Douglas James Jardine


Sir Douglas James Jardine was a British colonial administrator, holding the posts of Governor of North Borneo, Sierra Leone and the Leeward Islands during his career.

Biography

Jardine was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his BA Hons. in Classics in 1910. Immediately after graduating, he joined the colonial service and was posted as assistant secretary to the government of Cyprus from 1910–16.
In 1916, he became Secretary to Administration in British Somaliland, a position he held until 1921. During this posting, he accompanied the British Mission to the Coronation of Empress Zauditu of Abyssinia in 1917 and was awarded the OBE in 1918. In 1920, he was appointed Officer in Charge H.Q. Services, Somaliland Expeditionary Force. Three years later, he published The Mad Mullah of Somaliland, his book on the Somali rebel leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, the so-called "Mad Mullah" who led an armed resistance against British, Italian, and Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
In 1921, Jardine became Senior Assistant Secretary, Nigerian Secretariat, a post he held until 1927.
In 1927, he was posted to Tanganyika Territory, beginning an eight-year association with the country. He was Deputy Chief Secretary, Tanganyika in 1927–28; Chief Secretary to Government, Tanganyika, 1928–34; and acting Governor, Tanganyika, in 1929, 1931, 1933 and 1934.
In 1929, 1930 and 1931, Jardine was also the accredited representative of H.M. Government to the Permanent Mandates Commission at Geneva. He was appointed CMG in 1932. In 1934, he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief, North Borneo, a post he held until 1937.
Later that year he was appointed Governor of Sierra Leone, and then Governor of the Leeward Islands from 1941–43. He was appointed KCMG in 1938
Jardine died in December 1946.

Publications