William Hutton

William Hutton (179310 November 1839) was a British writer. He is notable for having written A Voyage to Africa, which was published in 1821. He also served briefly in the British foreign service in the Ashanti Empire and as Commandant of St Mary's Island, the Gambia. Colonial service Ashanti Hutton was employed as a writer with the British African Company of Merchants. In 1819, Hutton travelled with Joseph Dupuis, British Consul at Kumasi, to the Cape Coast. It is an account of these events that led Hutton to write A Voyage to Africa. In January 1820, Hutton was part of a British party that received Adum, the nephew of the King of Ashanti, at Cape Coast. Writing Hutton wrote A Voyage to Africa in 1820. It was published in London in 1821. It was a part-travelogue, and part-diplomatic chronicle. It is likely that it would have been read in both Britain and in the United States, where British books were often imported.