Quick Facts
Biography
Archibald Ross Colquhoun (/kəˈhuːn/ kə-HOON; March 1848 – 18 December 1914) was a British explorer and the first Administrator of Southern Rhodesia. He held office from October 1890 until September 1892, the period of the founding of Fort Salisbury (now Harare) after the arrival of the Pioneer Column. At this time the administrator's jurisdiction covered Mashonaland only, as Matabeleland was annexed in 1893. He was also acting Chief Magistrate of Southern Rhodesia between 24 July 1891 and 18 September 1891.
Career
Colquhoun was born in South Africa, and spent much of his life travelling. In the 1880s he took part in several exploratory expeditions to Burma, Indo-China and southern China, for which he was awarded the 1884 Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.
He left for South Africa in 1889. After his term of office as Administrator in Southern Rhodesia he settled in the United Kingdom, but continued to travel. From 1900–1901, he and his new wife Ethel travelled in the Pacific —the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Philippines, Japan — returning to England via Siberia. From 1902 to 1903, he travelled in the West Indies, Central America and the United States. During 1904 and 1905, he returned temporarily to Rhodesia.
In 1913, Colquhoun inspected the Panama Canal construction work and carried out one last mission for the Royal Colonial Institute in South America before his death on 18 December 1914.
Family
Colquhoun married at St. Paul′s church, Stafford, on 8 March 1900 to Ethel Maud Cookson (1874–1950), eldest daughter of Samuel Cookson, of Forebridge, Stafford. After his death, his widow remarried John Tawse Jollie and settled in Southern Rhodesia, where she became the first female parliamentarian in the British overseas empire.
