Papers of Sir John Rankine

Files, listed as titled

• Secret. Constitutional Reform (Zanzibar), 1952-1954
• The Future of the Administrative Service, 1954
• Sir John Rankine. Personal Correspondence. Opened 9.5.59, 1954-1961; commission as Governor of W. Nigeria, 1954, in gusset
• Sir John Rankine - Personal Papers, 1959-1962; draft of letter of 17th February 1959 loose at back
• Chatty Despatches to Colonial Office (from Western Region only), 1954-1959; duplicates in gusset
• Chatty Despatches. From Western Region, 1959-1960; with CO note, 1956, on presentation of despatches, at end
• Appointment of Deputy-Governor, 1959-1960
• Appointment of Regional Governors. Opened 8.3.60, 1959-1960
• Future of Deputy Governors, 1960
• Future of Expatriate Members of H.M. Overseas Service, 1960-1961
• Loose letter from Humphry Berkeley, 1961, with two press cuttings and Hansard clipping (on British diplomatic representation in Africa)

Sir John Dalzell Rankine (1907-1987), KCMG (1954), CMG (1947), KCVO (1956), KStJ (1958), Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (1st Class) (1954) was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch, New Zealand, and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1930. He entered colonial service as a cadet, Uganda, 1931, became Assistant Secretary, East African Governor's Conference, 1939, First Assistant Secretary, 1942, and Assistant Colonial Secretary, Fiji in the same year. He was made Colonial Secretary, Barbados, 1945, served as Chief Secretary, Kenya, 1947-1951 and as Chairman, Development and Reconstruction Authority. He was British Resident, Zanzibar, 1952-1954, administered the Governments of Barbados and Kenya on various occasions, and was Governor, Western Region, Nigeria, 1954-1960. In 1939 he married Janet Grace Austin (d 1976), with whom he had one daughter.

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Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

The library holds a card index of all manuscript collections in its reading room.

No reproduction or publication of papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

Xerox copy of a typescript account by Lady Rankine, Sir John Rankine's wife, of the visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II to Western Nigeria in February, 1956 (ref. MSS. Afr. s. 2281).