John Hathorn Hall

Sir John Hathorn Hall GCMG DSO OBE MC (19 June 1894 – 17 June 1979) was a British colonial administrator.

During World War I, he served with the 8th Royal Munster Fusiliers and the 27th Infantry Brigade, rising to the rank of captain,[1] and was awarded the Military Cross as well as the Belgian Croix de Guerre. He worked in the Ministry of Finance of the Egyptian Civil Service (Egypt then being a British protectorate) in 1919–1920. Subsequently he served in the Middle East Department of the Colonial Office and was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List of 1931.[2]

In 1927, Hall married Torfrida Trevenen Mills.[3] In 1933, he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Government of Palestine (then a British Mandate under the League of Nations).[4] On at least two occasions, in 1934 and in 1937, he served as Officer Administering the Government of Palestine during absences of the High Commissioner for Palestine.[5][6]

His later service included the following posts:

Sir John was awarded the GCMG in the New Year's Honours List of 1950.[10] After retiring from the colonial service, Sir John became a director of several companies, including the P&O and British India steamship lines, and the Midland Bank. A portrait of Sir John by Walter Bird is now part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.[11]

  1. ^ "Captain John Hathorn Hall". Lives of the First World War. Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  2. ^ "New Year Honours List 1931, departmental recommendations". The National Archives. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  3. ^ "Life Story: John Hathorn Hall". Lives of the First World War. Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  4. ^ Gilbert, Martin. The Churchill War Papers: The Ever-Widening War, 1941, Volume 3, p. 795. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
  5. ^ "Proclamation by the Officer Administering the Government of Palestine, 16th March 1934" (PDF). The Palestine Gazette. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  6. ^ "Proclamation by the Officer Administering the Government of Palestine, 8th February, 1937" (PDF). The Palestine Gazette. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Tanzania", worldstatesmen.org, accessed 6 Feb. 2012
  8. ^ "Yemen", worldstatesmen.org, accessed 6 Feb. 2012
  9. ^ "Uganda", worldstatesmen.org, accessed 6 Feb. 2012
  10. ^ "No. 38797". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1949. pp. 4–5.
  11. ^ "Sir John Hathorn Hall", National Portrait Gallery, accessed 6 Feb. 2012