REV. JOSEPH EMMANUEL ALLOTEY-PAPPOE (1887 – 1980)

Rev. Joseph Emmanuel Allotey-Pappoe, (born on 10th September, 1887, died on 14th July, 1980) was a revered Methodist Minister and an eminent Musician who influenced many lives through an ever- abiding faith in God and a fierce pursuit of a life of honesty and truth.

Service to Church
Rev. Allotey-Pappoe served in the Ghana Methodist Church for 47 years. He was one of three (3) ministerial candidates of the Methodist Church of the then Gold Coast sponsored in 1919 for the Foundation Ministerial Class of students of the Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone – the training institution of Methodist Church Ministerial students in West Africa. On successful completion of his studies, he returned to the Gold Coast in 1921 where he served as a Minister of the Methodist Church as follows:

• 1921: Peki in the Trans-Volta section in the Volta Mission
• 1923: Accra Circuit
• 1928: Dodowa Circuit as Superintendent Minister
• 1933: Aburi & Mampong Circuit as Superintendent Minister
• 1936: Volta Mission as Superintendent Minister
• 1944: Accra Circuit as Superintendent Minister
• 1954: Dodowa & Prampram Circuit as Superintendent Minister
• 1961: Nsawam Circuit as the Superintendent Minister
• 1964: Chairman of the Accra District & Superintendent of the Adabraka Circuit
• 1968: Retirement from active Ministry

While in active Ministry, he was the first Ghanaian appointed as Assistant Secretary and Statistician by the Gold Coast Methodist District Synod of 1936 for which for many years he was the Convener of the Audit Committee.

In early 1964, he was sponsored by the Ghana Methodist Conference to Britain where he kept College terms at Saint Andrews College, Sally Oak, Birmingham, England. He also represented the Ghana Methodist Conference at Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. He was a member of the Committee which worked on the revision and printing of the “Ga Methodist Hymn Book & Book of Offices” and printed by Enison Printing Press. Also in 1971/72, he was a Methodist member of the Ghana Church Union’s Ga Liturgical Committee.

Service in Music
The fourth (4th) candidate from the Gold Coast to obtain Fellowship (F.V.C.M), the highest level in professional music, from the prestigious Victoria College of Music, UK in 1918, Rev. Allotey-Pappoe had previously passed and received the following certificates from the College: In 1912, the Associate (A.Mus. V.C.M) and in 1917, the Licentiate (L.Mus. V.C.M).

He was for a time in 1912 the Assistant Organist of Freeman Memorial Choir under Mr. J.J. Clements who trained him to play the American organ before he became the organist and choirmaster. He was admitted as a member of the incorporated Guild of Church Musicians (M.I.G.C.M), London in 1915.
The first President of the Gold Coast Society of Musicians and acclaimed the ‘Father of Choral Music of Ghana’, he was a church musician of repute and composed many popular tunes set to the words of some of the Hymns. He was also a teacher of music with the following as some of his many students:
Dr. Ephraim Amu, Frank Adja Torto, J. Peter Baddoo, J. Squire Addo, B.K. Titi Lartey, Samuel Sackeyfio, Edgar Okrah, Rev. John Teye, Bishop Thomas Marshall, Edward George Addison, Thomas Osam Sackey, J.T. Ofei Gyebi, Rev. George B. Enninful, Jonathan Allotey-Pappoe, Rev. Ebenezer Allotey-Pappoe. He was First President of the Gold Coast Society of Musicians.

Service to the Nation
Prior to his ministerial experience, he had served 15 years in Government Service. He joined the Gold Coast Posts & Telegraph Department (Accounts Section) in 1904. By the time he resigned to enter the Ministry in 1919, he had risen to the position of Officer-In-Charge of the Payment Branch. He also served as a soldier in the Gold Coast Rifle Volunteer Force from 1906 to 1909. Furthermore, he served on the following Government Committees and institutions:
Nurses Training School (Korle Bu), Achimota College, University College (Legon), Juvenile Lay Magistrate, Accra, Red Cross Executive Committee (he set the music to Lady Clifford’s Gold Coast Red Cross poem), Cinema Board Control, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Nsawam Urban Health Council, Nsawam Medium Security Prisons and member of the Board of Prisons and an Associate member of the Boy Scouts Association. He was also the first President of the Ga Research Association.

The Family
The Patriarch of the Allotey-Pappoe family, Rev. Allotey-Pappoe married Madam Madeline Naa Lamiley Vanderpuye. They had 10 children, three of who died in infancy. All the children who have since passed on were: Mercy Aku, Cicilia Adukwei, Jonathan Kpakpo, Ebenezer Akwei, Henry Vanderpuye Addo Annan, Gabriel Nii Moi, Samson Paul Abossey, Titi Oko Molai & Cecilia Adoley Karley (twins) and Decima Tawiah.