John Keith Stanford
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
MC (29 April 1892 – 24 September 1971) was a British civil servant who worked in Burma and wrote several books on sport, humour, and natural history.
Stanford was born in Aldringham, Suffolk and educated at
Rugby School and
St. John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...
. He was commissioned into the
Suffolk Regiment
The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before bein ...
in 1915 and was attached to the
Tank Corps from 1917. At the end of the
First World War he held the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. Appointed to the
Indian Civil Service (Burma services) on 24 October 1919, he arrived in India on 24 December 1919. He married Evelyn Lushington née Hirst just before his move to India but the marriage failed and they had a child in 1922. After a divorce he married his Eleanor, née Davies, in 1927.
He held the following positions:
* Deputy director of Commercial Intelligence, Calcutta, January 1922.
* Services placed at the government of Burma's disposal, June 1923.
* Under Secretary Home and Police Department, December 1923.
* Officiating Deputy Commissioner, June 1924
*
Registrar, High Court, Rangoon, June 1925
* Officiating deputy commissioner, June 1927
* District commissioner of Prome District 1929
* District commissioner of Insein District 1930
* Secretary Revenue Department, Burma, June 1932.
* Deputy commissioner for Myitkyina from 1932 to 1936.
Following his time in Prome & Insein District, he played a part in the suppression of the
Burma Rebellion 1930–31. He was awarded an O.B.E., 1932. He retired in 1938 and then took part in
Vernay-
Cutting expedition to the North-East Burma Hills. Between 1927 and 1939 he did much ornithological work in Burma. Amongst his other publications was ''The Birds of Northern Burma'' 1938.
In 1939, he was commissioned
lieutenant in the
National Defence Companies
The National Defence Companies of the Territorial Army were a voluntary military reserve force of the British Army, for the purpose of home defence in the event of war. Enlistment was limited to former members of the British Armed Forces between ...
. In 1940, Stanford transferred to the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps. He retired in 1945 with the rank of
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
.
His granddaughter Melissa Stanford is the wife of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 9th Earl of Radnor.
List of works
Stanford wrote 27 books, and was a regular contributor to ''
The Field'', ''
Shooting Times'', ''
Ibis'', the journal of the
Bombay Natural History Society, and other magazines. He served as a secretary for the Kipling Society and was, for a period, Vice-President of the
British Ornithologists' Union
The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...
(BOU).
Many of his books are about
hunting and shooting,
ornithology, and British colonial life between the world wars. He also enjoyed poetry and his witty ''Rarissima avis'' ("By far the rarest bird of all is the bird on the lawn of my aunt") which he recited often was included in his ''Bewilderment of Birds'' (1954).
(dates from Bodleian Library catalogue)
*''The Twelfth'' (1944, rev. 1964 as ''The Twelfth and After: being the life and death of
George Hysteron-Proteron
Colonel the Hon. George Hysteron-Proteron CB (c. 1874–1942) is a fictional character created by the author J. K. Stanford. A British soldier, sporting gun, and Lord of the manor of Five Mile Wallop, Cambridgeshire, in his London home, the Qu'h ...
'')
*''Far Ridges: a record of travel in north-eastern Burma 1938-9'' (1946)
*''The Awl-Birds'' (1949)
*''Guns Wanted'' (1949)
*''Bledgrave Hall'' (1950)
*''Reverie of a Qu'Hai, & other Stories'' (1951)
*''Last Chukker'' (1951)
*''No Sportsman at All'' (1952)
*''House of Edward Stanford Ltd. 1852–1952'', by Lt Col J. K. Stanford and E. G. Godfrey (1952)
*''Full Moon at Sweatenham: a nightmare'' (1953)
*''A Bewilderment of Birds'' (1954)
*''British Friesians: A History of the Breed'' (1956)
*''Fox Me: the story of a cub'' (1958)
*''Jimmy Bundobust'' (1958)
*''Death of a