Sir Selwyn Macgregor Grier was born on the 1 April 1878 and educated at Marlborough College, and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He taught at Berkhamsted School (1901-1902) and Cheam School (1902-1905) before joining the Colonial Service in Nigeria as Assistant Resident in Zaria Province (1906). He was later transferred to Bauchi (in 1912) and to Ibadan (in 1913). In 1921 Grier was appointed Secretary for Native Affairs (1921-1925) and in 1925 was seconded as Director of Education of the Southern Provinces.
Grier left Nigeria in 1929 when he was transferred to Trinidad as Colonial Secretary (1929-1935). In 1935 he was appointed Governor of the Windward Islands but the onset of blindness caused his resignation in 1937. His services were rewarded with the CMG in 1929 and he became a Knight Bachelor in 1934 and a KCMG in 1936. Grier died on the 8 November 1946.
From the guide to the Papers of Sir Selwyn Macgregor Grier, 1884-1957 (bulk 1905-1925), (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)
