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	{{Short description\|British colonial administrator (1902–1991)}}		{{Short description\|British colonial administrator (1902–1991)}}
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	{{Infobox officeholder		{{Infobox officeholder
	\|name = Sir John Dring		\|name = Sir John Dring

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{{Short description|British colonial administrator (1902–1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Sir John Dring
|image = John_Dring_c1935.jpg
|caption = John Dring c. 1935
|known_for =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|11|04|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1991|6|16|1902|11|04|df=yes}}
|death_place = [[England]]
|nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]]
|order1 = [[Bahawalpur|Prime Minister of Bahawalpur]]
|term_start1 = 1948
|term_end1 = 1952
|monarch1 = [[Sadeq Mohammad Khan V|Sadiq V]]
|predecessor1 = [[Richard Marsh Crofton|Sir Richard Marsh Crofton]]
|successor1 = A.R. Khan
}}
[[Lieutenant Colonel]] '''Sir Arthur John Dring''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KBE|CIE|JP}} (4 November 1902 – 16 June 1991) was the second [[Prime Minister]] of the [[princely state]] of [[Bahawalpur (princely state)|Bahawalpur]] (now in modern [[Pakistan]]). <ref>{{cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/6ecae5c6-1222-4c75-b04f-922edc816261 |title=UK National Archives |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk | access-date=2022-09-25}}</ref> He was also the senior member of the
[[Indian Political Department|Indian Political Service]] in the last decades of the [[British Raj]], Assistant Private Secretary to the [[Viceroy of India|Governor-General of India]] and an advisor to governments on plebscites for two former British colonies in Africa. [[Bahawal Stadium|Dring Stadium]] in the city of [[Bahawalpur]], the site of the second [[test cricket]] match of the [[Indian cricket team in Pakistan in 1954–55|India-Pakistan test series]] in 1955, is named after him. He was called John throughout his life.<ref name="autogenerated1975">Allen, Charles (1975) ''Plain Tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the Twentieth Century''</ref>

==Early life==
Dring was born on 4 November 1902 in [[Kolkata|Calcutta, India]], the second child and only son of Sir [[William Arthur Dring]] and his wife Lady Jane Reid Greenshields Dring (née Ross, formerly Alston). The Dring family had been resident in India since 1830.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/Items/Military/Military%20-%20Dring%20Family%20in%20the%20Wiltshire%20Regiment.pdf |title=Dring Family of the Wiltshire Regiment |website=Wiltshire-opc.org.uk |access-date=2016-06-21}}</ref> Dring spent his earliest years in India, but was sent to boarding school in England in 1911, aged 9,<ref>1911 Census for Hursley, Hampshire</ref> as was customary for members of elite families in British India. He attended [[Winchester College]] and [[RMC Sandhurst]].<ref name="whoswho">[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U172174 DRING, Lt-Col Sir (Arthur) John], ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)</ref> He returned to India in 1923 and joined the [[Guides Cavalry]] as a lieutenant.<ref>PRO Military Records BL IOR/L/MIL/14/12652</ref>

==Political career==
In 1927, Dring joined the [[Indian Political Service]] and soon became Assistant Private Secretary to the [[Viceroy of India]].<ref>British Library records IOR/R/1/4/1224</ref> The Channel 4 historical drama [[Indian Summers]] revolves around a fictional character called Ralph Whelan who was the Private Secretary to the [[Viceroy of India]] in [[Shimla]] in 1932–1935. The character of Ralph Whelan has several similarities with the real-life John Dring, who was in the same political position in the same place at the same time, with the same family history. The National Portrait Gallery of the UK holds a portrait of Dring.<ref>{{NPG name |id=96601 |name=Arthur John Dring (1902-1991), Colonial administrator}}</ref>

Dring was the Deputy Commissioner of [[Dera Ismail Khan]] from 1935 to 1936. He was part of the Razmak column which attempted to display a show of force to anti-British tribal forces in the [[Waziristan campaign (1936-1939)]] but instead was bogged down in fighting and suffered large casualties. The failure of the Razmak column emboldened the resistance fighters resulted in a surge in their numbers.

From 1937 to 1940, Dring served as Secretary to [[George Cunningham (governor)|Sir George Cunningham]], the Governor of the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–55)|Northwest Frontier Province]]. He then served as [[Political officer (British Empire)|Political Agent]] of [[Waziristan]] from 1941 to 1943<ref name="administration1947">Tripodi, C. (2016) ''Edge of Empire: The British Political Officer and Tribal Administration on the North-West Frontier 1877–1947'', Rouledge:London</ref> and was awarded the Companion of the [[Order of the Indian Empire|Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire]] in the [[1943 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35841 |date=29 December 1942 |page=7}}</ref> He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1944.

