Ricketts was a survivor of the
Battle of Nsamankow in 1824, where
Sir Charles MacCarthy was defeated. Ricketts was Governor of the
Gold Coast 15 November 1826 – 11 October 1827, and 5 June 1828 – 25 June 1828. This was the period of the
First Anglo-Ashanti War, which took place in the years 1824 to 1831. Ricketts describes the circumstances of his first appointment in his account of that war.
Charles Turner, the previous Governor, had died in March 1826.
Sir Neil Campbell had been appointed
Governor of Sierra Leone, where he arrived in August. He sailed on in
HMS Lively, and arrived in September on the Gold Coast. A battle had been fought at
Dodowa Forest. Campbell disembarked at
Cape Coast Castle, and gave
Edward Purdon, who had earlier served as Governor and was acting in the post, leave to return to the United Kingdom. He named Ricketts, then an army Captain, as the new Governor. Promoted Major, Ricketts was ordered to sail to Sierra Leone in January 1828. He was required to return to the Gold Coast in June of that year, to oversee the hand-over of forts to merchants, and to evacuate the garrison. These moves were part of
Dixon Denham's efforts to obtain peace with the
Ashanti Empire. Ricketts was then Governor of Sierra Leone 1829–1830. In poor health, he returned to the United Kingdom.
Ricketts, Sierra Leone, one of the
Banana Islands, is named after him. In 1831 Ricketts transferred from the Royal African Corps to the
58th Regiment of Foot. He died at the
Cape of Good Hope in 1838, on a journey from
Ceylon. ==Publications==