Wigram, Kizza Frederick

Anglican Martyr of the Buganda Kingdom

Kizza Frederick Wigram was among the earliest converts to Anglicanism in Buganda and one of the first Ugandans to die for his faith. Executed at Namugongo on June 5, 1886, he holds a notable place in the history of Christianity in Uganda. His life reflects the early years of the Anglican community in Buganda, the tensions during Kabaka Mwanga’s rule, and the broader social and political challenges that came with religious conversion in late nineteenth-century Uganda.

Kizza was baptized on September 21, 1884, during the early years of Christian expansion in Buganda. [1] He took the name “Frederick Wigram” after Rev. Frederick E. Wigram, honorary clerical secretary of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) at the time. The adoption of such names by converts in Buganda was common, as reflected in examples such as Lutamaguzi Henry Wright, baptized in 1882, who took the name of another honorary CMS secretary, Henry Wright. Sembera Mackay, the first Anglican convert in Uganda, adopted his mentor’s surname, Mackay, as his baptismal name. Similarly, Mukasa became Philip after Philip O’Flaherty, who baptized him on March 18, 1882. The name thus connected him to the broader Anglican communion.

Early missionary writings rendered his surname as Kidza, but it has orthographically evolved to Kizza. It is a common name in Buganda, often given to the immediate elder of twins. [2] His baptismal name appears in archival records in various forms—Ferederika, Ferederiko, Fredi, or Fuledi—reflecting the difficulty Baganda may have had in pronouncing it at the time.

After his baptism, Kizza married Mubulire, one of the first women in Buganda to embrace Christianity, taking on the name Fanny upon her own baptism. Mubulire became one of the first female teachers in the Anglican community, and her role drew other women to the faith at a time when female conversion was rare. The couple’s marriage represented a new Christian model of domestic life, emphasizing monogamy, prayer, and literacy.

Before his conversion, Kizza served as a Musaale (a royal guide or subchief) in Kabaka’s service. Contemporary sources differ on the identity of his master. The historian and religious administrator John V. Taylor identifies him as Bugala, whereas other accounts point to Mujaasi Kapalaga, head of the Bambowa and the principal tormentor of Christian converts at the time. Bambowa acted as royal guards, carrying out Kabaka’s commands, including as executioners. Their duties often included the arrest and punishment of converts, making Kizza’s position particularly perilous once he professed the Christian faith.

Mwanga II ascended the throne of Buganda in October 1884, shortly after Kizza’s baptism. His reign quickly became defined by hostility toward Christianity. Whereas his father, Muteesa I, maintained a strategic balance between Christians and Muslims, Mwanga viewed Christianity as a political threat to his rule and a potential source of rebellion. He tolerated missionaries for their political utility and material gain but opposed the rapid spread of conversion among his pages and chiefs.

In his role as a Musaale, Kizza witnessed the first execution of Anglican converts on January 31, 1885. On that day, Serwanga Noah, Kakumba Mark, and Rugalama Joseph were executed by slow burning at Mpiima-Erebera in Busega on the order of Kabaka Mwanga, marking the beginning of systematic persecution of Christians in Buganda. Kizza stood nearby as Mujaasi supervised the execution and ordered the dismemberment of the martyrs’ remains, which were then distributed throughout the capital to deter further conversions. Robert P. Ashe, an English missionary resident in Buganda at the time, later recorded that Mujaasi turned to Kizza during the killings, warning him that if he were also a Christian, he and his family would be put to death. Kizza is said to have replied calmly that he was indeed Christian and was not afraid to die.

On the same raid, a Christian woman named Sarah Nakimu Nalwanga, the widow of Mukasa Philip and then the wife of Lutamaguzi Henry Wright, was arrested with her infant child after being found with a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. When Bambowa failed to find her husband, a leading Christian convert, they seized her instead and paraded her before Mwanga’s court. Kizza intervened, reporting to the court that Nakimu had royal blood, making her a relative of the Kabaka, and that the missionaries wished to ransom her life with gifts while keeping her under supervision. His intervention succeeded, and Nakimu was released—an unusual act of clemency amid intensifying persecution.

