| Administrative History | Sir John Anderson was born at Gartly, Aberdeenshire, in 1858. He graduated M.A. with first-class honours in mathematics from Aberdeen University then began a period of legal study at the Inns of Court in London. After this he rapidly progressed through the ranks of colonial administration, first as a private secretary, then as Permanent Secretary at the Colonial Office, London. He later held the office of the governor of the Straits Settlements (1904-1911) and governor and commander-in-chief of Ceylon (1916-1918). In this last office he was charged with re-establishing civil society after a period of riots and military rule in 1915. He died suddenly in Ceylon in 1918. |