- Arthur Mooring
Sir George Mooring known to his friends as Satan for unknown reasons, possibly his eyebrows, was
British Resident inZanzibar from January 1960 to December 1963.Arthur George Rixson Mooring was born inDunstable on November 23rd 1908, the son of the editor of the Bedford Gazette. He was educated atBedford Modern School andQueens' College, Cambridge where he read Modern Languages and as a dedicated rowing man, he coached the Queen's boat.He entered the Colonial Service in 1931 and was sent to Nigeria where he served in every Province in the North. He joined the
Royal West African Frontier Force and at the outbreak of war in 1039 was called up and served with them for four years in theArakan , Burma, fighting like commandos to keep the Japanese away from India. He wasmentioned in dispatches and gained the rank ofLieutenant Colonel . Upon demobilisation he returned to Nigeria, being posted to the Finance Department of the Secretariat in Lagos and after 2 years to Ibadan, where he rose to becomeMinister of Finance of the Western Region . When the Deputy Governor had to return to the United Kingdom due to sudden illness, Satan took his place and found himself Acting Governor for the three months interim between Western Governors. He was knighted in 1955.In 1959 he was awarded the KCMG and became the British Resident
Zanzibar , for 5 years. Independence having been urged by theBritish Government , against his advice, this was granted in 1963 and his tour of duty was cut by a year. TheSultan of Zanzibar awarded him theBrilliant Star of Zanzibar , First Class. A month later revolution broke out, causing a great many deaths and other miseries, and Satan was called upon by the British Government to help the Sultan and his enormous enourage to settle in England.During the next 5 years he undertook
Economic and Boundary Commissions to theGilbert & Ellice Islands ,Sierra Leone andAntigua . He becameChairman o the Civil Service Commission . He had married Patricia Josephine Downman (nee Hare-Duke) in 1947 and they had a son, William, born in 1949 and a daughter, Julia, born in 1951. They settled in Earl Soham in Suffolk where Satan sat on a number of local committees, delighted in his large garden, and enjoyed some ocean-going sailing. He died of cancer in 1969.
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