navy Ghana Navy
Rank	Commodore
Commands held	Chief of Naval Staff

Archibald George Forman CBE (1910-1967) was a British naval officer who became the first Chief of Naval Staff of the Ghana Navy.^[1][2]

Ghana Navy service

Forman was born in Brentford on 20 June 1910.^[3][4] An acting sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy aged 17, he became a sub-lieutenant in 1931, and lieutenant in 1933. He became Lieutenant Commander at the start of 1941, was mentioned in dispatches in 1942, and became a Commander at the close of 1943. In 1950 he was made Commodore. Retiring from active Navy service in July 1959,^[5] he was seconded to the newly created Ghana Navy. Kwame Nkrumah, then the Ghana president, granted him a presidential commission as a Ghana naval officer with the rank of Commodore and appointed him Chief of Naval Staff.^[6] This was after the navy had been established in 1959.^[7]

After Nkrumah assumed the title of Supreme Commander in September, he replaced Commodore Forman with Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Hansen.^[8] As Captain A. G. Forman he received a CBE in 1962.^[9][10]

References

1. Jack Woddis (1961). Africa, the lion awakes. Lawrence & Wishart. p. 207. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
2. His name is given as D. A. Foreman in Festus Boahen Aboagye (1999). The Ghana Army: A Concise Contemporary Guide to Its Centennial Regimental History, 1897-1999. Sedco. p. 345. ISBN 978-9964-72-075-9. Retrieved 11 March 2013. This is also the name given on the website of the Ghana Armed Forces website. "Past Chiefs of Naval Staff". Official website. Ghana Armed Forces. 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2010-03-17. Another book gives his surname as Forman, but only ascribes him initials in a list in which 'D. A. Forman' precedes 'D. A. Hansen': S. Kojo Addae (2005). A Short History of Ghana Armed Forces. Ministry of Defence of Ghana Armed Forces. ISBN 978-9988-8335-1-0. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
3. ADM 196/151/51, The National Archives
4. BMD
5. Cdr. Archibald George Forman of the Royal Navy
6. "The Security Services" (PDF). National Reconciliation Commission Report Volume 4 Chapter 1. Ghana government. October 2004. pp. 3 & 4. Archived from the original (pdf) on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
7. "Historical Background of The Ghana Navy". Official website. Ghana Armed Forces. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
8. 'Gen. Alexander leaves Ghana: changes in high command', The Times, 26 September 1961.
9. 'The Birthday Honours', The Times, 2 June 1962.
10. Supplement to the London Gazette, 2 June 1962, p.4311