Sir John Christian Ramsay Sturrock CMG (20 March 1875 – 13 February 1937) was a British colonial administrator. He served as Resident Commissioner in Basutoland, from 1926 to 1935.

Early life and education

Sturrock was born in Madras, British India, the second son of John Sturrock of Dundee, Scotland, and his wife, Regina Mary Dobbie, daughter of Gen. George Staple Dobbie.''India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947'' He was educated at Charterhouse School. He graduated B.A. at Balliol College, Oxford in 1898, M.A. in 1902.''The Carthusian'' June 1917 (PDF)
at p. 13

Career

Sturrock acted as tutor to

Daudi Cwa II of Buganda Daudi Chewa II was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda from 1897 until 1939. He was the 34th Kabaka of Buganda has a surviving daughter, Princess Addah Balilara lives in Bujjuko, Kampala Life He was born on 8 August 1896, at Mengo. He was the fi ...

, a government appointment, and accompanied him to England in 1913. He was appointed a District Commissioner in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

in 1914; and Provincial Commissioner in 1922. In the early 1920s he helped set up dispensaries in Uganda. Described as "progressive" by Gill, Sturrock began a programme of reform in what is now Lesotho in the 1920s. He made a good impression on

Margery Perham Dame Margery Freda Perham (6 September 1895 – 19 February 1982) was a British historian of, and writer on, African affairs.The Times, 22 February 1982, page 10. She was known especially for the intellectual force of her arguments in favour of Br ...

, a visitor to Basutoland around the end of 1929. He took the view that

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of governance used by the British and others to control parts of their colonial empires, particularly in Africa and Asia, which was done through pre-existing indigenous power structures. Indirect rule was used by vario ...

had not been applied effectively; and initiated judicial and administrative reform measures that were applied over a period of a dozen years. In 1935, Sturrock was replaced as Resident Commissioner by

Edmund Charles Smith Richards Sir Edmund Charles Smith Richards (1889-1955) was a British colonial administrator who was Resident Commissioner of Basutoland from 1935 to 1942 and Governor of Nyasaland from 1942 to 1947. Career outline Edmund Charles Smith Richards was born ...

Family

Sturrock married on 19 April 1917 Blanche Elizabeth Walker, third daughter of Daniel Houston Walker of Middlesbrough.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturrock, John Christian Ramsay 1875 births 1937 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Resident Commissioners in Basutoland Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George British people in colonial India