Rugalama, Joseph

Anglican Martyr of the Buganda Kingdom

Rugalama Joseph was the first Anglican martyr in Uganda and is remembered as the youngest of those who died for their faith during Mwanga II’s first reign as Kabaka of Buganda (in present-day Uganda, East Africa). He was executed on January 31, 1885, alongside Serwanga Noah and Kakumba Mark in Busega, Uganda. [1]

Little is known about Rugalama’s early life. He was born in Ankole, southwestern Uganda, and belonged to Bahima, a pastoralist subgroup of the Banyankole people. As a child, he was captured during a slave raid led by Sebwato Nicodemus, then a sub-chief under the Pokino (county chief) of Buddu and brought to Buganda as an enslaved person. He lived there for less than two years before his death.

Buganda’s economy at the time partly depended on the enslavement of captives from neighboring regions. Scottish missionary Alexander M. Mackay, who led the Church Missionary Society (CMS) mission in Uganda, reported that the monarchy sold as many as 2,000 people annually, and Irish missionary Philip O’Flaherty recorded that Kabaka Muteesa I openly acknowledged slavery as central to Buganda’s political economy. [2]

According to missionary and historical records, Sebwato spared Rugalama’s life after rescuing him from another raider who had intended to kill him. This act likely created a bond of trust between them. When Sebwato later sought baptism and was instructed by the CMS to abandon all but one of his wives and renounce his Lubare (spirits and mediums), he sent Rugalama to the CMS mission station at Nateete, Kampala, to live under the care of Rev. Robert P. Ashe. There, Rugalama began his Christian education.

Initially, Rugalama resisted the idea of living with missionaries. He had heard that Bazungu (Europeans) were harsher masters than Baganda were and feared that they might punish him by cutting off his ears—a common practice in Buganda for disobedience. Nevertheless, he went with Sebwato to the mission, where Ashe recorded his first encounter with him: “I remember the first day that he came with his master to our house. He was dressed in ragged bark cloth, but not even rags could make him look common. I was at once struck by his face, so different from the other followers of the chief.” [3]

Ashe soon grew deeply attached to the young boy, describing him as intelligent, gentle, and devout. Rugalama lived with Ashe in the same house and was instructed in reading, praying, and Christian doctrine. Although the exact date of his baptism is unknown—as mission records at Nateete were destroyed in a fire during the persecutions—Ashe consistently referred to him as “Joseph,” suggesting that he had indeed been baptized. The name “Rugalama,” which appears in archives as “Lugulama,” was his surname. Ashe also referred to him as “Mugaju.” [4] Since he was a Munyankole, the name would be written today as Rugalama, beginning with an R rather than an L.

In October 1884, Muteesa I died, and his young son, Mwanga, ascended to the throne. Mwanga’s reign soon turned violent toward Christians. Unlike his father, who had balanced relationships with European missionaries and Muslim traders, Mwanga viewed the growing number of Christian converts—particularly those serving in his court—as a threat to his authority. Although he tolerated the missionaries for their political utility and material benefit, he opposed mass conversions of his subjects.

His suspicion of missionaries deepened within a few months of his coronation. On January 31, 1885, barely four months into his reign, he ordered the execution of Rugalama, Kakumba, and Serwanga. [5] The order was carried out by Mujaasi Kapalaga, one of the leaders of Bambowa (royal guards and executioners). [6] The young converts were accused of joining foreign religious groups that undermined Kabaka’s authority and of plotting to flee with missionaries.

Many other Christians we arrested on that day. Among them was Sarah Nakimu Nalwanga, the wife of Lutamaguzi Henry Wright, a prominent convert who had fled the capital. [7] It is said that when Mujaasi’s men failed to find Lutamaguzi, they arrested his wife instead, accusing her of possessing a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. The captives were paraded through the capital, mocked by crowds who jeered, “Call on your Jesus to save you. Have you not been saying he is the Savior?” [8] Many of them—including Nalwanga—were eventually released through intercession or royal mercy. Rugalama, Serwanga, and Kakumba were not spared.

They were led to Mpiima-Erebera, near a swamp along the River Mayanja in Busega, where they were executed by slow burning. Eyewitness accounts differ slightly in detail, but missionary and oral sources agree that the three young men met their deaths calmly, declaring their faith in Christ to the end. Joseph D. Mullins’ The Wonderful Story of Uganda (1904) records that they sang the Swahili hymn killa siku tuusifu (let us praise each day) as they burned. [9] Ashe, however, denied this detail, explaining that while no singing was heard, the young Christians’ courage and faith were undeniable in their final hours.

