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Name: BERKELEY, Ernest James Lennox KCMG, CB, Sir
Nee: illegitimate son of George Lennox Rawdon Berkeley, 7th Earl of Berkeley, and Cécile Drummond
Birth Date: 31.5.1857 Paris
Death Date: 24.10.1932 Nice, France
First Date: 1885
Last Date: 1899
Profession: Commissioner of Uganda
Area: Uganda, Mombasa
Married: 1897 Leonore Magdalen 'Nelly' Harris b. 1868, d. 27 May 1929 Nice
Children: Claude (1906); Yvonne Helen (7 July 1898 Headington, Oxford)
Book Reference: Gillett, Hobley, Permanent Way, Debrett, Lloyd-Jones, Moyse, Fitzgerald, Tucker, Matson, EAHB 1905, North, EA Diary 1903, EAHB 1904, Mills Railway
War Service: 57th & 60th Regts. 1876-7
School: Royal Academy School, Gosport; R.M. Academy Sandhurst
General Information:
He went to Uganda with the 1893 Mission to that territory, became Commissioner of Uganda in 1895 & after a short period away, was appointed as Commissioner again in 1898 till 1899.
Hobley - Dec. 1892 - in charge as Administrator at Mombasa. He was a delightful chief and one for whom all officers naturally did their best. He believed in decentralisation and trusted his men. Although not highly trained in administrative method his close connection with the British Agency in Zanzibar solved many difficulties for the Company. He was afterwards, for a short period, Commissioner of the Uganda Protectorate, and it was the regret of all when he was transferred to Tunis.
Debrett - became a Vice Consul on E. Coast of Africa 1885, was Consul at Zanzibar 1891, Administrator of BEA Co's Territories 1891-2, employed with Uganda Mission 1893, again Consul at Zanzibar 1893-5, HM's Commr. and Consul-General for Protectorate of Uganda 1895-9, and Consul-General at Tunis 1899-1920. Cr. CB (Civil) 1897, KCMG 1921
Lloyd-Jones - 1898 - some 20 carefully selected officers arrived at Mombasa with Sir Ernest Berkeley, the Commissioner.
Moyse - End of 1894 - F.J. Jackson succeeded Colvile as Acting Commissioner in Buganda pending the arrival of the new Commissioner, Ernest Berkeley. ............. End of 1896, Berkeley invalided and Major Ternan became Acting Commissioner as well as Commandant of the Uganda Rifles.
Fitzgerald - 1891 - Administrator of the IBEA Co. and in 1892 accompanied Sir Gerald Portal on his mission to Uganda.
Matson - consular service, Zanzibar 1885-91; 1891-2 Administrator IBEA Co. Mombasa; 1893 Portal's Uganda Mission; 1894 Member of Departmental Committee on EA Administration; 14/6/1895 left Mombasa to take up appointment as Commissioner of Uganda.
EAHB 1905 - Administrator for IBEA Co. 1891-92
North - Vice-Consul East Coast of Africa, based Zanzibar from 1885; consul Zanzibar 1891; seconded by British Government to be Administrator IBEA Co. & Consul at Mombasa Sept. 1891; reverted to Govt. service, appt. to the Sir Gerald Portal "Special British Mission" to Uganda; Appt. Acting Commissioner of Uganda May 1895; Appt. Commissioner for Uganda 1898; Dep. EA 1899; '…. By reports a feeble man and is not returning' (Cooper RH); posted to Tunis; 'A Treasure …. always willing and good company' (Portal, RH)
Hobley - succeeded Sir Francis de Winton as Administrator.
Mills Railway - Ernest Berkeley, who had been a member of Portal's mission and also the Company's Administrator in Mombasa, took over towards the end of 1895. Berkeley was the last Commissioner who, apart from the relatively short Lake crossing at the end of the safari, walked all the way from the coast. When he left in his turn in 1899, he boarded a train at Nairobi and finished the journey to Mombasa in speed and comfort.