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Clara Nalumansi: The Ugandan Female Martyr

Clara Nalumansi is recognized as one of the Ugandan female martyrs. She was part of the group of Ugandans who were persecuted for their Christian faith during the reign of Kabaka Mwanga II in the late 19th century. Clara Nalumansi was a convert to Christianity and displayed immense courage and faith in the face of persecution. She was executed for her refusal to renounce her Christian faith, making her one of the female martyrs of Uganda. Her story is less well-known compared to some of the other martyrs, but she is remembered and honored for her steadfast commitment to her faith.

History About Clara Nalumansi, The Ugandan Female Martyr

The history of Clara Nalumansi, one of the Ugandan martyrs, is not as widely documented as those of her male counterparts, such as Charles Lwanga or Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe. However, she is remembered for her faith and courage during the period of persecution of Christians in the Kingdom of Buganda under Kabaka Mwanga II.

Clara Nalumansi lived during a time of significant religious conflict in Buganda in the late 19th century. The kingdom was undergoing social and political changes, with the arrival of Christian missionaries challenging traditional religious beliefs and practices.

The first member of Buganda’s royal family to convert to Christianity was Nalumansi Clara who was a daughter of Nagaddya and Muteesa I. Nalumansi Clara was baptized with five of her maids on September 23, 1883 by Rev. Philip O’Flaherty at Nateete.

Nalumansi’s baptism in 1883 was separated by a little over a year from the first Anglican baptism in Uganda on March 18, 1882, also performed by the Irish missionary O’Flaherty. Concerning Nalumansi’s baptism, O’Flaherty journaled on October 31, 1883, as thus: “In my last [letter], written on September 13, I mentioned [to you] the case of the princess and her maids who were under instruction. I now write a line to say that she is added to the church with five others who have been for some time under instruction.”

Nalumansi’s father had played a very big role in the arrival of Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in his kingdom in 1877, who were followed by Roman Catholics belonging to the White Fathers missionary group in 1879. Though both hoped to convert him, it never happened, as he remained a traditionalist. However, he encouraged his children to participate in their activities, and while some, like Mwanga II, quickly lost interest, others like Nalumansi, became Christians.

The British historian Sir John Milner Gray claims she was a Muslim before her conversion to Protestantism, but there is no record in support of his claim. It cannot be ruled out, given that her father June 1879 had decreed Islam as the state religion of Buganda. Following the proclamation, many Baganda mainly members of the royal family converted to Islam. Muteesa himself came close to conversion, only to be stopped by a Ganda custom forbidding a Kabaka from intentionally shedding blood, which happens through circumcision.

Nalumansi being a daughter of the Kabaka, she was mostly addressed as *Omumbejja * [princesses], which is the case for Buganda princes [Balangira]. The name Clara or Kalala, is the name she received when she switched to Roman Catholicism in 1885, taken from Saint Clare of Assisi. Claras baptism name was lost due to a fire that destroyed church records at Nateete during Mwanga’s reign and her cultural title likely overshadowed all other names during her time.

She has also been cited as a Naalinya [Queen Sister]. If this was the case, she was Mwanga’s, both becoming successors of their father’s throne as Kabaka of Buganda on October 10, 1884.

Unlike most Christian converts at the time, Nalumansi did not spend much time at the mission station. Her role as a Naalinya may have been one reason and the absence of women missionaries at the station. No female missionaries had ever set foot in Buganda, making it difficult for women to participate as well as men in missionary activities. Yet, wherever she was, she remained a useful asset to the Anglican and Roman Catholic missions.

In early November, following the murder of James Hannington on October 29, 1885, Nalumansi sent a message to CMS missionaries, alerting them that Mwanga’s mood had shifted and there was an opportunity for them to make peace with him if they tried. Hannington, the first bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, was killed in southern Busoga on purportedly the orders of Mwanga as he was making his way to Buganda. When they received information that the bishop’s life was in danger, possibly from Nalumansi, they could not convey it to his party in time to save him.

