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Name: KING, Lancelot Noel Frederick Irving OBE, CBE (Capt.)

Birth Date: 25 Dec 1878 Galle, Sri Lanka

Death Date: 29 May 1947 Stockholm

First Date: 1914

Profession: Survey Dept, Director of Surveys

Area: Nairobi

Married: 1. In Clifton, Glos. 5 July 1904 Joan Sweeting b. 1883 (later m. William Kilmister Notley 1880-1950); 2. In Paddington 1923 Ester Amalia Matilda Haij née Stäck b. 16 May 1890 Goteborg, Sweden, d. 8 Dec 1976 Stockholm (prev. m. to Henry Andreas Haij)

Book Reference: Gazette; Red 19

War Service: He served as a Captain and Major in the Royal Engineers of the British Army, where his expertise as a surveyor was utilized in colonial and military mapping operations

General Information:

Gazette - 7/4/15 - Liable for Jury service, Nairobi District - Capt. N.I. King, Survey Dept.
Blue Book 1915-16 appt. 25 Mar 1914
Gazette 6/5/1914 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Director of Surveys - 15/4/1914
Red Book 1919 - Survey Dept. - Director of Surveys
He played a significant historical role as a surveyor in East Africa, most notably as a key member and leader of the Jubaland Boundary Commission. Under the 1915 Treaty of London, Britain agreed to cede parts of British East Africa (specifically the Jubaland region, located in modern-day southern Somalia) to Italy as a reward for Italy entering World War I on the Allied side. To execute this transfer, the Jubaland Boundary Commission was established jointly by British and Italian representatives to demarcate the new international border separating Italian Somaliland from Kenya (which was then a British colony/protectorate).King served as a senior British commissioner and surveyor on the project, working alongside other officials like E. H. M. Clifford to map, survey, and formally lay out the precise territorial boundaries. King, L. N., & Clifford, E. H. M. (1928). The Work of the Jubaland Boundary Commission. This paper details the extreme environments, logistical challenges, and technical surveying methods utilised to map the remote wilderness along the Juba River and surrounding frontier.

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