Byatt was born 22 March 1875 in
Tottenham, Middlesex to schoolmaster Horace Byatt M.A., of Midhurst, Sussex (where he was taught by
H. G. Wells at Midhurst Grammar School), and Laura (née Archer). From 1916 he was an administrator in
British East Africa, and in 1920 he became the first governor of the new British
mandate of
Tanganyika. As a result of this his administration gained a reputation for being humane. Byatt would not enforce any rule in the territory that he did not believe was helpful to the territory's African majority, nor would he allow "any non-African interest" to take precedence over that of the territory's African population. After a French visitor, Pierre Marbois, "carelessly" ignored the advice of a guide and was mauled by a leopard in front of Byatt, Byatt "always took care to be cautious around wildlife." Byatt was also said to be "very fond of watching the elephants," though he did not hunt them, he merely liked to observe them. He was also governor and commander in chief of Trinidad and Tobago between 1924 and 1929. •
Ronald (Robin) Archer Campbell Byatt CMG (1930–2019), British
diplomat,
High Commissioner in
Zimbabwe and
New Zealand, Ambassador to
Morocco • David Byatt (born 1932) Byatt died 8 April 1933 in London, aged 58. Byatt's bush squirrel (
Paraxerus vexillarius var. byatti), a rodent endemic to Tanzania, was named after Byatt. ==References==