Sir Geoffrey Francis Taylor Colby (25 March 1901 – 22 December 1958) was a British colonial administrator who was Governor of the protectorate of Nyasaland between 1948 and 1956. He fought unsuccessfully against creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Birth and education Colby was born on 25 March 1901, son of a doctor, and was raised in Woking Surrey, England. He attended St Wilfred's, a preparatory school, at Bexhill-on-Sea between the ages of seven and thirteen, and in 1914 went on to Charterhouse, a school that taught the virtues of leadership, public service and keeping a cool head in emergencies. An excellent sportsman, he played both cricket (in the 1st XI) and football for the school. Colby retained a passion for cricket throughout his life. It was said that when Governor of Nyasaland he delayed a meeting of his executive council for half an hour so he could listen to the closing overs of a test match. Colby won an open scholarship to Clare College at the University of Cambridge, as well as a leaving exhibition from Charterhouse, where he read Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from 1919, taking a third-class degree in 1922. He played poker and tennis and owned a Norton motorcycle which he used to go on trips to London. He was also known quite frequently to climb into college after hours up a wall which was considered by a fellow undergraduate and Alpine mountaineer to be a difficult and dangerous climb . Early career After leaving university, Colby spent a year as an assistant master at his old prep school, and a year working in a fellmongers factory at Galashiels. He then applied for an appointment in the Colonial Service, and was posted to Nigeria in 1925. In Nigeria he was first a District Officer in the Northern region at a salary of £500, with £60 advanced for essential equipment. His duties involved lengthy tours on horseback in the hot, dry climate of the North to check on tax collection, the courts and public works. His health during this period was poor, and he always had a jaundiced appearance, perhaps in part due to poor diet. When on leave in England in 1930, Colby was introduced to Lilian Florence Illingworth, then aged 25. They became engaged, and were married on 17 January 1931. He was unable to take his wife back with him to Nigeria, since