John Pope Hennessy

John Pope Hennessy had recently had an unhappy period of governorship of Labuan. He had been a political appointee by the Conservative administration with little administrative or military experience.

He became Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, from 1873 until 1877, with primary authority over Barbados, and executive oversight over the various British Lt. Governors and Administrators charged with running day-to-day affairs on the various islands.

Although Hennessy was born into the Anglo-Irish landowning gentry, his status as a Roman Catholic made him something of an outsider, particularly in his dealings with Protestant British colonial elites. He was among a cohort of "new thinkers"on imperialism but whose ideas saw him clash repeatedly with the Colonial Office.