Joseph West Ridgeway

Joseph West Ridgeway

Colonel Sir West Ridgeway GCB , GCMG , KCSI (born May 16, 1844 in High Roding, Essex , † April 16, 1930 in London ) was a British civil servant, colonial governor and manager of the North Borneo Chartered Company .

Life

Joseph West Ridgeway was born in High Roding, Essex. After graduating from St. Paul's School in London , Ridgeway began an officer career in the infantry of the Bengali Army in 1860 . In 1881, while serving in India, he married Carolina Ellen "Lina" Bewicke. His only child, daughter Violet Aline Ridgeway, was born in 1882.

After his military and political career in India and Ceylon, he settled in London. He gained high standing as the longtime Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North Borneo Chartered Company . In addition, he was twice - but without success - for the elections to the British House of Commons in the constituencies of the City of London and London University .

Ridgeway died in London on April 14, 1930.

Military career

Ridgeway joined the army on December 4, 1860. In 1862 he achieved the rank of lieutenant. In 1864 he was transferred to Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, KCB, with the rank of lieutenant colonel , who was entrusted with the security of the North West Frontier on the border with Afghanistan.

In 1869 he retired from active infantry service with the rank of captain and received a civilian post as Tinder Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department in Shimla , British India .

In December 1880 he was promoted to major and in March 1881 received the honorary rank of Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel in recognition of his services to the tribes in the Naga Mountains . He was promoted to "real" lieutenant colonel in December 1886.

His official retirement from British military service was announced on August 27, 1889.

British colonial service

On October 15, 1885, Ridgeway was given the management of the Indian section of a Russian-British commission to determine the northern border of Afghanistan between Heri-Rud and the Oxus River . In 1886 he became Chief Commissioner with the duties and powers of a provincial governor.

In 1887 he was appointed Undersecretary for Ireland , the head of the British administration in Ireland, an office which he held from 1887 to 1892. He was then Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man from 1893 to 1895.

From February 1896 to November 1903 he was governor of Ceylon , today's Sri Lanka . In that capacity, he was involved in the sodomy and child molestation charges against Hector Archibald MacDonald , commander of British forces in Ceylon . Ridgeway ordered MacDonald's return to London, careful to prevent the huge scandal that was to be expected: "Some, in fact most of his victims ... are the sons of the most respected men in the colony, British as well as locals," he wrote, noting that he was able to convince the local press to hold still so "no more dirt comes to light".

North Borneo Chartered Company

Sir West Ridgeway was elected to the board of directors of the North Borneo Chartered Company in 1906 and became chairman of the board in 1910, succeeding the late William Clarke Cowie . Until his resignation in 1926, he reorganized the administration of North Borneo. He succeeded in improving the hitherto stagnating immigration of the Chinese urgently needed as labor and he laid the foundation stone for improving the country's infrastructure by opening up new roads. On the other hand, his liberal view of the use of the company's funds - he preferred to invest the profits in new, economically poorly thought-out projects - met with little approval from the shareholders. When Montstuart finally revealed to Elphinstone , one of the directors, the true extent of the waste of money, Ridgeway was forced to vacate his post for Major General Sir Neill Malcolm in 1926 .

From 1920 he also took on duties on the board of directors of the British Borneo Timber Company .

Awards

After his transfer to the Afghan Boundary Commission Colonel Ridgeway was on July 20, 1885 "Knight Commander" in the British military orders " Order of the Star of India raised" and could henceforth the title Sir lead in front of his name.

On September 30, 1887, he was accepted as an ordinary member of the Bath Order . On January 13, 1891, he was promoted in the hierarchy of the order to "Knights Commander" .

On January 1, 1900, he was finally accepted into the Order of St Michael and St George with the rank of "Knights Grand Cross" .

literature

• KG Tregonning: A History Of Modern Sabah (North Borneo 1881–1963) , 2nd edition, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1965, reprint 1967
• Owen Rutter: British North Borneo - An Account of its History, Ressources and Nativer Tribes , Constable & Company Ltd, London, 1922

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Joseph West Ridgeway at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2. ↑ Register India Births and Baptisms , accessed on August 26, 2011
3. ↑ A Romantic Career Ends  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Obituary in: The Straits Times, Apr 17, 1930, p. 13  
4. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of March 4, 1864, page 37  
5. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition June 3, 1862, p. 3  
6. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition August 1, 1884, p. 3  
7. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of March 11, 1870, p. 4  
8. ↑ ^{a b} The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of July 21, 1885, p. 8  
9. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of March 1, 1881, p. 3  
10. ↑ Supplement to The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of March 1, 1881. pp. 2/3  
11. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition February 15, 1887, p. 5  
12. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Issue 27, August 1889; P. 9  
13. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition October 23, 1885, p. 4  
14. ↑ ^{a b} Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries by Victor Plarr, 1899, p. 912 (via Google Books)
15. ^ Onchan Online A Tour of Onchan, Round The Edges
16. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of December 1, 1893, p. 1  
17. ^ List of statesmen of Sri Lanka
18. ↑ Denis Judd, Empire: The British Imperial Experience, from 1765 to the Present , 2001, p. 171
19. ^ Rutter, p. 143
20. ↑ The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of June 10, 1930, p. 4  
21. ↑ Tregonning p. 64 ff.
22. ↑ The Straits Times  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of August 13, 1930, p. 8  
23. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of January 13, 1891. Page 1  
24. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of September 30, 1887, p. 1  
25. ↑ The London Gazette  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Edition of January 2, 1900, p. 2