List of colonial governors of Cameroon

This article lists the colonial governors of Cameroon. It encompasses the period when the country was under colonial rule of the German Empire (as Kamerun), military occupation of the territory by the Allies of World War I (during the Kamerun campaign of the African theatre), as well as the period when it was a Class B League of Nations mandate and a United Nation trust territory, under the administration of France (as French Cameroon) and the United Kingdom (as British Cameroon) respectively.

German Cameroon (bordered in red), 1905.
Cameroon 1901–1972
  Republic of Cameroon

List edit

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

Kamerun edit

Tenure Portrait Incumbent Notes
14 July 1884 to 19 July 1884   Gustav Nachtigal,
Kommissar
Commissioner
19 July 1884 to 1 April 1885 Maximilian Buchner,
acting Kommissar
acting Commissioner
1 April 1885 to 4 July 1885   Eduard von Knorr,
acting Kommissar
acting Commissioner
4 July 1885 to 14 February 1891   Julius von Soden,
Governor
13 May 1887 to 4 October 1887   Jesko von Puttkamer,
acting Governor
Acting for Soden, 1st time
4 October 1887 to 17 January 1888   Eugen von Zimmerer,
acting Governor
Acting for Soden, 1st time
26 December 1889 to 17 April 1890 Acting for Soden, 2nd time
17 April 1890 to 3 August 1890 Markus Graf von Pfeil,
acting Governor
Acting for Soden
3 August 1890 to 14 August 1890 Kurz,
acting Governor
Acting for Soden
14 August 1890 to 2 December 1890   Jesko von Puttkamer,
acting Governor
Acting for Soden, 2nd time
2 December 1890 to 15 April 1891 Heinrich Leist [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Soden to 14 February 1891, 1st time
15 April 1891 to 13 August 1895   Eugen von Zimmerer,
Governor
7 August 1891 to 5 January 1892   Bruno von Schuckmann,
acting Governor
Acting for Zimmerer
27 June 1893 to 24 February 1894 Heinrich Leist [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Zimmerer, 2nd time
31 December 1894 to 27 March 1895   Jesko von Puttkamer,
acting Governor
Acting for Zimmerer, 3rd time
27 March 1895 to 4 May 1895 von Lucke,
acting Governor
Acting for Zimmerer
13 August 1895 to 9 May 1907   Jesko von Puttkamer,
Governor
27 October 1895 to 10 September 1897   Theodor Seitz,
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer, 1st time
12 January 1898 to 13 October 1898 Acting for Puttkamer, 2nd time
17 January 1900 to 31 July 1900   August Köhler [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
1 August 1900 to 6 September 1900 Emil Diehl,
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
6 September 1900 to 15 November 1900 Oltwig von Kamptz [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
3 February 1902 to 3 October 1902 Albert Plehn [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
9 May 1904 to 8 November 1904   Karl Ebermaier,
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
9 November 1904 to 31 January 1905   Otto Gleim [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer, 1st time
January 1906 to November 1906 Franz Ludwig Wilhelm Müller,
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer
November 1906 to 9 May 1907   Otto Gleim [de],
acting Governor
Acting for Puttkamer, 2nd time
9 May 1907 to 27 August 1910   Theodor Seitz,
Governor
10 February 1909 to October 1909 Wilhelm Peter Hansen,
acting Governor
Acting for Seitz, 1st time
28 August 1910 to 29 January 1912   Otto Gleim [de],
Governor
August 1910 to September 1910 Theodor Steinhausen,
acting Governor
Acting for Gleim
September 1910 to 25 October 1910 Wilhelm Peter Hansen,
acting Governor
Acting for Gleim, 2nd time
October 1911 to 29 January 1912 Acting for Gleim, 3rd time
29 January 1912 to 4 March 1916   Karl Ebermaier,
Governor
9 October 1913 to 1914 August Full,
acting Governor
Acting for Ebermaier
(26 September 1914) Occupation by Great Britain and France begins
4 March 1916 Germany surrenders territory to occupying powers

Allied occupation of German Cameroon edit

Tenure Portrait Incumbent Notes
26 August 1914 to 7 April 1916   Joseph Gaudérique Aymerich,
Military Commander
Military Commander of French Cameroon
7 April 1916 to 8 October 1916 Joseph Gaudérique Aymerich,
Administrator
Administrator of French Cameroon
8 October 1916 to 6 March 1919 Lucien Louis Fourneau,
Administrator
Administrator of French Cameroon
6 March 1919 to 28 June 1919   Jules Carde,
Commissioner
Commissioner of French Cameroon
28 June 1919 Formal division into French and British Cameroons

