Kerr, John Henry - I992

The elder son John Henry (1871-1934) became The Honourable Sir John Henry Kerr, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., colonial governor in British India. He was created a Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, and a Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India in 1922.

Educated at the Glasgow Academy, the University of Glasgow, then Clare College, Cambridge, John Kerr had joined the Indian Civil Service in 1892. In turn he was settlement officer, Bihar; collector of Midnapore; Director of Land Records, Bengal; Deputy Secretary to the Government of India ; Revenue Secretary to the Government of India; Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal; (Finance) member of the Bengal Executive Council; Governor of Assam; acting Governor of Bengal; and Deputy Chairman of the Indian Franchise Committee. He retired only a year or so before his death.

He was married in 1898 at Christ Church, Muzaffarpur, Tirhut, Bihar, India, to Minnie Julia Wilson, grand-daughter of the Chief Judge of Mauritius. They had two daughters and two sons, the elder of whom, John Minden Kerr, was a brigadier in the British army. Sir John died in April 1934 at his residence “Fairstead” in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. He was survived by Lady Kerr until January 1957.