Sir John Christian Ramsay SturrockCMG (20 March 1875 – 13 February 1937) was a British colonial administrator. He served as Resident Commissioner in
Basutoland, from 1926 to 1935.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Sturrock was born in
Madras, British India, the second son of John Sturrock CIE of
Dundee, Scotland, and his wife, Regina Mary Dobbie, daughter of Gen. George Staple Dobbie.[4][5] He was educated at
Charterhouse School. He graduated B.A. at
Balliol College, Oxford in 1898, M.A. in 1902.[1][6][7]
Career
Sturrock acted as tutor to
Daudi Cwa II of Buganda, a government appointment, and accompanied him to England in 1913.[2][8][9] He was appointed a District Commissioner in
Uganda in 1914; and Provincial Commissioner in 1922.[1] In the early 1920s he helped set up dispensaries in Uganda.[10]
Described as "progressive" by Gill, Sturrock began a programme of reform in what is now
Lesotho in the 1920s.[11] He made a good impression on
Margery Perham, a visitor to Basutoland around the end of 1929.[12] He took the view that
indirect rule had not been applied effectively; and initiated judicial and administrative reform measures that were applied over a period of a dozen years.[13]
^G. J. Keane, H. B. Thomas and Robert Scott, The Progress of Uganda, Journal of the Royal African Society Vol. 35, No. 140 (Jul., 1936), pp. 311–319, at p. 317.
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society.
JSTOR717338