Sir Frank Arthur Stockdale, (24 June 1883 – 3 August 1949) was a British agriculturist and colonial agricultural administrator.

Biography

Stockdale was born in Honington,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, the son of George Stockdale. His family had been landowners in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

for many generations. He was educated at

Wisbech Grammar School Wisbech Grammar School is an 11–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Church of England, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Day school, day and boarding school in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Founded by the Gui ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, where he was an

exhibitioner An exhibition is a type of historical financial scholarship or bursary awarded in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Purpose An exhibition is historically a small financial award or grant, of lower status than a "scholarship", given to an individu ...

. He graduated in 1904 and joined the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies as a

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

and lecturer in agricultural science. He then held a series of agricultural posts in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, where he was the Director of Agriculture between 1916 and 1929 and a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

from 1921 to 1929. In 1929, a Colonial Agricultural Service was established, and Stockdale was appointed as the first Agricultural Adviser to the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

, serving until 1940. He was the Liaison Officer of the

Imperial Agricultural Bureaux The Imperial Agricultural Bureaux was an initiative taken by the Governments of the British Commonwealth who agreed to jointly fund a number of Government agency, bureaux "to collect, collate and disseminate information on research in eight selected ...

at the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

in 1939. In 1940, he was appointed Comptroller for Development and Welfare in the West Indies, holding the post until 1945. At the end of the war he returned to the

as adviser on development planning. In 1948 he was appointed vice-chairman of the

Colonial Development Corporation British International Investment plc, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Off ...

. Stockdale was appointed

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1925, CMG in 1932, KCMG in 1937, and

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

in 1945. Married in 1908, he was predeceased by his wife. They had two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockdale, Frank Fellows of the Linnean Society of London British agriculturalists British colonial governors and administrators in Africa British colonial governors and administrators in Asia British colonial governors and administrators in the Americas People educated at Wisbech Grammar School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Civil servants in the Colonial Office Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George 1883 births 1949 deaths British expatriates in British Guiana British expatriates in British Mauritius British expatriates in British Ceylon