John Stokes

Lieutenant-General Sir John Stokes, (17 June 1825 – 11 November 1902 ) was a British Army officer heavily involved in the success of the running of the Suez Canal Company.

Career Stokes was the second son of the Rev. John Stokes, Vicar of Cobham, Kent, where his son was born in 1825. Educated at Rochester Proprietary School and at the Royal Military Academy, he passed into the Royal Engineers in 1843. Two years later he left for South Africa, where he spent the first years of his career, taking part in the Xhosa Wars of 1845–47 and 1850–52 (later known as the seventh and eight Xhosa wars), for which he was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to captain in 1854 and major in 1856. He led an Engineer corps during the Crimean War, and was present during the siege and fall of Sevastopol in 1855. The following year he was Her Majesty's Commissioner on the European Commission formed to open the mouth of the River Danube, and acted in that capacity for 15 years, during which time order was restored to the delta of the Danube, and the river at its mouth and for 100 miles inland was made navigable by larger ships. and the following year he was appointed to command the Royal Engineers in South Wales, and promoted to colonel. This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net Tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate, both of which are still in use today. Stokes had visited the canal to write up reports on its condition, and was considered instrumental in making the protocol be recognized in the ensuing years. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), civil division, in 1877. In the following years he was a member of an international commission to decide harbour dues for Alexandria, and in 1880 a member of the Royal Commission on Ship's Tonnage Measurement. he retired from the Army in 1887 with the rank of lieutenant-general. In retirement, he retained his interest in the Suez Canal Company, of which he was a vice-president until his death.

He died at his residence, The Spring House, Ewell, Surrey on 11 October 1902.

Family Stokes married, in 1849, Henrietta Georgina de Villiers Maynard, daughter of Charles Maynard, of Grahamstown, Cape Colony. Lady Stokes died in 1893. They had eight children, among whom was Brigadier-General Alfred Stokes, CB, CMG, DSO (1860–1931) of the Royal Artillery.