French Cameroon edit

Tenure Portrait Incumbent Notes
French-occupied territory
7 April 1916 to 8 October 1916   Joseph Gaudérique Aymerich,
Administrator
8 October 1916 to 6 March 1919 Lucien Louis Fourneau,
Administrator
6 March 1919 to 20 July 1922   Jules Carde,
Commissioner
Acting to 7 December 1919
French Cameroons (League of Nations mandate)
20 July 1922 to March 1923   Jules Carde,
Commissioner
September 1920 to June 1921 Paul Auguste François Bonnecarrère,
acting Commissioner
Acting for Carde
March 1923 to 29 April 1923 Albéric Auguste Fournier,
acting Commissioner
29 April 1923 to 31 August 1932 Théodore Paul Marchand,
Commissioner
1st time
27 December 1924 to 11 May 1925 Ernest Augustin Bleu,
acting Commissioner
Acting for Marchand, 1st time
2 March 1926 to 31 October 1926 Acting for Marchand, 2nd time
26 April 1929 to 26 October 1929 Acting for Marchand, 3rd time
19 June 1931 to 6 February 1932 Acting for Marchand, 4th time
31 August 1932 to 7 July 1934 Paul Auguste François Bonnecarrère,
Commissioner
Acting to 22 September 1932
7 July 1934 to 1936 Jules Vincent Repiquet,
Commissioner
1936 to January 1937 Gaston Camille Guibet,
acting Commissioner
January 1937 to 16 November 1938 Pierre François Boisson,
Commissioner
7 October 1937 to 9 March 1938 Pierre Émile Aubert,
acting Commissioner
Acting for Boisson
16 November 1938 to 27 August 1940 Richard Edmond Maurice Édouard Brunot,
Commissioner
27 August 1940 to 20 November 1940   Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque,
Governor
20 November 1940 to 20 July 1943 Pierre Charles Albert Cournarie,
Governor
20 July 1943 to 15 November 1944 Hubert Eugène Paul Carras,
Governor
15 November 1944 to 16 January 1946 Henri Pierre Nicolas,
Governor
16 January 1946 to 16 March 1946 Adrien Émile Amédée Léger,
acting Governor
16 March 1946 to 13 December 1946 Robert Delavignette,
High Commissioner
French Cameroons (United Nations trust territory)
13 December 1946 to 25 March 1947 Robert Delavignette,
High Commissioner
25 March 1947 to April 1947 Robert Casimir,
acting High Commissioner
1st time
April 1947 to 7 July 1949 René Hoffherr,
High Commissioner
7 July 1949 to 10 January 1950 Robert Casimir,
acting High Commissioner
2nd time
10 January 1950 to 2 December 1954 Jean Louis Marie André Soucadoux,
High Commissioner
2 December 1954 to 17 April 1956 Roland Joanes Louis Pré,
High Commissioner
17 April 1956 to 29 January 1958   Pierre Messmer,
High Commissioner
29 January 1958 to 19 February 1958 Jean Paul Ramadier,
High Commissioner
19 February 1958 to 1 January 1960 Xavier Antoine Torre,
High Commissioner
1 January 1960 Independence as Republic of Cameroon

British Cameroon edit

Tenure Portrait Incumbent Notes
British-occupied territory
1916 Kenneth V. Elphinstone,
Resident
1916 to 1917 E. C. Duff,
Resident
1917 to 1919 P. V. Young,
Resident
1919 W. G. Ambrose,
Resident
1919 John C. Maxwell,
Resident
1919 to 20 July 1920 Sir John H. Davidson,
Resident
British Cameroons (League of Nations mandate)
20 July 1920 to 1921? Sir John H. Davidson,
Resident
1921 to 1925 Fitz Herbert Ruxton,
Senior Resident
1925 William Edgar Hunt,
acting District Officer
1925 to 1928 Edward John Arnett,
Senior Resident
1st time
1928 to 1929 H. J. Aveling,
acting Resident
1929 to 1932 Edward John Arnett,
Resident
2nd time
1932 to 1933 Frederick Bernard Carr,
District Officer
1933 George Hugo Findlay,
Senior Resident
1933 to 1935 John Wynne Corrie Rutherfoord,
Resident
1935 to 1938 O. W. Firth,
Senior Resident
1938 to 1939 Ludlow Sealy-King,
acting Resident
1st time
1939 to 1942 Arthur Evelyn Francis Murray,
Senior Resident
1942 to 1943 Ludlow Sealy-King,
Resident
2nd time
1943 to 194? James Macrae Simpson,
Resident
194? to 25 February 1945 Percy Graham Harris,
Resident
20 March 1945 to 10 October 1945 Alfred Leeming,
Senior District Officer
1945 Reuben John Hook,
acting Resident
1945 to 1946 Frank B. Bridges,
Resident
14 February 1946 to 13 December 1946 Neil Mackenzie,
Senior District Officer
British Cameroons (United Nations trust territory)
13 December 1946 to 4 August 1949 Neil Mackenzie,
Senior District Officer
25 August 1949 to 31 December 1949 Doyle Arthur Fitzroy Shute,
Senior Resident
1949 to 1 October 1954 Edward John Gibbons,
Special Resident
1 October 1954 Autonomous territory within Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria
1 October 1954 to 1956 Edward John Gibbons,
Commissioner
1956 to 1 October 1961   John Osbaldiston Field,
Commissioner
1 June 1961 Northern British Cameroons incorporated into Federation of Nigeria
1 October 1961 Southern British Cameroons incorporated into Republic of Cameroon

For continuation after independence, see: List of presidents of Cameroon

See also edit

External links edit