Marchant became an Assistant District Commissioner in
East Africa Protectorate in 1919. In 1926 he was promoted to District Officer in
Kenya, and then became Deputy Provincial Commissioner and Assistant Secretary in
Zanzibar in 1935. In 1937 he moved to neighbouring
Tanganyika to continue as a Deputy Provincial Commissioner. As commissioner, he directed the evacuation of European settlers from the Solomon Islands prior to the Japanese occupation of the islands during
World War II as well as leading the organisation of
coastwatcher units throughout the islands. Marchant relocated from this headquarters at
Tulagi to
Malaita about two months before the Japanese
occupied Tulagi in May, 1942. On Malaita he helped operate a coastwatcher radio relay station in support of the
Allied Solomon Islands campaign until the end of his appointment in 1943. Marchant was then appointed as Chief Native Commissioner for the
Kenya Colony from 1943 until 1947. Marchant died in 1953. == References ==