Sir James Wilson Robertson, (27 October 189923 September 1983) was a British civil servant who served as the last colonial governor-general of Nigeria from 1955 to 1960.

Early life and education

He was educated at Merchiston Castle School in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. He served a Commission 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 ...

with the Gordon Highlanders and the Black Watch. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.) from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

in 1961.

Career

After Oxford he joined the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Political Service from 1922 to 1953, serving appointments in

Blue Nile The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major Tributary, tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the wa ...

White Nile The White Nile ( ') is a river in Africa, the minor of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the larger being the Blue Nile. The name "White" comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. In the stri ...

, Fung, and Kordofan provinces and was the Civil Secretary from 1945 to 1953. In this position in 1947 he was chairman of the Juba Conference. He was then sent to

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 ...

in January 1954 by Oliver Lyttelton, the then-

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 ...

to write the Robertson Commission Report to investigate the current crisis in the country due to the election of the People's Progressive Party, who were seen as too friendly with the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

organisations that had led to the suspension of the constitution. He was then sent to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

as a result of his work. He was

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

from 15 June 1955 to 16 November 1960 (representing the Queen as

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

from 1 October to 16 November 1960).

Family

He married Nancy Walker in 1926. They had 2 children, a son and a daughter. His son was political and economic thinker and activist James Robertson. His brother was Ian Robertson, Lord Robertson, whose daughter Sally married Nick Kuenssberg . His great-niece Laura Kuenssberg is a journalist. His first wife was Anne Mueller.

Writings

Roberston wrote a memoir, ''Transition in Africa: From Direct Rule to Independence'', published by Hurst, London, in 1974, that reflects on his nearly 40 years in Africa. It provides detail on both his administrative life and personal observations. In a final chapter, "Reflections", he accounts the swift collapse and disintegration of so much of what he and his fellow British servants of the Empire had constructed not only in the Sudan and Nigeria, but in all of Britain's former colonial African territories. Commenting on foreign concern about post-independence difficulties, he observed: "Americans have asked me: 'Why did you leave so soon, before the colonial territories were ready to rule themselves?' And when I have answered, 'Partly, I am sure, because of your pressure on us to go,' heyhave answered that they did not know then what they know now, and that we should have resisted their pressure." (p. 253) Robertson made a notable contribution to a 1978 Oxford Symposium, ''Transfer of Power: the Colonial Administrator in the Age of De-colonisation'', edited by A. H. M. Kirk-Greene (published, in 1979, by the Inter-Faculty Committee for African Studies, Oxford University), particularly his "The Governor as the Man in the Middle", (pp. 38–43); and "Summary of Discussion", (pp. 50–59). ''The Last of the Proconsuls: Letters of Sir James Robertson'', edited by Graham F. Thomas, was published in 1994. It is a collection of letters Robertson sent to Thomas over 40 years mainly about the problems towards the end of the British Empire.

Styles

*1899 – 3 June 1931: James Wilson Robertson *3 June 1931 – 1940: James Wilson Robertson MBE *1940–1941: His Excellency James Wilson Robertson MBE, Governor of Gezira Province *1941 – 1 January 1948: James Wilson Robertson MBE *1 January 1948 – 1 June 1953: Sir James Wilson Robertson KBE *1 June 1953 – 15 June 1955: Sir James Wilson Robertson KCMG, KBE *15 June 1955 – 1956: His Excellency Sir James Wilson Robertson KCMG, KBE, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, Federation of Nigeria *1956 – 13 June 1957: His Excellency Sir James Wilson Robertson GCVO, KCMG, KBE, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, Federation of Nigeria *13 June 1957 – 1 October 1960: His Excellency Sir James Wilson Robertson GCMG, GCVO, KBE, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, Federation of NigeriaThe London Gazette, 13 June 1957
/ref> *1 October – 16 November 1960: His Excellency Sir James Wilson Robertson GCMG, GCVO, KBE, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Independent Federation of Nigeria *16 November 1960 – 1965: Sir James Wilson Robertson GCMG, GCVO, KBE *1965–1983: Sir James Wilson Robertson KT, GCMG, GCVO, KBE

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, James Wilson 1899 births 1983 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights of the Thistle Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Merchiston Castle School British governors and governors-general of Nigeria Sudan Political Service officers Gordon Highlanders officers Black Watch officers Military personnel from Dundee 20th-century British Army personnel