Endeley was born on 10 April 1916; his family was among the wealthy members of the Bakweri 🗗 ethnic group. He was educated in Buea 🗗 and Bonjongo 🗗 in Southern British Cameroons 🗗 and Umahia 🗗 in Nigeria. Endeley eventually entered the Nigerian School of Medicine 🗗 in Yaba 🗗. In 1942, he took the post of assistant medical officer in Nigeria, and in 1945, he served as chief medical officer in Buea.
Endeley was concerned with providing a voice for workers in Southern British Cameroons and for citizens of British Cameroons in general. In 1939, he helped form the Cameroon Youth League (CYL) 🗗. In 1944, he was a founding member of the Bakweri Improvement Union 🗗. In 1947, he joined union organizers of the Cameroons Development Corporation (CDC) 🗗 in Southern British Cameroons. He became union secretary the following year. Endeley organized and participated in petitioning United Nations delegations and in organizing general strikes. He was a founder of the Cameroons National Federation (CNF) 🗗 in 1949 and later served as its president.
Political career
In 1951, Endeley was elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly in Enugu 🗗. He worked to have Southern British Cameroons granted special regional status apart from Nigeria; when the Southern British Cameroons Regional Assembly 🗗 was formed, he was one of its first members. In 1953, Endeley joined John Ngu Foncha 🗗 and Solomon Tandeng Muna 🗗 in breaking from the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) 🗗 to form the Kamerun National Congress (KNC) 🗗, which advocated autonomy for Southern British Cameroons. However, Endeley's political views changed, and he advocated greater integration of the territory with Nigeria. In 1955, Foncha and Muna broke with the KNC to form the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP) 🗗. Endeley allied the KNC with the Kamerun's People Party (KPP) 🗗, another pro-Nigeria group, but the coalition lost seats to the KNDP.
In 1957, Endeley squeaked out a victory to become the first Prime Minister of Southern British Cameroons 🗗; he was installed the following year. In January 1959, voters replaced Endeley with Foncha. In May 1960, his KNC merged with the KPP to form the Cameroons Peoples' National Convention (CPNC) 🗗 to be the main opposition party to Foncha's KNDP. Political opinion was strongly in favour of unification with French Cameroun 🗗, and the United Nations held a plebiscite over the issue on 11 February 1961. Endeley and the CPNC opposed; Endeley released a lengthy pamphlet urging the people of Southern Cameroons to vote "no". Nevertheless, the vote came in favour of unification.
In the new federated state of West Cameroon 🗗, Endeley and the CPNC took the role of Foncha's main opposition, and also supported President Ahmadou Ahidjo's moves to create a one-party system in Federal Republic of Cameroon. He served in several more posts in Cameroon before his death. In 1965, Endeley became leader of government business for West Cameroon. He served as a member of the central committee of Cameroon National Union (CNU), and in 1966, he became president of the Fako section of CNU, a post he held until 1985. Endeley was also elected to the National Assembly of Cameroon. Endeley died on 29th June 1988 at the age of 72.
