Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance GCMG GBE CB |
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Governor of Burma | |
In office 31 August 1946 – 4 January 1948 |
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Preceded by | Reginald Dorman-Smith |
Succeeded by |
Sao Shwe Thaik (as President) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1898 |
Died | 1974 | (aged 76)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Administrator |
Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance GCMG GBE CB (1898–1974) was the last British Governor of Burma between 1946 and 1948, during the transition from Japanese to British colonial administration. Later he became Governor of Trinidad and Tobago.
Rance joined the British Army in 1916 and fought in the First World War with the Worcestershire Regiment. Later he transferred to the Signal Corps and in the Second World War played a part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in a senior role with the British Expeditionary Force. He also held senior War Office posts directing army training.
In 1945 he was appointed Director of Civil Affairs in Burma, restoring British control after Japanese forces withdrew. Reginald Dorman-Smith was appointed Governor in 1946 but British Prime Minister Attlee, advised by Lord Mountbatten of Burma, soon decided that Rance should replace him. Dorman-Smith's imprisonment of a popular nationalist leader, Aung San, had provoked anger and the threat of rebellion against the British, while Rance had a more conciliatory approach.