East Africa Protectorate

Kenya, 1895–1920. Draft, not yet reviewed

The East Africa Protectorate, also known as British East Africa, was a British protectorate in the African Great Lakes, occupying roughly the same area as present-day Kenya. On 1 July 1895, the British government proclaimed a protectorate, the administration being transferred to the Foreign Office. The capital was shifted from Mombasa to Nairobi in 1905. It remained a protectorate until 1920, when it became the Colony of Kenya.

Seat of power: Mombasa

Rulers

Donald William Stewart

Governor of Kenya, 1904–1905

Captain Sir Donald William Stewart was a British military officer and Commissioner of the East Africa Protectorate. Donald William Stewart died in office on 1 October 1905.

James Hayes Sadler

Governor of Kenya, 1905–1909

On 12 December 1905, Sadler was appointed the first governor of the British East African Protectorate, succeeding commissioner Donald William Stewart who died in office on 1 October 1905. In 1909 he was transferred to be Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Windward Islands and their Dependencies.

Portrait of James Hayes Sadler: Elliott and Fry, Public domain, file

Percy Girouard

Governor of Kenya, 1909–1912

Percy Girouard then served as Commissioner of the British East Africa Protectorate (Kenya) from 1909 to 1912.

Portrait of Percy Girouard: Studio Wn. Notman & Son, Public domain, file

Henry Conway Belfield

Governor of Kenya, 1912–1917

Belfield was appointed Governor of the East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya) in 1912, and concurrently High Commissioner of Zanzibar in 1914. His tenure was marked by his championing of European settlers' interests over those of the native population, notably through the Crown Lands Ordinance of 1915, which deprived natives of their land rights.

Edward Northey

Governor of Kenya, 1919–1922

At the war's end Northey was appointed Governor of the British East Africa Protectorate, which became known as Kenya in 1920.

Portrait of Edward Northey: Walter Stoneman (Life time: 1876–1958), PD-US, file

Culture

In 1902, the boundaries of the protectorate were extended to include what was previously the Eastern Province of Uganda.
In 1902, the East Africa Syndicate received a grant of 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi) to promote white settlement in the Highlands.
Construction began at the port city of Mombasa in British East Africa in 1896 and finished at the line's terminus, Kisumu, on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, in 1901.
A regular government and legislature were constituted by Order in Council in 1906.

Picture

The Uganda Railway linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya.

Image: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.