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John Chancellor (colonial administrator)

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Robert Chancellor GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO (20 October 1870 – 31 July 1952)[1] was a British soldier and colonial administrator.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir

John Chancellor

GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO
John Chancellor in 1931
Born(1870-10-20)20 October 1870
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Died31 July 1952(1952-07-31) (aged 81)
Shieldhill Castle, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom
AllegianceBritish
Service / branchBritish Army
RankLieutenant Colonel
UnitCorps of Royal Engineers
AwardsDistinguished Service Order, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, GBE
Other workColonial Administrator

Biography

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Chancellor was the younger son of Edward Chancellor, of Woodhall House, Juniper Green, Midlothian, and Anne Helen Tod (d. 1932), daughter of John Robert Tod, WS. The Chancellor family had held the lands of Shieldhill, Quothquan from 1432.[2]

He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and after graduation was commissioned into the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant on 25 July 1890.[3] Promoted to lieutenant on 25 July 1893,[4] he took part in the 1896 Dongola Expedition under Sir Herbert Kitchener, and served in the 1897–98 Tirah campaign on the North West Frontier of British India as part of the Sirmoor Imperial Service Snappers.[5] For his service in India he was mentioned in despatches, received the India Medal, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1898.[6] He was promoted to captain on 20 May 1901,[7] and later served as Secretary of the Colonial Defence Committee.[8]

After a career in the Royal Engineers he became a colonial administrator serving as the 20th Governor of Mauritius from 13 September 1911[9] to 28 January 1916,[10] Trinidad and Tobago (1916[11]–1921) and Southern Rhodesia (1923–1928). He also served as Principal Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence From 1922 to 1923.[12]

In 1898 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).[6] In 1909 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.[8] He was knighted in the 1913 King's Birthday Honours when he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).[13] In the 1922 Dissolution Honours List he was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).[14] He was appointed a Knight of Justice in the Venerable Order of Saint John on 19 December 1928.[15]

High Commissioner of Palestine

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Chancellor in Palestine, 1931.
 
Chancellor installed as High Commissioner, 6 December 1928.
 
High Commissioner Chancellor visiting Rishon Lezion, 1931.

In 1928, he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine, where he was perceived as being cool to Zionism and the Jewish people.[16] Though he admired some Zionist leaders, in particular Pinhas Rutenberg, in general Chancellor's attitude towards Jews was negative.[17] He wrote to his son that "truly the Jews are an ungrateful race".[17] His attitude towards Arabs was politically supportive but paternalistic; he wrote to his son: "they are like children, and very difficult to help".[17]

While he was in London in 1929, riots broke out in Jerusalem stemming from Muslims protesting Jews' use of the Western Wall. On his return, he initially condemned Arab attacks but was subsequently less critical. He helped write Lord Passfield's White Paper of 1930, which aimed to reinterpret the Balfour Declaration. He left Palestine in 1931.

In 1931, Jerusalem's Straus Street was renamed Chancellor Avenue in his honour. The street reverted to its original name after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[18][19]

In 1937 he was appointed chairman of the Livestock Commission, which was set up following the passing of the Livestock Industry Act, 1937.[20] In the 1947 King's Birthday Honours he was created a Knight Grand Cross in the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.[21]

Family

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In 1903, Chancellor married Mary Elizabeth Howard (1881–1976), daughter of George Rodie Thompson, DL, JP, of Lynwood, Ascot, Berkshire.[2] They had three children: Christopher John Howard Chancellor (1904–1989), who married Sylvia Mary Paget in 1926; Robert Duff (Robin) Chancellor (1921-2010); and a daughter, Elizabeth Rosemary Alice Chancellor (1906–1971), known as Rosemary, who married Air Chief Marshall William Elliot in 1931. Christopher and Sylvia had four children: John Paget Chancellor, Teresa Chancellor (Married Peter Gatacre then John Wells), Susanna Maria Chancellor (married Nicholas Johnston) and Alexander Chancellor; Rosemary and William also had two children: Louise Elliot (Halsey) and Simon Elliot.

Legacy

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Chancellor Avenue in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, now Harare, Zimbabwe, was named after him and still bears his name.[22] However, his grandson, Alexander Chancellor, suggested that it be changed on account of it now being the street on which Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe lived.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Profile of Sir John Robert Chancellor
  2. ^ a b Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, p. 130
  3. ^ "No. 26076". The London Gazette. 5 August 1890. p. 4283.
  4. ^ "No. 26428". The London Gazette. 1 August 1893. p. 4356.
  5. ^ Hart′s Army list, 1903
  6. ^ a b "No. 26968". The London Gazette. 20 May 1898. p. 3166.
  7. ^ "No. 27501". The London Gazette. 5 December 1902. p. 8440.
  8. ^ a b "No. 28305". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 November 1909. p. 8240.
  9. ^ "No. 28517". The London Gazette. 28 July 1911. p. 5632.
  10. ^ "Mauritius". Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  11. ^ "No. 29516". The London Gazette. 21 March 1916. p. 3065.
  12. ^ "No. 32598". The London Gazette. 3 February 1922. p. 978.
  13. ^ "No. 28724". The London Gazette. 30 May 1913. p. 3905.
  14. ^ "No. 32766". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 November 1922. p. 8017.
  15. ^ "No. 33453". The London Gazette. 1 January 1929. p. 49.
  16. ^ Anita Shapira (2012). Israel: A History. Brandeis University Press. p. 79. ISBN 9781611683523.
  17. ^ a b c Evyatar Friesel (1993). "Through a Peculiar Lens: Zionism and Palestine in British Diaries, 1927-31". Middle Eastern Studies. 29 (3): 419–44. doi:10.1080/00263209308700959.
  18. ^ Katz, D. (1 October 2011). "Pizza, Shnitzel and the Fog of War: Some Impressions of a Recent Visit to Israel". wherewhatwhen.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  19. ^ Ronnen, Meir (14 May 2010). "The Life and Death of Jaffa Road". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  20. ^ "No. 34420". The London Gazette. 23 July 1937. p. 4743.
  21. ^ "No. 37977". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1947. p. 2582.
  22. ^ Notebook, The Spectator, 30 September 1983, page 5
  23. ^ Despite Mugabe's hatred of British colonialism, the road he lives in is still named after my grandfather, The Guardian, 27 June 2008
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Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Mauritius
1911–1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Trinidad and Tobago
1916–1921 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Percy Donald Leslie Flynn (acting administrator)
 Governor of Southern Rhodesia
1923–1928 		Succeeded by
Murray Bisset (acting)
Preceded by High Commissioner of Palestine
1928–1931 		Succeeded by
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