Stockdale was born in
Honington,
Lincolnshire, the son of George Stockdale. His family had been landowners in
East Anglia for many generations. He was educated at
Wisbech Grammar School and
Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was an
exhibitioner. He graduated in 1904 and joined the Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies as a
mycologist and lecturer in agricultural science. He then held a series of agricultural posts in
British Guiana,
Mauritius, and
Ceylon, where he was the Director of Agriculture between 1916 and 1929 and a member of the
Legislative Council from 1921 to 1929. In 1940, he was appointed
Comptroller for Development and Welfare in the West Indies, holding the post until 1945. At the end of the war he returned to the
Colonial Office as adviser on development planning. In 1948 he was appointed vice-chairman of the
Colonial Development Corporation. == References ==