Sir William John Keith, (13 April 1873 – 22 January 1937) was a British colonial administrator in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Biography

William Keith was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, the eldest child of Davidson Keith (1842–1921), an advertising agent, and Margaret Stobie Keith, ''née'' Drysdale (1851–1911). All his five siblings were associated with the British Empire in Burma and India.

Arthur Berriedale Keith Arthur Berriedale Keith (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the Briti ...

(1879 –1944) was a leading constitutional law and Sanskrit scholar; Steuart Keith (died 1925) was a sessions judge in Burma; and Alan Davidson Keith (died 1928) was a barrister in Burma. His two sisters married British expatriates in India and Burma. Keith was educated at the

Royal High School, Edinburgh The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he took first-class honours in Classics in 1895. He joined the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

the same year, ranking first in the examinations, then spent a year as probationer at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

before reaching Burma in 1896. He was appointed secretary to the Financial Commissioner of Burma in 1899, Revenue Secretary in 1912, and Commissioner of

Magwe Division Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, with an area of . Pa Del Dam (ပဒ� ...

in 1919. He became a nominated member of the

Indian Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British Raj, British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was ...

in 1921. The following year, he was appointed Financial Commissioner and Officiating Development Commissioner, In 1913, he became first member and Vice-President of the Executive Council of Burma. In 1925 he served as acting

Governor of Burma The colonial governors of Burma were the colonial administrators responsible for the territory of British Burma, an area equivalent to modern-day Myanmar. As a result of the Second Anglo-Burmese War, Burma was initially setup as a province o ...

. Passed over for the governorship in 1927, he retired in 1928 to

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...

, where he died in 1937. In 1915, Keith married Isabel Adamson, daughter of Sir Harvey Adamson, Lieutenant-Governor of Burma. They had a son and two daughters. Keith was made a CIE in 1917, a

knight bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in 1925, and a KCSI in 1928. He was the only man to be appointed KCSI exclusively for services in relation to Burma.

Assessment

The ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' commented that:

Keith's work was marked by inexhaustible attention to detail and a readiness to interfere at the lowest levels of administration, characteristics which did not endear him to other civil servants or the expatriate commercial community. He was known for his wordy, sometimes pompous, minutes and was easily caricatured as a humourless Scot. Whatever the irritation suffered by his European colleagues, however, his patience and lack of grandeur made him popular with the first Burmese politicians who tasted power under diarchy. In an era when most Europeans thought the Burmese incapable of any form of self-government, Keith was one of the few prepared to treat his Burmese colleagues as intimates.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Knights Bachelor 1937 deaths Civil servants from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Administrators in British Burma British expatriates in Myanmar Knights Companion of the Order of the Star of India Scottish civil servants Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire