Sir John Dalzell Rankine

As you say, a pretty impossible question.

Here's what I can find about the former Governors of Zanzibar (or British Residents)

From http://www.fact-index.com/z/za/Zanzibar.html

British Residents

Francis Pearce, (1913 - 1922)

John Sinclair, (1922 - 1923)

Alfred Hollis, (1923 - 1929)

Richard Rankine, (1929 - 1937)

John Hall, (1937 - 1940)

Harry Pilling, (1940 - 1946)

Vincent Glenday, 1946 - 1951)

John Rankine, (1952 - 1954)

Harry Potter, 1954 - 1959)

Arthur Mooring, (1959 - 1963)

More on Arthur Mooring

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Arthur%20Mooring

(this same paragraph occurs in many other sources)

Sir Arthur Mooring (November 23, 1908 - 1969) was educated at Bedford Modern School and Queens' College, before entering the Colonial Service in 1931. He served there for a number of years in Nigeria before joining the Royal West African Frontier Forces, serving in West Africa, India and Burma. He was mentioned in dispatches and gained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel . Following the Second World War, he returned to Nigeria and rose to become the Deputy Governor of the Western region. In 1959 he became the British Resident in Zanzibar, a position he held until independence in 1963.

However, this source thinks his name was George.

Http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/abbey/313/truth7.html

Before the trip to London the :British Resident, Sir George Mooring, initiated discussions between the government and opposition to facilitate certain contentious matters

Checking the Governor before - Harry Potter (maybe JK Rowling lived in Zanzibar) is a nightmare, because there are so many "Harry Potter" references, and I can�t find anything useful in between.

But maybe you need to go back further. If Richard graduated in 1964, say 20, he would have been primary age maybe 1950 on. SO maybe his father was John Rankine.

But, some details here:

http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/03051303.html

Sir John Dalzell Rankine (1907-1987), KCMG (1954), CMG (1947), KCVO (1956), KStJ (1958), Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (1st Class) (1954) was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch, New Zealand, and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1930. He entered colonial service as a cadet, Uganda, 1931, became Assistant Secretary, East African Governor's Conference, 1939, First Assistant Secretary, 1942, and Assistant Colonial Secretary, Fiji in the same year. He was made Colonial Secretary, Barbados, 1945, served as Chief Secretary, Kenya, 1947-1951 and as Chairman, Development and Reconstruction Authority. He was British Resident, Zanzibar, 1952-1954, administered the Governments of Barbados and Kenya on various occasions, and was Governor, Western Region, Nigeria, 1954-1960. In 1939 he married Janet Grace Austin (d 1976), with whom he had one daughter.

Where we see he only had a daughter.

So this means that you are probably looking for a Richard Potter or Richard Mooring. No luck here with Google searches.

One point, I think it more likely that the son of the Resident on Zanzibar would have been educated in Dar es Salaam, rather than "up country" Arusha.

So good luck with your searches.

I�ll add this correspondence to the web site , and see what happens.