{{Short description|Governor-General of Nigeria from 1948 to 1955}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = John Stuart Macpherson | honorific_suffix = GCMG | image = Oba Akenzua II with Earl of Plymouth and Sir John Macpherson, Governor-General of Nigeria.jpg | caption = Sir John Stuart Macpherson to the left, Akenzua II in the middle, and the 2nd Earl of Plymouth to the right. Benin city, Nigeria, 1935 | order = 1st | office = Governor-General of Nigeria | monarch = Elizabeth II | term_start = 1 October 1954 | term_end = 15 June 1955 | predecessor = ''Himself'' {{small|(as Governor)}} | successor = James Wilson Robertson | office1 = Governor of Nigeria | monarch1 = George VI<br/>Elizabeth II | term_start1 = 5 February 1948 | term_end1 = 1 October 1954 | predecessor1 = Arthur Richards | successor1 = ''Himself'' {{small|(as Governor-general)}} | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1898|08|25}} | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1971|11|05|1898|08|25}} | death_place = London, England | party = | spouse = | education = George Watson's College<br/>University of Edinburgh. | children = Ian Francis Cluny Macpherson | alma_mater = | occupation = Civil servant <!--Military service-->| branch = {{army|UK}} | unit = Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders }} '''Sir John Stuart Macpherson''', GCMG (25 August 1898 – 5 November 1971), was a British colonial administrator who served as the governor of Nigeria from 1948 to 1954, and as governor-general from 1954 to 1955.
== Early life == Born in Edinburgh, the son of a hotel manager, Macpherson was educated at George Watson's College and at the University of Edinburgh.<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|first=A. H. M.|last=Kirk-Greene|title=Macpherson, Sir John Stuart (1898–1971)|id=37726|author-link=Anthony Kirk-Greene}}</ref> In 1917, he was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders; he was wounded in action on the Western Front, and had to wear a steel corset for the rest of his life.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == After World War I, Macpherson entered the Malayan Civil Service. Between 1933 and 1935 he was seconded to the Colonial Office. He was appointed Principal Assistant Secretary in Nigeria in 1937 and Chief Secretary of Palestine in 1939, serving there until 1943.<ref name=":0" /> In 1943 he was posted to Washington as Head of British Colonies Supply Mission and joint British Chairman of Anglo-American Caribbean Commission. Between 1945 and 1948 he was Comptroller for Development and Welfare in the West Indies and British co-Chairman of the Caribbean Commission.<ref name=":0" />
In 1948, Macpherson was appointed Governor of Nigeria (Governor-General from 1954), serving in that post until his retirement in 1955; he was succeeded by James Wilson Robertson. As Governor, Macpherson was responsible for the introduction of the 1951 Constitution (unofficially known as the Macpherson Constitution), which provided for "semi-responsible government".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation|last=Sklar|first=Robert L.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1963|location=Princeton|pages=118}}</ref> He also accelerated the Africanisation of the Nigerian public service.<ref name=":0" />
After his governorship, Macpherson served as the Chairman of the United Nations Visiting Mission to Trust Territories of the Pacific in 1956. The same year, he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, serving until 1959.<ref name=":0" />
== Honours == Macpherson was appointed CMG in 1941, promoted to KCMG in 1945 and GCMG in 1951.<ref name=":0" /> On 2 July 1947 he was made an Officer of the Czechoslovak Order of the White Lion.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{NPG name|80260|Sir John Stuart Macpherson}} {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{succession box | title=Governor-General of Nigeria | before=Arthur Richards | after=James Wilson Robertson | years=1948–1955}}
{{succession box | title = Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | before = Sir Thomas Lloyd | after = Sir Arthur Hilton Poynton | years = 1956–1959}} {{s-end}}{{Chief Secretaries of the British Mandate of Palestine}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, John Stuart}} Category:1898 births Category:1971 deaths Category:British governors and governors-general of Nigeria Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Colonial Service officers Category:Civil servants in the Colonial Office Category:Permanent under-secretaries of state for the colonies Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Officers of the Order of the White Lion Category:Chief secretaries of Palestine Category:Malayan Civil Service officers