Kizza’s account of the 1885 martyrdom later became central to how early missionary narratives in Buganda interpreted the final hours of the first martyrs executed under Mwanga II. In The Wonderful Story of Uganda (1904), Joseph D. Mullins claimed that the three martyrs sang the Swahili hymn killa siku tuusifu (let us praise each day) as they burned. Ashe, however, disputed this in a letter dated April 14, 1902, asserting that Kizza, “a careful, competent, and trustworthy Christian eyewitness,” had emphatically denied that any singing took place. [3] Ashe concluded, “whether they sang or not did not negate their martyrdom.” This exchange underscored the importance of local Christian testimony in shaping the historiography of Uganda Martyrs.

Kizza’s close association with Rugalama Joseph brought him into a deep and lasting relationship with Ashe. Rugalama, one of the first Ugandans to be martyred, had been under Ashe’s mentorship, and his death left a profound impression on both men. Moved by the desire to honor his young disciple, Ashe asked Kizza to lead him to the site of Rugalama’s martyrdom. [4] There, standing at the place where the boy had given his life for his faith, they knelt together in prayer. Kizza interceded for Mujaasi, hoping that the man who had overseen the executions might have his heart softened toward Christians. [5] The moment revealed Kizza’s extraordinary capacity to forgive his persecutors and his deep understanding of Christian charity—qualities shaped and tested in the crucible of persecution. In this way, Kizza’s courage and faithfulness became a living testament, linking the memory of the first martyrs to the ongoing story of the Church in Buganda.

By mid-1885, CMS missionaries in Buganda—Alexander Mackay, Robert Ashe, and Philip O’Flaherty—feared that they might soon be expelled. To ensure the continuity of the movement they had begun, they established a native church council in their absence, composed of twelve trusted converts who could oversee worship and teaching. “We felt this to be a very necessary step.” Ashe later wrote in Two Kings of Uganda, “for in case of our being sent away, we wished them to have some organization.” Modeled after Jesus’ twelve disciples, Kizza was among those appointed to this inaugural body, recognizing his leadership and commitment. [6] Of the twelve elders, four—including Kizza—did not survive the persecutions that followed during Mwanga II’s first reign, which ended in 1888.

In June 1886, the crisis reached its climax. Mujaasi Kapalaga, who had previously served as Kizza’s superior and executed earlier martyrs, warned him privately that the Bambowa were coming to arrest him and urged him to flee. Kizza refused, replying, “Very well, let them come. I am a Christian, and I am not afraid to die.” His steadfastness reflected the same courage and resolve that had marked his earlier testimony during the execution of Rugalama Joseph, Kakumba Mark, and Serwanga Noah.

Consequently, Kizza was arrested, condemned for professing Christianity, and taken to Namugongo, where he was executed on June 5, 1886. According to Roman Catholic historian John F. Faupel, he was first clubbed and then thrown into the flames to perish. Among the eyewitnesses was Abdul Azziz, a Muslim convert who later became a key witness in the canonization of the Roman Catholic Uganda Martyrs at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on October 18, 1964, by Pope Paul VI.

Kizza’s life exemplified how locals navigated the tensions between royal service and Christian conviction. Serving the Kabaka, who had publicly denounced Christianity as “European superstition,” while remaining a devoted disciple of Christ, placed him in an impossible position during Mwanga’s persecution. However, his decision to remain steadfast, even when warned to flee, testified to the depth of his faith and courage. As one of the first twelve elders of the nascent Anglican Church in Uganda, Kizza helped establish indigenous leadership that would sustain the church in the missionaries’ absence. His martyrdom, alongside that of his contemporaries, became a foundational narrative in the growth of Christianity in East Africa.

Kizza Frederick Wigram stands as both witness and builder—a convert whose personal faith became an enduring symbol of the resilience of Christianity in Africa. His life remains a testament to the transformative power of conviction amid persecution and to the successful indigenization of the Christian faith in Buganda.

Kimeze Teketwe

Notes:

1. The Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 13, no. 156 (London: Church Missionary Society, 1886), available through Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Church Missionary Society Periodicals, p. 140.
2. The Church Missionary Intelligencer, vol. 18 (1893): p. 510.
3. The Church Missionary Gleaner, vol. 13, no. 156 (1886): p. 140.
4. The Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 14 (1889): p. 502.
5. The Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 14 (1889): p. 502.
6. The Church Missionary Intelligencer and Record, vol. 11 (1886): p. 884.

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.