August 6, 1962 - November 30, 1962
Sir Kenneth William Blackburne, K.C.M.G. (1952), C.M.G. (1946), O.B.E. (1939), was the last colonial administrator for Jamaica. He was appointed on December 18, 1957 as Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of Jamaica and its Dependencies. On Jamaica’s independence, as a transitional measure, he was sworn-in as the new state’s first Governor-General, a position in which he served till November 30, 1962, when he departed for retirement in England. He died in November, 1980.
In Jamaica he was Chief Scout, President of the Alliance Francaise de la Jamaique and served as Patron for: Commodore Royal Jamaica Yacht Club; President, Jamaica Flying Club Ltd., Order of St. John and its Foundations in Jamaica; Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica, Army and Air Cadet Force (Jamaica), Boys’ Town, British West Indies Rifle Association, Child Welfare Association Limited, Jamaica Anti-Tuberculosis League, Jamaica Automobile Association, Jamaica Branch British Red Cross Society, Jamaica Cricket Board of Control, Jamaica Football Association, Jamaica Historical Society, Jamaica Society for the Blind Ltd., Kingston Charity Organisation Society, Royal Air Force Association, The Boys’ Brigade, The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of Jamaica, The Victoria League and The Young Men’s Christian Association.
Earlier Career: Nigeria 1930-1935 – Assistant District Officer; Galilee, Palestine, 1935-1938 – Assistant District Commissioner and Acting District Commissioner; Colonial Office, London, 1938-41 – Assistant Principal and Principal; The Gambia, 1941-43 – Colonial Secretary; 1943-47 – Administrative Secretary to the Comptroller for Development and Welfare in the West Indies and Acting Comptroller; Colonial Office, 1947-50 – Director of Information Services; 1950-56 – Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands;
Born: Bordon Camp, December 12, 1907, elder son of Very Reverend Harry William Blackburne, D.S.O., M.C., Dean emeritus of Bristol;
Educated: Marlborough College and Clare College Cambridge (Honours in Modern Languages and Geography);
Religion: Anglican
Married 1935 Bridgette Senhouse Constant, daughter of James Mackay Wilson, D.L., Currygrane Co. Longford. The couple had two children: a son and a daughter.