View entry
Name: GOWERS, William Frederick KCMG, Sir
Birth Date: 31 Dec 1875 Marylebone
Death Date: 7 Oct 1954 Pancras, London
First Date: 1925
Profession: Appointed Governor of Uganda in 1926. He stirred the senior officials out of their lethargy, and cared not at all that he made himself unpopular in the process.
Area: Kampala
Married: 1. In Marylebone 19 July 1904 Maud Loraine b. 1878 Marylebone, d. 8 Jan 1947 Khartoum; 2. In New Forest 1950 Winifred Patricia Bruce Paul d. 8 Aug 1998 Edinburgh
Children: None in Who's Who
Book Reference: Boase, Debrett, Red 25, Colonial, UJ, Chandler, Alice - Memoirs
School: Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge MA; Barrister-at-law, Inner Temple
General Information:
Debrett - Bar, Inner Temple 1915; sometime Assist. Native Commr., Matabeleland; was Resident at Kano 1912-21, Lieut.-Gov. of Nigeria 1921-5, Gov. and Com.-in-Ch. Uganda 1925-32, and Senior Crown Agent for the Colonies 1932-8; in Cameroons 1915-19 as Political Advisor to Gen. Officer Comdg. Expeditionary Force; is a Chevalier of Legion of Honour, and a Grand Officer of Order of Leopold of Belgium
Red 25 - entered B.S.A. Co. service 1899; Assistant Native Commissioner, Matabeleland 1900; N. Nigeria 1902; Acting Chief Secretary, Nigeria 1912
Uganda Journal - Vol. 19, No. 1 - Obituary
Uganda Journal - Vol. 20, No. 1 - Uganda Twenty-Five Years Ago by C. Handley Bird CBE - the Governor, who pressed for major land reforms in Buganda and brought the railway through to Kampala in 1931. He also insisted on the opening up of the Western Province with a road programme of the then enormous sum of £60,000
Alice - Memoirs - 'nicknamed "Wicked Willie" because of his roving eye for the ladies.
Cambridge Univ Alumni pens. at TRINITY, June 29, 1895. S. of [Sir] William Richard [M.D., F.R.S.], of 50, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, London. B. [Dec. 31, 1875], in London. School, Rugby. Matric. Michs. 1895; B.A. (Class. Trip., Pt I, 1st Class) 1898; M.A. 1920. In service of the British South Africa Co., S. Rhodesia, 1898-1902. Entered Civil Service of Northern Nigeria, 1902. Called to the Bar, Inner Temple, June 16, 1915. Served with Cameroons expeditionary force, 1915-16. Lieut.-Governor of Nigeria, 1921. Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Uganda Protectorate, 1925-32. Senior Crown Agent for the Colonies, 1932-8. Deputy Chairman, Cereals Control Board, 1939-40. C.M.G., 1919. K.C.M.G., 1926. Legion of Honour, 1917. Grand Officer, Order of Leopold. Brother of Ernest A. (1899). (Rugby Sch. Reg.; Who's Who; Kelly, Handbook.)