View source for Geoffry Northcote

{{Short description|British colonial administrator (1881–1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Sir Geoffry Northcote
| birth_name          = Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote<ref name="TimesObit"/>
| honorific-suffix    = [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]] [[KStJ]]
| image               = File:Sir Geoffry Northcote.jpg
| caption             = 
| order               = 20th
| office              = Governor of Hong Kong
| monarch             = [[George VI]]
| 1blankname          = [[Chief Secretary for Administration|Colonial Secretary]]
| 1namedata           = [[Norman Lockhart Smith]]
| term_start          = 28 October 1937
| term_end            = 6 September 1941
| lieutenant          = 
| predecessor         = Sir [[Andrew Caldecott]]
| successor           = Sir [[Mark Aitchison Young]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1881|02|09|df=y}}
| birth_place         = 
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1948|07|10|1881|02|09|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Sanderstead]], [[Surrey]], England
| party               = 
| profession          = colonial administrator
| alma_mater          = [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| spouse              = Edith Juliet Mary Adams
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| footnotes           = 
| module              = {{Chinese|child=yes|t=羅富國|s=罗富国|j=lo4 fu3 gwok3|p=Luó Fùguó|por=}}
}}

'''Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote''', [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]] [[KStJ]] (羅富國;9 February 1881 – 10 July 1948)<ref name="TimesObit">{{cite news |title=Sir Geoffry Northcote |work=The Times |date=12 July 1948 |page=7}}</ref><ref>{{Who's Who | title = NORTHCOTE, Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford | id = U229863 | type = was | volume = 2025 | edition = online}}</ref> was a British colonial administrator.

==Early life, education, and early colonial services career==
Northcote was the son of Reverend the Hon. Arthur Francis Northcote, fourth son of [[Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh|the 1st Earl of Iddesleigh]]. [[Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote|The 1st Baron Northcote]] was his uncle. He was educated at [[Blundell's School]] in [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]]. He entered the Colonial Service in 1904 and served in [[Kenya]] (the [[East African Protectorate]]) from 1904 to 1927. He became Chief Secretary of [[Northern Rhodesia]] a year later, and served there until 1930. Afterwards, Northcote served as the Chief Secretary of [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], until 1934 and as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of [[British Guiana]] from 1935 to 1937.

==Attack in Kenya==
When he arrived in Kenya in 1904 as a political attache, Northcote was posted to [[Nyanza Province]] which was then part of Uganda. In early 1905, he accompanied a punitive expedition to [[Kisii people|Kisii]] land in South Nyanza. The expedition seized and slaughtered livestock and torched houses as punishment for raids the Kisii had carried out on neighbouring groups. In 1907, Northcote was deployed as the District Commissioner of Kisii. The Kisii, who nicknamed him ''Nyarigoti'', considered him their mortal enemy. On 18 January 1908, in the middle of a punitive expedition he was leading, Northcote was attacked with a spear and injured by a warrior called [[Warrior Otenyo|Otenyo]]. When Otenyo was caught, he was tried and executed in public by a firing squad and then beheaded. When Northcote learned of these attacks to revenge the attack on him, which ended up costing 160 lives, he wrote to his father, "It would take too long to describe the idiocy, obstinacy and want of military operations."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000049243/otenyo-the-warrior-who-dared-a-white-dc?articleID=2000049243&story_title=otenyo-the-warrior-who-dared-a-white-dc&pageNo=1|title=Otenyo, the warrior who dared a white DC}}</ref>

==Hong Kong Governorship==
[[File:Northcote Executive Council.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Sir Geoffry Northcote (centre) and his secretaries; businessman [[Robert Kotewall]] is 2nd on the right]]
He became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong in 1937. During his tenure, the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] broke out, and battles broke out throughout Mainland China. In order to safeguard the Colony, Northcote immediately declared Hong Kong a neutral zone. As the war proceeded, [[Guangzhou|Canton]] (Guangzhou) was occupied by the Japanese, causing a population boom as refugees rushed into Hong Kong. Northcote proposed more provision of housing and social services to serve the needs of the poor.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Goodstadt | first=Leo F. | author-link= Leo Goodstadt |date= 2004 | title=The Rise and Fall of Social, Economic and Political Reforms in Hong Kong, 1930–1955 | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |volume= 44 | pages=63 }}</ref> Meanwhile, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) also started encroaching upon Sham Chun ([[Shenzhen]]), leading the Hong Kong government to adopt various measures to cope with the emergency, such as the construction of air-raid shelters and blackout practices. Northcote also withdrew the plan of expanding social services.

After taking six-months' leave in the UK, Northcote returned to Hong Kong in March 1941. Poor health forced him to retire that year, and he left when his appointment expired in September 1941.
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==Personal life==
Northcote married Edith Juliet Mary Adams on 27 October 1910; she was the daughter of [[James Adams (chaplain)|James Adams]] VC. The couple had three sons: Maxwell Adams Stafford, Arthur Geoffrey Stafford, and Amyas Henry Stafford. Northcote died in July 1948, aged 67.

==Honours==
* [[Order of St Michael and St George|C.M.G.]], 1931<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33722|page=3627 |supp=y |date=2 June 1931}}</ref>
* [[K.C.M.G.]], 1935<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34166|page=3598 |supp=y |date=31 May 1935}}</ref>
* [[Venerable Order of St. John|K.St.J.]] 1937<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34470|page=28|date=4 January 1938}}</ref>

==Places named after him==
Northcote Close, a road on [[Hong Kong Island]], and [[Hong Kong Institute of Education|Northcote Teachers' College]] (the premises is now occupied by [[Bonham Road Government Primary School]]) were named after him.

==See also==
* [[History of Hong Kong]]
* [[Earl of Iddesleigh]]
* [[Warrior Otenyo]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, {{Page needed |date=February 2013}}
{{commons category|Geoffry Northcote}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box
| before=[[Alexander Ransford Slater]]
| title=[[Governor of the Gold Coast]], ''acting'' | years=1932
| after=Sir [[Shenton Thomas]]
}}
{{succession box
| before=Sir [[Shenton Thomas]]
| title=[[Governor of the Gold Coast]], ''acting'' | years=1934
| after=Sir [[Arnold Wienholt Hodgson]]
}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Edward Brandis Denham]] | title = [[Governor of British Guiana]]| years = 1935–1937 | after = Sir [[Wilfrid Edward Francis Jackson]]}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Andrew Caldecott]] | title = [[Governor of Hong Kong]]| years = 1937–1941 | after = Sir [[Mark Aitchison Young]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governor of Hong Kong}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Northcote, Geoffry Alexander Stafford}}
[[Category:Governors of British Guiana]]
[[Category:Governors of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:Chief secretaries of Northern Rhodesia]]
[[Category:Chief secretaries of the Gold Coast (British colony)]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Knights of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:Northcote family|Geoffry]]
[[Category:People educated at Blundell's School]]
[[Category:Civil servants from London]]
[[Category:20th-century Hong Kong people]]
[[Category:20th-century British politicians]]