About this time, she fell in love with Kaddu Joseph a Catholic convert, with whom they soon wed according to Catholic tradition. In the tradition setting, Abambejja [princesses] were customarily forbidden from getting married in Buganda, but for different reasons, the custom had relaxed during her father’s reign allowing Nalumansi to get married. However, she had to convert to her prospective husband’s faith for them to be wed, which she did. Her relationship with the Anglican mission was not affected, even after switching to Roman Catholicism and marriage.

The Death of Nalumansi Clara, The Ugandan Female Martyr

In 1888, Nalumansi was killed. While there is certainty about the year she died, the same cannot be said of the month or why she was killed. Buganda was ruled by an unprecedented three Kabakas in 1888, which makes it more complicate to identify who ordered her killing or the reason she was killed.

The first account says she was killed at the tail end of Mwanga’s first reign. Shortly after she married Kaddu, she was appointed to a cultural position as keeper of SseKabaka [Dead king] Jjunju’s tomb. Her first act in this role was to burn all amulets, charms, and relics at the tomb, arguing she was a Christian who did not believe in such evil practices. This was followed by shredding to pieces her umbilical cord and throwing it away, undermining a long-held custom of having umbilical cords of children safely stored. If these two acts did not infuriate Baganda traditionalists enough, her next action sure did.

On December 17, 1887, she gave orders to send away a giant ivory tusk that her grandfather, SseKabaka Ssuuna, had dedicated to the Ganda god Mukasa. This act did not go down well with his brother, Mwanga when he got the information. Nalumansi was subsequently shot dead by an unidentified person in August 1888 purportedly on Mwanga’s order. Her mother claimed afterward that her daughter was killed because of her faith. Incidentally, Mwanga’s first reign as Kabaka of Buganda abruptly ended in the same month when Christians and Muslims deposed him and replaced him with SseKabaka Kiweewa.

The other account says SseKabaka Kalema killed her and not Mwanga. This would be in 1888 or 1889 since Kalema seized the throne on October 21 and was dethroned before the end of the following year. Christians whom Mwanga had persecuted throughout his first reign joined forces with Muslims to dethrone him in 1888 thus sending him into exile. They installed his customarily unqualified elder brother Kiweewa as a Kabaka afterward. Even after they distributed leadership positions amongst themselves, the alliance soon collapsed, with Muslims winning the contest and driving Christians into exile in Kabula (in present-day Lyantonde district, Uganda). Kiweewa was killed in the process, as Muslims, assisted by Zanzibari-Arabs thus installed Kalema as Kabaka of Buganda.

Kalema immediately embarked on a campaign to remove Christians and Baganda royals from Buganda, seeing them as a threat to his throne. A letter sent to Alexander M. Mackay, Mwanga pointed to some of Kalema’s atrocities as thus: “Consider how Kalema has killed all my brothers and sisters; he has killed my children too and now there remain only [we] two princes [Kalema and himself],” Mwanga wrote. “Mr. Mackay, do help me,” he added.

Kalema’s victims fell into primarily two categories – Christians and Baganda royals. Nalumansi was both.

In 1888, propaganda was all-over on how the missionaries planned to install a woman as Kabaka if they got a chance so Buganda could be like England, where Queen Victoria reigned. Buganda had never been ruled by a woman thus making the idea of a female Kabaka incomprehensible to many a Muganda, even though as a Naalinya she was a Kabaka in her own right. As the Mumbejja [princess] most associated with Catholic and Protestant missions, this propaganda made her a prime target.

Nalumansi was likely killed under Kalema’s reign for cultural-political and religious reasons. While Mwanga disliked Christians, there is little historical evidence he ordered the killing of women or children and no evidence of executing blood relatives. He saved Sarah Nakimu Nalwanga from being killed with the so-called first Uganda Martyrs after finding out they were distant relatives. Nalumansi was her Naalinya.