John Chancellor

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Robert Chancellor (20 October 1870 – 31 July 1952) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Biography Chancellor was the younger son of Edward Chancellor, of Woodhall House, Juniper Green, Midlothian, and Anne Helen Tod (d. 1932), daughter of John Robert Tod, WS. The Chancellor family had held the lands of Shieldhill, Quothquan from 1432. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and after graduation was commissioned into the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant on 25 July 1890. Promoted to lieutenant on 25 July 1893, he took part in the 1896 Dongola Expedition under Sir Herbert Kitchener, and served in the 1897–98 Tirah campaign on the North West Frontier of British India as part of the Sirmoor Imperial Service Snappers. For his service in India he was mentioned in despatches, received the India Medal, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1898. He was promoted to captain on 20 May 1901, and later served as Secretary of the Colonial Defence Committee. After a career in the Royal Engineers he became a colonial administrator serving as the 20th Governor of Mauritius from 13 September 1911 to 28 January 1916, Trinidad and Tobago (1916–1921) and Southern Rhodesia (1923–1928). He also served as Principal Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence From 1922 to 1923.