John Monteath

John Monteath CIE (9 October 1878 – 11 June 1955) was an Irish first-class cricketer and colonial official in British India.

Monteath was the son of Sir James Monteath, a colonial administrator in British India.[1] He was educated at Clifton College,[2] before going up to King's College, Cambridge in 1897.[1] He graduated with a first-class in 1900, before joining the Indian Civil Service (ICI) in 1902.[1]

His first post in the ICI was as an Assistant Collector at Dharwar, a position he held until 1908.[1] During this time, he played a first-class cricket match for the Europeans against the Parsees at Bombay.[3] Batting twice in the match, Monteath was dismissed without scoring in the European's first-innings by Kekhashru Mistry, and was dismissed by the same bowler for a single run in their second-innings.[4] Fellow Irishman James McDonogh was also a member of the Europeans team. He served as an Assistant Political Agent in Kathiawar from 1908–1915, before taking up the post of Municipal Commissioner in Ahmedabad, a position he held for a few months in 1915.[1] He was the Postmaster General for the Punjab in 1915–1916, before taking up the same post from 1916–1919 in Madras.[1] He was a District Magistrate for the Bombay Presidency and Sind from 1921–1926, and from 1926–1928 he was the Secretary to the Bombay Government Home Department.[1] In the Indian General Election of 1926 he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly.[1]

He later served as the Dewan or Prime Minister of Junagadh State, a post he held from 1933–1939.[1] Monteath was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in the 1937 New Year Honours.[5] He returned to England around the time of Indian Independence, and was living at Bury St Edmunds.[1] He died at Awliscombe in Devon in June 1955.