Harry Cordeaux

• Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam

  ​

  ​

  (m. 1912)​

Major Sir Harry Cordeaux KCMG CB
Commissioner of British Somaliland
In office 8 May 1906 –1909
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge

Major Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux KCMG CB (15 November 1870 – 2 July 1943) was an Indian Army officer and colonial administrator who became in turn governor of Uganda, Saint Helena and the Bahamas.

Early life and education

Cordeaux was born on 15 November 1870 in Poona, British India. His father, Edward Cordeaux, was a judge in Bombay. He was educated at Brighton College and Cheltenham College. In 1888, he won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892. ^{[1] [2]}

Career

Cordeaux joined the Indian Staff Corps in 1895. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1896, Captain in 1903 and Major in 1912. He entered the Bombay Political Department in 1898, and that year was appointed Assistant Resident at Berbera, British Somaliland. ^[1] Cordeaux was appointed Vice-Consul at Berbera on 15 October 1900, ^[3] and promoted to Consul on 15 November 1902, ^[4] serving until 1906, during which time he also exercised the office of Deputy Commissioner of British Somaliland between 1904 and 1906. He was appointed Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of British Somaliland from 1906 to 1910. ^[1] During this time, he took a keen interest in the fauna of Somaliland, identifying the small antelope Cordeaux's Dik-dik Madoqua (saltiana) cordeauxi, now usually seen as a subspecies of Salt's Dik-dik. ^[5]

As colonial governor

Cordeaux served as the first Governor of Uganda from 1910 to 1911, ^[1] supervising the construction of the railway from Jinja to Kakindu. ^[5] He was then appointed Governor of St Helena, serving from 1911 to 1920, and later Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the British Bahamas (1920–1926). ^[1] In 1920 he laid the foundation stone of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas. ^[6]

In 1923, concessions were granted to Cordeaux and Arthur Sands to cut the pine forest on New Providence. They built a sawmill south of Gambier Village near Jack Pond, but the licence was never profitable and was relinquished in 1930. ^[7]

During the period of Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), there was a huge increase in exports of whiskey from Britain to the Bahamas. By February 1921, Cordeaux reported that there were 31 bonded warehouses in the island. Revenue rose from £81,049 in 1919 to £1,065,899 in 1923, and remained above £500,000 per year until 1930. ^[8]

Speaking in Montreal, Cordeaux said that the liquor traffic was the reason for the island's healthy economy, including the ability to finance a £250,000 improvement to the harbor in Nassau. This statement was widely circulated in the American press. The British took no measures to stop the trade. ^[9]

Honours

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list on 26 June 1902, ^{[10] [11]} a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1904 and created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1921, styled Sir thereafter. ^[1]

Personal life and death

Cordeaux married Maud Wentworth-Fitzwilliam on 2 October 1912. He died on 2 July 1943. ^[1]

References

1. "Lincolnshire and Fenland Families: Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
2. Andrew Alexander Hunter, ed. (1890). Cheltenham college register, 1841-1889. G. Bell and sons. p.  376.
3. "Foreign Office, October 15, 1900" (PDF). The London Gazette: 6854. 9 November 1900. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
4. "No. 27503". The London Gazette . 12 December 1902. p. 8589.
5. Bo Beolens; Michael Watkins; Michael Grayson (2009). The eponym dictionary of mammals. JHU Press. p. 86. ISBN   978-0-8018-9304-9.
6. "About The Supreme Court of The Bahamas". The Supreme Court of The Bahamas. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
7. Larry Smith (5 July 2011). "Protecting Bahamian Forests". Bahama Pundit. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
8. Michael Craton; Gail Saunders (2000). Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People: Volume 2: From the Ending of Slavery to the Twenty-First Century. University of Georgia Press. p. 238. ISBN   0-8203-2284-9.
9. Roy A. Haynes; President Warren Harding (2004). Prohibition Inside Out. Kessinger Publishing. p. 72. ISBN   1-4179-1535-8.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
10. "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5.
11. "No. 27456". The London Gazette . 22 July 1902. p. 4669.