Sir John Valentine Wistar Shaw, CMG (1942) Kt Bach (1946), KCMG (1947), was born in 1894 and educated at Repton School, Derbyshire. After military service (1914-1919) he joined the Colonial Administrative Service in the Gold Coast working as Assistant District Commissioner (1921), District Commissioner (1925) and Assistant Secretary (1928). Shaw transferred to Palestine in 1935, working as Assistant Secretary (1935), Senior Assistant Secretary (1938) and Departmental Chief Secretary (1939). After a brief period working in Cyprus as Colonial Secretary (1940-1943), Shaw returned to Palestine as Chief Secretary (1943). He was acting Governor of Cyprus and High Commissioner for Palestine for several periods during 1940-1946, and was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Trinidad (1947-1950).
From the guide to the Addresses of welcome presented to Sir John Valentine W. Shaw, 1947, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)
