Sir Gerald Reece (10 January 1897 – 14 October 1985) was a British writer and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of the

British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Ethiopian Empire, Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 ...

Protectorate from 1948 until February 1954.

Early life

Gerald Recce was born in 1897 and as soon as he reached the age of eighteen, he volunteered for service in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He served on the Western Front, in France and Belgium. On being demobilised, he qualified as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

. From 1921 to 1925 he practised law in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but office life was rather dull after his war-service and he gave up the safe career for the unpredictability of colonial service.

Career

Reece began his colonial career in 1925 in

Kenya Colony The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a Brit ...

. In March 1925 he was appointed the Assistant District Commissioner (DC) for North Kavirondo District. This was more of a probation post, to determine his fitness for more remote and unsupervised postings and after six months he received a transfer. The new appointment was in the West Suk District of Kerio Province. He was affiliated with the

Royal African Society The Royal African Society (RAS) of the United Kingdom was founded as the African Society in 1901 to promote relations between the United Kingdom and countries in Africa. It received a royal charter in 1935, when it acquired its present name. The RA ...

and authored ''The Horn of Africa'' for the

Royal Institute of International Affairs Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

in October 1954 (Vol. 30, #4, pp. 440–449 ).

Family

He married Alys Tracy (born 13 March 1912 - died 18 January 1995) in 1936. Alys, Lady Reece was herself awarded the MBE.

References

External links

* * * 1897 births 1985 deaths British Africanists British non-fiction writers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy lieutenants of East Lothian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Place of birth missing Governors of British Somaliland British male writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers British male non-fiction writers {{UK-writer-stub