In the following months, Mwanga’s government executed additional converts, both Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Later that year, on October 29, 1885, Bishop James Hannington, the first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, was killed in Busoga, reportedly on Mwanga’s orders. On November 15, Balikuddembe Mukasa Joseph was executed at Nakivubo (in present-day Kampala), becoming the first known Roman Catholic Uganda Martyr on record. The persecution intensified through 1886, culminating in mass martyrdom at Namugongo in June.

Rugalama’s death profoundly impacted both missionaries and converts. Ashe, who had cared for him as a son, was devastated. He later visited the site of the martyrdom, guided by Kizza Frederick Wigram—another early convert and one of Mwanga’s Mumbowa (guard), who would himself be executed in 1886. There, they prayed together, thanking God for the courage of the boy who had become Uganda’s first martyr.

The location of Rugalama’s execution remained known among local Christians of the time. On May 22, 1905, twenty years after the event, Bishop Alfred R. Tucker of Uganda, accompanied by the Bishop of Zanzibar and Revd. Ernest Millar consecrated the site as a memorial. [10] A Muslim eyewitness, provided by the Katikkiro (Prime Minister) of Buganda, Sir Apollo Kaggwa, guided them to the location. Some of the martyrs’ remains were retrieved and authenticated by the Bishop of Zanzibar, who held doctorates in both medicine and divinity. [11] Reflecting on the event, Tucker declared: “An interval of twenty years and some sixty thousand souls are numbered today in the Church of Uganda. Verily, the seed sown has brought forth its fruit sixty and a hundredfold to the glory of God. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” [12]

By the time of the memorial, the Anglican Church in Uganda had grown dramatically, with thousands of converts and indigenous teachers, including Rev. Apollo Kivebulaya, spreading the Christian faith across the region. The story of Rugalama Joseph—an enslaved boy who found freedom and faith, only to lose his life for it—remains one of the foundational narratives of the growth of the Church of Uganda and of African Christianity more broadly.

Kimeze Teketwe

Notes:

1. The Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 14, issue 164 (1887), p. 88. London: Church Missionary Society. Available through Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
2. Robert P. Ashe, Two Kings of Uganda (London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1890), p. 125.
3. Joseph D. Mullins, The Wonderful Story of Uganda: To Which Is Added the Story of Ham Mukasa, Told by Himself (London: Church Missionary Society, 1904), p. 27.
4. Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 27, issue 319 (1902), p. 512.
5. The Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 28 (1903), p. 525.
6. The Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 30 (1905), p. 668.
7. The Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 30 (1905), p. 670.
8. The Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 32, issue 381 (1905), p. 139.
9. The Church Missionary Review, vol. 64 (1913), p. 389. London: Church Missionary Society. Available through Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
10. Eastward Ho!, vol. 37 (1927), p. 11. London: Church Missionary Society. Available through Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
11. The Church Missionary Outlook, vol. 54 (1927), p. 14. London: Church Missionary Society. Available through Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
12. Joseph Dennis Mullins and Ham Mukasa, The Wonderful Story of Uganda (London: Church Missionary Society, 1904), p. 32.

Sources:

Ashe, Robert P. Two Kings of Uganda. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1890.

Church Missionary Society Periodicals – Adam Matthew Digital. Accessed May 28, 2023. (https://www.churchmissionarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/)[https://www.churchmissionarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/].

Faupel, John Francis. African Holocaust. New York: P. J. Kenedy, 1962.

Padwick, Constance E. Mackay of the Great Lake. London: H. Milford, 1918.

Mullins, Joseph Dennis, and Ham Mukasa. The Wonderful Story of Uganda. London: Church Missionary Society, 1904.

Stock, Eugene. The History of the Church Missionary Society. Vol. 3 of 4 vols. London: Church Missionary Society, 1899.

Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. London: Religious Tract Society, 1892.

Taylor, John Vernon. The Growth of the Church in Buganda: An Attempt at Understanding. London: T. & A. Constable Ltd., 1958.

Tucker, Alfred R. Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa. London: Edward Arnold, 1908.

This biography, submitted in October 2025, was researched and written by Kimeze Teketwe, an international education professional and historian of early colonial religious movements in East Africa. Originally from Uganda, East Africa, Teketwe holds graduate degrees in Missiology and International Educational Development from Fuller Theological Seminary and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.