Major General Sir John Terence Nicholls O'Brien (23 April 1830 – 25 February 1903) was a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, engineer and colonial

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, O'Brien studied at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and then attended the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. O'Brien, a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer, received a medal of honour for his service in the Indian Mutiny War. He was appointed acting

Governor of British Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in British Ceylon, Ceylon of the British The Crown, Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Ceylon, Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief o ...

in 1863 and held the office for two years, succeeding

Charles Justin MacCarthy Sir Charles Justin MacCarthy (1811–1864) was the 12th Governor of British Ceylon and the 12th Accountant General and Controller of Revenue. He was appointed on 22 October 1860 and was Governor until 1 December 1863. He also served as acting go ...

. In 1881, he was appointed governor of

Heligoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...

, knighted in 1888 and became governor of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

in 1889. O'Brien as governor of

helped precipitate the 1894 bank crash by his many dispatches to London noting that Newfoundland politicians under Premier William Whiteway's Liberal Government were uniquely corrupt and incompetent. He resigned from office in 1895 and returned to London. The Newfoundland community of Terenceville was so named in his honour. O'Brien's son, Sir Charles O'Brien, also became a colonial governor. O'Brien died in 1903 in London, England.

References

External links

Biography at Government House ''The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador''Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1830 births 1903 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Governors of Newfoundland Colony British East India Company Army officers British Indian Army officers British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Lieutenant governors of Heligoland Governors of British Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century British military personnel General Officers Commanding, Ceylon Military personnel from Manchester Knights_Commander_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George {{canada-viceroy-stub

See also

References

External links