Walukagga Noah.
Walukagga Noah was martyred on June 3, 1886, in Namugongo, Uganda. There are conflicting reports on the place of his execution, as Mullins and Mukasa say Munyonyo, while religious historians John Vernon Taylor and John Francis Faupel claim Namugongo. Though the first two authors are writing much earlier, Walukagga likely met his heroic death at Namugongo, the current site of the Uganda Martyrs Shrine.
Though there are conflicting reports about the place of his death, we are certain about how he died. In the words of Robert P. Ashe, one of three English missionaries in Uganda at the time, “A mighty pyre was heaped on him and about thirty other Christian captives. Each firmly bound, a burning brand was brought, and soon, the consuming fire enfolded this company of saints, of whom the world was not worthy.”
A member of the Kasimba (Genet) clan in Buganda’s clan system, his name appears in historical records as mostly Walukaga but has orthographically evolved to a strong last syllable. I am flagging Malukaga in two foremost primary sources — the Church Missionary Gleaner of December 1886 and the Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record of the same month and year — as a misrepresentation. His baptismal name was Noe within the Catholic quarters, which spoke French. Nua and Nuwa were all attempts to localize the English version — Noah. According to Faupel, he also went by the name Muwanga or Omuwanga, though he doubts it was his name. It requires more research, but the name might be related to his vocation as a blacksmith. Muwanga remains a popular name in Buganda today.
Walukagga first met Alexander M. Mackay, the de facto head of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Uganda, during the burial of Namasole (queen mother) Muganzirwazza in 1882. Deciding to anglicize his stepmother’s burial arrangements, Muteesa I appointed the Scot to helm the project. He was then introduced to the kabaka’s (king) chief blacksmith as the work involved metalwork. A relationship between the two men ensued as Walukagga began to regularly visit the mission station at Nateete, asking one time why Mackay had taken such a long time to tell him about Christianity. In his book Two Kings of Uganda, Ashe, who arrived in Uganda on May 2, 1883, remarks that he had known of few intelligent Africans as Walukagga (203).
Consequently, he was baptized an Anglican/Protestant on September 21, 1884, barely a month before the death of Muteesa, who elevated him to the position of chief blacksmith. Unlike most Christian converts of this period, who tended to be mostly young boys either from the training program of Bagalagala (under training to take up chiefly roles in the future) or pages in services of the kabaka and chiefs, Walukagga was an established person with a respected job and household when he became a Christian. When Mwanga assumed the throne as kabaka in October 1884, he continued in this position but began drifting away from it the following year as the kabaka’s dislike of Christianity took a different turn.
A resident of Kasengejje (in the present-day Wakiso district), Walukagga kept a big household and lived in a community that soon transformed into a hub for Christian activities. Mukasa later baptized Musa [Moses] and lived with him until his martyrdom. Bekokoto Shem, one of the first twelve elders of what is now the Church of Uganda and martyred in 1886, lived with him too.
Walukagga was also a neighbor of Mayanja, the keeper of ssekabaka (dead king) Kamanya’s tomb, whose household produced two (of the first five) Protestants in Uganda — Sembera Mackay and Buuza-abali-awo Henry Wright — both baptized on March 18, 1882. Mayanja himself was shortly afterward baptized Isaya from the biblical character Isaiah.
In July 1885, the CMS — feeling the pressure of persecution which had drawn its first blood on January 31, 1885 — decided to form a church council in hopes it would carry forward the work they had begun if Mwanga decided to expel them from Uganda or were killed. The council would be composed of twelve Christians elected by their peers. This council, though formed in response to persecution, represented the first act of localization of the Anglican province of Uganda. Walukagga, a Christian for less than a year, was the only member elected without a dissenting vote.
Like many of his colleagues, Walukagga did not see a problem with being both a Muganda (a single person from Buganda) and a Christian, but the authorities at Lubaga — still the seat of the Buganda kingdom — did not share the view. On October 29, 1885, James Hannington — traveling to Uganda as the first bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa (including Uganda), was killed in Busoga on purportedly the orders of Mwanga. While Hannington was killed in a neighboring state, the killing of Christians in Buganda was increasing, as during this time, Walukagga’s house was a haven for children and women from the mission station who thought they were next in line of death after the bishop (Church Missionary Gleaner of December 1886, 140).
Interestingly, as Mwanga’s resolve against Christianity hardened, Christianity grew as chiefs and peasants continued to seek baptism. Gabunga — the Buganda admiral, was baptized at Walukagga’s home by Ashe as it was sometimes unsafe to do so at Nateete. Kayizzi Jonathan, Uganda’s first Anglican priest, was baptized in 1886, and so was Lumonde Ada, who became a member of the first women’s council of elders in 1887. Many prominent Christians also scattered to different parts of Buganda for fear of being killed. Lutamaguzi Henry Wright, a church council member and called “the leading Muganda Christian” by Eugene Stock, author of the authorized history of the Church Missionary Society, frequently fled to Bulemeezi and, on one occasion, adopted the name Kitakule to disguise himself.
Walukagga was a target of death but never fled nor sought until mid-1886. He was determined to “kuwoza musango” as pleading a case was known then if he was arrested. And if he lost the musango (charge), he was still determined to stand his ground, even if it meant death.
“The king will hate us, he will kill us, we know it, and probably you will be afraid to teach others the Word of Christ; therefore, we are anxious to encourage you all in the case of our death. If you find anyone who wants to learn to read and be taught about Jesus Christ, teach them. Don’t be afraid of being put to death (Church Missionary Intelligencer of July 1893, 511).”
R. H. Walker, the first Archdeacon of the Church of Uganda, obtained the above message from Sematimba Mika, a Christian convert with whom he traveled to England in 1892 and a translator named Yusufu [Joseph] while inquiring into the lives of Walukagga Noah, Kizza Frederick Wigram, and Kizza Frederick Wigram.
Walukagga was seized at his house in the days leading up to June or the first two days of June 1886. He was expecting the kabaka’s men to come looking for him, so he sent away his wife, Hannah, and the rest of the household fled in advance, leaving only him behind. He still wanted to kuwoza musango if any was brought against him, but some have also argued that seeing himself as a leader of Christians, fleeing would have sent the wrong message to other Christians and prospective Christians. He was subsequently taken to the capital and charged with being “disloyal to the kabakaship and sedition” when he became a Christian. But rather than be presented to a tribunal to kuwoza (argue) his case as was custom, he was summarily sentenced to death by burning.
He reportedly asked the men who ‘roasted’ him to accept Christ.
Bibliography
Ashe, Robert P. Two Kings of Uganda. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1890.
Faupel, John Francis. African Holocaust. New York: P. J. Kenedy, 1962.
Harrison, J. W. The Story of the Life of Mackay of Uganda. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1892.
Mullins, Joseph Dennis. The Wonderful Story of Uganda. London: Church Missionary Society, 1904.
Stock, Eugene. The History of the Church Missionary Society. London: Church Missionary Society, 1899.
Taylor, John V. The Growth of the Church in Buganda: An Attempt at Understanding. London: SCM Press, 1979.
