The first African Female Secondary School Principal in Sierra Leone, Latilewa Christiana Hyde, was born on 14th June 1911 in Freetown, British Sierra Leone.
Fondly called Lati Hyde, she was the daughter of Christiana (née Fraser) and Jonathan Hyde. Her father was a Methodist Minister and a graduate of Ranmoor College, Sheffield.
Her mother was the local Postmaster and Registrar of births and deaths in Murray Town. Lati Hyde attended the Annie Walsh Memorial School (AWMS) in Freetown, and in 1938, she became the First Woman to graduate from Fourah Bay College. She also later studied at Cambridge University. Lati Hyde became Mrs Hyde-Forster after marriage in 1947. Also in 1947, Mrs Lati Hyde-Forster was appointed Senior Teacher at the Methodist Girls High School (MGHS) in the Gambia.
In 1961, she returned to her Alma Mater, the Annie Walsh Memorial School, as Vice-Principal, and later that year, Mrs Lati Hyde-Forster became the First Black Female Principal in Sierra Leone; a duty she performed with excellence until her retirement in 1975.
“Lati Hyde” the Female hostel on the FBC campus, was named in her honour, and her exemplary services to education and society at large were endorsed by her award of an MBE. Lati Hyde-Forster died aged 90, on 12th September 2001.
