Geoffrey Douglas Popplewell was born in 1904 and educated at Merton Court School in Sidcup (King's Scholar); Westminster School (commoner); and Brasenose College, Oxford.
In 1927 he entered the Colonial Service as a cadet and was posted to Tanganyika; he later held the posts of Assistant District Officer (1929), District Officer (1940), and Senior District Officer (1950). Popplewell was the joint author of Notes on the Geography of Tunduru District and Notes on the Fipa .
From the guide to the Diaries of Geoffrey Douglas Popplewell, 1934-1941, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)