Sir Graeme Thomson (9 August 1875 – 28 September 1933) was a British civil servant in the Admiralty, who served as a colonial civil servant and then governor in several British colonies.

Admiralty clerk

Graeme Thomson was educated at

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

and joined the civil service in 1900, being assigned to the Admiralty.Obituary in ''Straits Times''
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Director of Transports

Shortly after the outbreak of war, he received extremely rapid promotion, from a superintending clerk to Civil Assistant Director of Transport in September 1914 and to Director of Transports at the Admiralty in December,''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide, South Australia), 1 April 1915, page 7, column 7
succeeding Admiral Savory.

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

praised him after stating over a million troops had been moved:

The credit for these arrangements lies very largely with the head of the Admiralty Transport Department, Mr. Graeme Thomson—one of the discoveries of the War, a man who has stepped into the place when the emergency came, who has formed, organised, and presided over performances and transactions the like of which were never contemplated by any State in history. Indeed, so smoothly and unfailingly has this vast business, the like of which has not been previously witnessed, been carried through, that we have several times been compelled to remind the soldiers whom we serve, and I now think it right to remind the House, that, after all, we are at war.

The Adelaide '' Advertiser'' described him in 1915 as:

A tall, soldierly-looking man with the face of a diplomat, the forehead of a thinker, a square chin, and a bushy moustache, Mr. Thomson's appearance conveys the impression of a rare combination of organising ability, accuracy, judgment, resource, and rapid assimilation of ideas.

In 1917, the Directorate of Shipping for the Ministry of Shipping and Admiralty was created and Thomson was placed in charge of it.

Colonial Service

After the war government involvement in shipping declined and his post was abolished. He then joined the Colonial Service, being appointed as Colonial Secretary of Ceylon in 1919, then Governor of British Guiana in 1922 and of

Governor of Nigeria The Governor-General of Nigeria was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in Colonial Nigeria from 1954 to 1960, and after Nigerian independence in 1960, the representative of the Nigerian head of state. The office was create ...

in 1925, and finally of Governor of Ceylon in 1931. He died at

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

on his way home from there. He had been appointed Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in the

1928 New Year Honours The 1928 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1927. Unusually, only women we ...

.London Gazette supplement
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Graeme 1875 births 1933 deaths British civil servants Governors of British Ceylon Governors of British Guiana British Governors and Governors-General of Nigeria Chief Secretaries of Ceylon Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century British people Alumni of New College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath