James Meston, 1st Baron Meston

Who was James Meston, 1st Baron Meston?

James Scorgie Meston, 1st Baron Meston KCSI, VD, was a prominent British civil servant, financial expert and businessman. He served as Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1912 to 1918.

Meston was the younger son of James Meston, of Aberdeen, and his wife Jane. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and at the University of Aberdeen, and passed the Indian civil service examination in 1883. He was posted to the North-Western Provinces and Oudh in 1885, where he was director of land records between 1897 and 1899 and financial secretary to the government between 1899 and 1903. From 1905 to 1906 he briefly left India to act as an adviser to the Cape Colony and Transvaal governments in South Africa.

After his return to India in 1906, Meston was secretary to the finance department of the government of India until 1912, when he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. He remained in this position until 1918, when he became finance member of the Viceroy of India's executive council. Problems with his eyesight forced him to resign from this post the following year. In 1917, along with Sir Satyendra Prasanno Sinha and Maharaja Ganga Singh, he assisted the Secretary of State for India in representing India in the Imperial War Cabinet and Conference.