Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance GCMG GBE CB (17 July 1898^[1] – 24 January 1974) was a British politician who was the last Governor of British Burma between 1946 and 1948, during the transition from Japanese to British colonial administration. Later he became Governor of Trinidad and Tobago from 1950 to 1955.

Career to 1945

Rance was educated at Wimbledon College,^[2] 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, after being an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley between the wars,^[3] served in the Second World War where he 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.

Burma

Governor Rance and President Shwe Thaik at the flag raising ceremony on 4 January 1948 (Independence Day of Burma)

In 1945, he was appointed Director of Civil Affairs in Burma, restoring British control after Japanese forces withdrew. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith was appointed Governor in 1946, but British Prime Minister Attlee, advised by The 1st Viscount 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.

British policy started to move away from an attempt at a slow, gradual transition to independence, and it was decided that Rance should co-operate with Aung San and his Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League. Aung San was believed to be less hostile to British interests, and less radical in his nationalism than some other political figures, like the communists, for example.

Rance became Governor on the last day of August 1946, and on 27 January 1947 Attlee made an agreement with Aung San that independence would come as soon as possible, with elections in April. British hopes of a smooth handover of power allowing the UK to retain some influence were threatened when Aung San was assassinated in July 1947. Rance's prompt action in making U Nu the Prime Minister within hours is believed to have been a decisive factor in avoiding greater upheaval.^[4]

In a formal ceremony on 4 January 1948, Governor Rance handed over to Sao Shwe Thaik, 1st President of Burma, while Nu continued as Prime Minister. By the time he left Burma, Rance had retired from the army. His formal title was Major General Sir Hubert Elvin Rance, GBE, CB, and, in 1948, he was made a GCMG. New Burma Government honorably awarded Agga Maha Thray Sithu title to him as one of the foremost holders. ^[5]

West Indies

He acted as British governor of Trinidad and Tobago between 19 April 1950 and June 1955. He is author of two reports published by the Colonial Office in London in 1950: Development and welfare in the West Indies, 1947-49 and Report of the British Caribbean Standing Closer Association Committee, 1948-49. In May 1956, he published an article on Burma’s Economic Problems in the Eastern World.

Hubert Rance Street in Vistabella, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago was named in his honour.

Death

Rance died on 24 January 1974 at the age of 75.^[6]

References

Sources

• Clive Christie, The Karens in Turbulent Times and Enduring People (2000) ed. Jean Michaud
• William Roger Louis, Dissolution of the British Empire in The Oxford History of the British Empire (1999) ed. Brown, Louis, Low
• Burma: The Curse of Independence (2001)
• British in Burma (Encyclopædia Britannica)
• King's College Military Archives
• DNB articles on U Nu and Dorman-Smith
• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 1844150496.

Further reading

• Time magazine describes Rance's departure from Burma