He joined the IBEA Co. and for more than 20 years was engaged in administration duties in Uganda and EA. When Provincial Commissioner in Kisumu in 1904 he pronounced it to be much too unhealthy a place for white women to live! The Chief Political Officer with the Nandi Field Force in 1906, he retired from the Colonial Service in 1910, but on the outbreak of WW1 he volunteered for further duty, and was appointed Political Officer on Mafia Island after its occupation in 1915. He later undertook similar duties in the occupied GEA Protectorate.

Cuckoo - 1904 - P.C. at Kisumu - a charming man, an able administrator and held in high esteem by Europeans and natives in E.A. He had served in that country or Uganda from 1887, first with the Chartered Company and then with the F.O. He had also spent his early youth on the western prairies of N. America, engaged in cattle ranching.  

1895 - Hobley - sent to help Hobley at Mumias. He was an old and valued friend  

KFA - First President of the Rift Valley Sports Club when he was PC.  

Golf - Before he joined the Administration, Mr H.R. Montgomery hit golf balls around the Naivasha boma with Mr Bagge, who was PC, Naivasha  

Police - 1904 - PC at Kisumu, was adamant that the place was far too unhealthy for a woman to make a home there.  

Debrett - Ch. Political Officer with Nandi Field Force 1906-7, and Political Officer GEA 1916-17, appointed Administrator of the Island of Mafia, EA 1915.

Kill - the popular and charming PC at Kisumu.  

Grogan - Kasagama's Hill - met Mr S.S. Bagge, one of the founders of Uganda Protectorate, who has spent nearly 9 years in the country. .…   

Kenya Diary - Kisumu - Aug. 1904 - met Stephen Bagge, the Sub-Commissioner, who kindly put me up for the night. ....... Apr. 1906 ..... I like Stephen Bagge, he is one of the oldest administrative officers out here, having been with Lugard in Uganda 15 years ago. Of course, he knows the country and the people much better than I do, but he does not resent criticism and usually encourages it.  

Patricia Hoey comments - it was a big day when he came to Rottingdean. I was a teenager. He had been Dad's [Charles Adams] first PC. A very nice old man then.   

Matson - Bagge arrived at Kampala 31/3/1891; served the Company in Uganda until invalided home in Dec. 1892; returned to Kampala Feb 1895 as 2nd Class assistant and served in Buganda and Busoga; transferred to Mumias Nov. 1895. .......... Bagge undoubtedly matured considerably in later years, but when he served as a newcomer under the Company in Uganda in 1891, Lugard had been severely critical of his subordinate's attitude and conduct. "He seems a useless kind of man, helpless with no initiative, and very little 'go' or nous, and besides to be constantly ailing. It would not do to leave such a man in the very far interior, in a station where trouble might arise, or war ........". Lugard's censorious assessment of 1891 may not have been valid in 1896, but Bagge did little during his stay at Kipture to increase his personal prestige or to convince the Nandi of the government's concern for their welfare. ..........….   

Matson - IBEA officer at Luba's and later Mumias in 1895   

EAHB 1905 - 2nd Class Assistant, Uganda Protectorate, October 8th 1894; Sub-Commissioner, EAP April 1st 1902

The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa Playne - Mr Bagge is one of the 6 PCs in the service of the EAP, his station being Naivasha. He was appointed a Second Class Assistant of the Uganda Protectorate on October 8, 1894. His first appointment in the EAP dates from 1902 (April 1st), when he became a Sub-Commissioner. He was decorated for his services as Chief Political Officer, Nandi Field Force, and was made a CMG in 1907. President of Rift Valley Sports Club

East Africa & Rhodesia - 2/11/50 - Mr Stephen S. Bagge, CMG. Who has died in London at the age of 91, was the last surviving member of the 1890 expedition to Uganda under Lord (then Capt.) Lugard, he had a long and distinguished career as a Government servant and was a witness to the signatures of Lugard and Kabaka Mwanga to the treaty of March 1892. He had joined the IBEA Co. two years earlier, and for the next 20 years was engaged on administrative duties in Uganda and Kenya. While he was in charge of the Elgon district there was much unrest, and after he had become a provincial commissioner he was chief political officer with the Nandi Field Force in 1906. He retired from the Colonial Service in 1910, but on the outbreak of war 4 years later volunteered for duty in order to release a younger man. He was political officer on Mafia Island after its occupation in 1915, and later undertook similar duties in the occupied German East Africa Protectorate.

IBEA Co. - Nominal List of British Born Subjects resident in IBEA Territories outside the Sultans Domain, 30 April 1891 - S.S. Bagge, England, Asst. IBEA Co.

IBEA - General Africa Staff - Appointed 9th May 1890

Uganda Journal - Vol 23, p.146 - Captain Smith's Expedition to Lake Victoria - 1890-3 with IBEA Company; 1894-1902 district officer Uganda Protectorate; 1902 to East Africa Protectorate as sub-Commissioner; 1910 retired; 1916-17 political officer German East African campaign.

Medals - East African Political Department - Special List, Major

EA Diary 1903 - 2nd Class Assistant Uganda, Oct. 8 1894; Sub-Commissioner, EA Protectorate, April 1 1902

EAHB 1907 - Sub-Commissioner - Kisumu

Chandler - Widely considered one of the more talented British provincial commissioners of his day, Bagge lived in Uganda for 15 years before taking a post in the Kenya administration in 1902. Before that, he had been a rancher in Texas.

EAHB 1905 - Sub-Commissioner, Kisumu.

Red 25 - Left Provincial Administration 1910