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Name: HAYES-SADLER, James KCMG, CB, Sir

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Nee: son of Sir James Hayes-Sadler (1827-1910)

Birth Date: 11.10.1851 London

Death Date: 21.4.1922 St Malo, France

Nationality: British

First Date: 1906

Last Date: 1909

Profession: He was appointed in 1901 to be Commissioner of the Uganda Protectorate. 1st Governor and CinC of the EAP 1906-09 then to Windward Islands

Area: Uganda, Kenya

Married: In Lucknow, Bengal 29 Mar 1875 Rita Annie Wemyss-Smith b. 7 Mar 1856 India, d. 1918 Machynlleth, Wales

Children: Ernest Reginald (4 Sep 1878-30 Oct 1914 France, killed in action); James (2.3.1877 Delhi-1956 Uckfield); Edwin John Berkeley (1 Oct 1887 Baroda-28 Oct 1914 France, killed in action)

Book Reference: Gillett, SE, Ainsworth, Kelly, EAHB 1905, EA Diary 1903, Drumkey, Nicholls, North, EAHB 1904, EAHB 1907, Web, Cuckoo, Permanent Way, Oscar, Golf, McCutcheon, Moyse, Cranworth, Kenya Diary, Tucker, White Man, Kenyatta

General Information:

SE - Col. Hayes Sadler - Govt House - Sept 1907
From 1906-09 he was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of EAP.
Kelly - served in 61 and 40 Regts., entered I.S.C. and served in political dept., Consul-Gen. for the Somali Protectorate, EA 1898-1901, Commr. and Consul.-Gen. for the Uganda Protectorate and the adjoining territories from 1901
Captain of Nairobi Golf Club in 1910/11.
EAHB 1905 - H.M. Commissioner, Entebbe. Lieut.-Col., Indian Staff Corps, Late Foreign Dept., Govt. of India; First Commission July 6th 1870; served with 61st Foot in Canada and Ireland, and 40th Foot and 33rd Bengal Native Infantry in India; appointed to Political Dept. in India July 1877; Asst. Agent to the Governor-General at Baroda, May 1881; Asst. Secretary, Legislative Dept., July to Oct. 1886, Aug. to Oct. 1888, and April 1889 to Dec. 1890; Political Agent with the ex-Amir of Afghanistan, April 1891; Political Agent Kotal and Jhelaum, July 1891; on special duty with Prince Damsong of Siam, Feb. 1892; Political Agent and Consul of Muscat, Nov. 1892; Acting Resident and Consul-General, Persian Gulf, June 1893; Asst. Secretary, Govt. of India, Foreign Dept., April 1895; Political Agent and Consul, Somaliland Protectorate, Aug. 1898; retired from the Indian service, March 1899; continued to be employed as Consul-General, Somaliland till Dec. 1901; Commissioner in Uganda Dec. 1901; CB June 1902.
Nicholls - Stewart was succeeded by Sir James Hayes-Sadler, a peaceable portly man with a face like that of a surprised sheep. [Eric Dutton] Though of pleasant personality and socially popular, he was disastrous as a governor because he could never make up his mind. He would reply to all suggestions and requests with a letter saying he would give 'sympathetic consideration' to the subject, a phrase which became a joke among settlers and officials. The Colonial Office thought him 'amiable and conciliatory to the verge of timidity' and when he left office in 1909 downgraded him to the governorship of the Windward Islands.
North - 'A silly old fool' (Moffat, RH); 'A charming personage, but one whose mind worked rather slowly' (Hobley, 1929); 'A flabby, incompetent, faltering and doubtless crooked ass' (Meinertzhagen, RH)
Web DNW - 'Colonel Sadler's plump features were customarily arranged in an expression reflecting his inner expectation that he was about to be surprised, as indeed he frequently was. As Governor of the British East Africa Protectorate, he practised white man's magic by taking a gramophone with an enormous hoist into native villages, an imposition the inhabitants bore with commendable politeness.
Cuckoo - Sir James Hayes-Sadler was never popular in EA. It was not inexperience which occasioned dislike, as he served for a long time in the Indian Political Service and then as Commissioner of British Somaliland before being appointed to the Governorship of Uganda.
Permanent Way - Succeeded Sir Donald Stewart as the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the EA Protectorate. ............ had few of the qualifications needed to guide and rule a colony in the making through very difficult years; his mind worked slowly and he was apt to evade an unpleasant situation .......... delegation of angry settlers marched to Govt. House when he refused to give a straight answer on the labour question. .......... Not long after the uproar about labour, he was attacked from another quarter. It was revealed in 'The Times' that two young District Officers had used their position to procure native girls as concubines, an offence which the Govt.  treated with peculiar leniency. At once the Missionary Societies, the Aborigines Protection Society and certain Members of Parliament created a great stir. There were questions in the House, more letters to the press, and demands for the dismissal of the two offending officers. Inevitably the Governor was criticised for the lenient attitude of his Government. As a result he was transferred to the governorship of the Windward Islands.
McCutcheon - 'kind but inefficient. Some months ago was sent to the West Indies, where he is officially buried ....'                                                                                                                                
Cranworth - The Governor or Commissioner, as he was then called in 1906, was Colonel Hayes-Sadler, a courteous and kindly English gentleman, but not perhaps of sufficiently tough fibre to deal efficiently with what was, at all events in those early days, a fairly tough country. ......…
Kenya Diary - 15th Dec. 1905 - Muhoroni - Nandi Expedition - General Manning arrived here today from Uganda and a conference with the Nandi chiefs was held in the afternoon. After what I considered a weak and disconnected harangue by Hayes-Sadler, who neither knew what he wished to say nor could speak coherently, the terms were delivered in phrases of doubt and vacillation. .........                      
 Kenyatta - Governor 1905-09, knew nothing of the constitutional role which he filled, and his weakness earned him the nickname 'Flannelfoot' from the settlers.
White Man - was not a Governor who made decisions easily. He was not a strong man, and a strong man was needed .......... The settlers had instantly christened him 'Flannelfoot' (The invention of this name was attributed to Lady Delamere). He was a peace loving man who had no wish to become involved in any unpleasantness. Land and labour difficulties combined were having a serious effect on the country's development. There were so many delays and irritating red-tape restrictions that some settlers threw up their land and left EA for good. At one time in 1907 there was actually an efflux of Europeans and land began to go out of cultivation. ........ Settlers marched on Govt. House .......….
Sir James Hayes-Sadler left to take over Governorship of the Windward Islands. Having become, justly or not, highly unpopular with the settlers he had the misfortune to incur as well the displeasure of the Radical MPs and the powerful Missionary and Aborigines Protection Society broups in England. Certain scandals in the behaviour of administrative officers in the Protectorate service were brought to light by an anthropologist in the Kikuyu reserve, and aired in the columns of The Times and elsewhere. Two junior DOs were proved to have used their official authority to procure young native girls as concubines; ...... an enquiry was held - one officer lost a years seniority and the other was admonished.                                                                            
Kelly's - served in 61 and 40 regts., entered I.S.C. and served in political dept., Consul-Gen. for the Somali Protectorate 1898-1901, Commissioner and Consul-Gen. for the Uganda Protectorate and the adjoining territories from 1901.
North - Consul-General Somali Protectorate 1898-1901, "a silly old fool" (Moffat)
Two of his sons - Edwin and Reginald, were killed within two days of each other in France in WW1
His wife was a very gracious person, whose name was synonymous with hospitality.
 

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