Serwanga, Noah

Anglican Martyr of the Buganda Kingdom

Serwanga Noah is remembered as one of the Uganda Martyrs, executed at Mpiima-Erebera in Busega, Uganda, on January 31, 1885. At only nineteen years old, he was the first to be executed, along with Kakumba Mark and Rugalama Joseph. His death marked the beginning of the persecution that claimed many lives and played a crucial role in shaping the spiritual roots of Christianity in Uganda and East Africa.

Serwanga’s surname indicates that he was part of the Nkima (black-and-white colobus monkey) clan in Buganda, one of the main social groups in Ganda society with its own unique lineage traditions and social duties in the kingdom. His baptismal name, Noah, was taken from the Old Testament patriarch known for faithfulness and endurance—a fitting name for a young convert who would later face death for his beliefs.

Robert Ashe, an English missionary with the Church Missionary Society (CMS), baptized Serwanga on December 25, 1883. Fifteen other Ugandans were baptized that day, which also marked the first Christmas celebrated among Anglican converts in Uganda. Ashe later described Serwanga as “a tall and likable lad,” reflecting his admiration for the young man’s character and promise. [1]

Little is known about Serwanga’s early life or family background, except that his father was named Wambuzi. Ironically, historical sources suggest that Wambuzi was one of Ssekabaka (deceased king) Mwanga II’s executioners and may have participated in the killing of his own son—a tragic detail that highlights the profound social divisions that Christianity caused within Buganda’s kinship networks. [2]

The date of his baptism makes him one of the earliest Anglican converts in Uganda, since the CMS performed its first baptism on March 18, 1882. These early years were characterized by optimism and uncertainty, as missionaries sought to establish a local church amid the shifting political landscape at Ssekabaka Muteesa I’s court.

However, the year 1884 was a pivotal moment in the growth of Christianity in Buganda. In October, Muteesa—who had welcomed European missionaries and permitted them to operate in his kingdom—died. His death led to the first reign of his nineteen-year-old son, Mwanga, whose views on Christianity differed from his father’s. Although he initially tolerated their presence and even invited Roman Catholic missionaries who had retreated to Bukumbi (in present-day Tanzania) back to Buganda, his suspicion grew as more of his subjects converted.

Despite rising hostility, many young men at the royal court still sought Christian instruction and baptism. For converts like Serwanga, loyalty to the new faith increasingly clashed with royal authority. Mwanga’s resentment soon peaked.

On January 30, 1885, he ordered his royal guards (Bambowa) to attack the CMS mission station at Nateete (in present-day Kampala, Uganda) and arrest anyone his subjects found there. [3] Rumors had spread that missionaries planned to escape Buganda and take their converts with them, which Mwanga considered unacceptable. Among those captured was Serwanga. He was brought before the royal court and charged with disobedience and “looking in the mouth of the Kabaka,” a Luganda idiom meaning insolence or defiance.

During the trial, several converts recanted or were released because relatives or sympathetic chiefs intervened. The CMS missionary Alexander Mackay managed to ransom one convert, known only as Sambo, who was freed on the afternoon of January 31, 1885. [4] Others, such as a woman named Nakimu Nalwanga Sarah—tried with her infant son—were spared after family ties to the kabaka were discovered. [5]

In the end, only three converts—Serwanga, Kakumba, and Rugalama—were sentenced to death. [6] On January 31, 1885, they were taken to Mpiima-Erebera, a public execution site in Busega near the River Mayanja. [7] There, Mujaasi Kapalaga, one of the royal executioners, mocked them, saying that if Christ were truly powerful, he should come and save them. [8]

Before the fire was lit, Serwanga was decapitated, and his body was thrown into the flames. [9] Mwanga is said to have ordered that their remains be dismembered and displayed throughout the capital as a warning to others, although it remains uncertain whether this order was carried out.

News of Serwanga’s martyrdom rapidly spread to England, where it deeply moved Christians following the mission’s progress in Uganda. Hymns, poems, and prayers were composed in honor of the martyrs, and their bravery became a lasting symbol of African Christian resilience. [10]

There are different accounts of when Serwanga and colleagues sang the hymn Killa siku tuusifu (“Let us praise daily”). [11] Joseph Mullins, in The Wonderful Story of Uganda (1904), stated that they sang it while they were burning. Ashe, however, denied this, explaining that although no singing was heard, the courage and faith of the young Christians were clear in their final hours.

On May 22, 1905, Alfred R. Tucker, the first Bishop of Uganda, along with Bishop Frank Weston of Zanzibar and Rev. Ernest Millar, visited the site of Serwanga’s martyrdom in Busega. [12] They were guided to the exact location by an eyewitness to the executions, provided by Sir Apollo Kaggwa, then the Katikkiro (prime minister) of Buganda. Tucker reported finding human remains at the site, which Bishop Weston, a trained physician, identified as belonging to young individuals. [13] This discovery helped establish Mpiima-Erebera’s importance in Uganda’s collective religious memory.

Nearly a century later, on January 28, 1984, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, laid the foundation stone and dedicated Busega Martyrs Memorial Church in memory of Serwanga Noah. Built on the site of his execution, the church continues to serve as a place of pilgrimage and remembrance for Christians across Uganda and beyond.

Today, Serwanga Noah is remembered as a Uganda Martyr, honored by the Church of Uganda and the broader Anglican Communion. His brief life and courageous death exemplify the faith, resilience, and sacrifice that characterized the growth of Christianity in nineteenth-century Uganda.

Kimeze Teketwe

Notes:

1. Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 10 (1885), p. 718.
2. Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 39, no. 460 (1912), p. 57.
3. Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 10 (1885), p. 714.
4. Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 10 (1885), p. 718.
5. Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 10 (1885), p. 718.
6. Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 17 (1892), p. 569.
7. Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 30 (1905), p. 668.
8. Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 12, no. 142 (1885), p. 117.
9. Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 12, no. 142 (1885), p. 117.
10. Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 14, no. 164 (1887), p. 88.
11. Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 27, no. 319 (1902), p. 512.
12. Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 32, no. 381 (1905), p. 139.
13. Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 30 (1905), p. 670.

Sources:

Ashe, Robert P. Chronicles of Uganda: With Portraits and 26 Illustrations. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1894.

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

Stock, Eugene. The History of the Church Missionary Society: Its Environment, Its Men and Its Work. Vol. 3 of 4. London: Church Missionary Society, 1899.

Teketwe, Kimeze. “Persecution, a Church Council, and the Shaping of the Church of Uganda, ca. 1884–1888.” International Bulletin of Mission Research 49, no. 1 (December 10, 2024): 42–51.

Tucker, Alfred R. Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa. London: Edward Arnold, 1911.

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, Teketwe holds graduate degrees in global leadership and international educational development from Fuller Theological Seminary and the University of Pennsylvania.