Dring was the Deputy Commissioner of [[Peshawar]] from 1945-1947<ref name="administration1947"/> and hosted [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] on his visit to the Northwest Frontier Province in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/6ecae5c6-1222-4c75-b04f-922edc816261 |title=DRING, Lt-Col Sir (Arthur) John (b 1902), IPS 1927, Chief Secretary, N.W.F.P. 1947,... | The National Archives |website=Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |date= |access-date=2016-06-21}}</ref>

Following the [[Partition of India]] in 1947, Dring served as the Prime Minister of [[Bahawalpur (princely state)|Bahawalpur]], a Muslim-majority princely state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cholistan.gov.pk/history_bwp.php?PHPSESSID=4dd0410bf59cbe46b00a6b04690f446a |title=CDA |website=Cholistan.gov.pk |date= |access-date=2016-06-21}}</ref> He was Bahawalpur's second Prime Minister, and last Prime Minister of British origin, and served from 1948 to 1952.<ref>British Library Records Mss Eur F226/8</ref><ref>Javaid, Umbreen (2004) ''Politics of Bahawalpur: From State to Region (1947-2000)''. Lahore: Classic Publishers.</ref> Dring oversaw a transformation in the way of life of the people of Bahwalpur from a desert to a pastoral way of life.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://govpoliju.com/nawab-sadiq-muhammad-khan-v-an-administrator-of-bahawalpur-state-pakistan/ |title=Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan V: An Administrator of Bahawalpur State (Pakistan) | Government and Politics, JU |website=Govpoliju.com |date= |access-date=2016-06-21}}</ref> He supported and encouraged the Nawab in the developing over a dozen treaties with the British, in the mutual interests of both parties.<ref>Shah, Nazeer Ali (1959) ''Sadiqnamah: The History of Bahawalpur State'', Lahore: Maktaba Jadieed</ref> The Princely State of Bahawalpur was abolished in 1955 and its people and land became part of Pakistan.

[[Bahawal Stadium|Dring Stadium]] in Bahawalpur is named after Dring. It was a stadium ahead of its time and was the only complete stadium in Pakistan at the time.<ref name="autogenerated2">Samiuddin, Osman (2014) ''The Unquiet Ones: A History of Pakistan Cricket'', Delhi:HarperCollins Publishers India</ref> The stadium hosted a test match in the first India-Pakistan test cricket series in 1955<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/ground/58921.html |title=Bahawal Stadium | Pakistan | Cricket Grounds |publisher=ESPN Cricinfo |date= |access-date=2016-06-21}}</ref> and was the training ground for the first Pakistan cricket team tour of England in 1954<ref name="autogenerated2"/>

After his tenure as Prime Minister was complete, Dring was knighted in the [[1952 Birthday Honours|1952 Queen's Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39559 |date=30 May 1952 |supp=y |page=3056}}</ref> Like many former British residents of India, he went to Africa after Partition. In 1955 he was appointed as advisor to the Governor of the Gold Coast on possible plebiscite arrangements in [[Togoland]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19551125&id=jGhAAAAAIBAJ&pg=3531,3043936&hl=en |title=''The Glasgow Herald'', 25 Nov 1955, p.9, col 4|access-date=2016-06-24}}</ref> drawing on his experiences in the transition of Bahawalpur from princely state to part of Pakistan. The plebiscite resulted in the British part of Togoland being integrated into [[Ghana]]. In 1959 he fulfilled a similar role as advisor to the Governor-General of Nigeria in the lead-up to the [[British Cameroons referendum, 1961|British Cameroons plebiscite]].<ref>A.& C Black, ''Who's Who 1990''</ref> The result was the Muslim-majority Northern Cameroons voting to join [[Nigeria]] and the Christian-majority [[Southern Cameroons]] voting to join the newly independent country of [[Cameroon]].<ref>Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p177 {{ISBN|0-19-829645-2}}</ref>

==Personal life==
On 12 October 1934 in [[Karachi]], Dring married Marjorie Wadham of the family who founded [[Wadham College, Oxford]]. The couple had two children. After Marjorie's death in Oxford in 1943, Dring married Alice Deborah Marshall (née Cree) in Shimla in 1946. She was known as Deborah.<ref name="autogenerated1975"/> John and Deborah Dring were two of the subjects of [[Charles Allen (writer)|Charles Allen's]] oral histories of British India, ''Plain Tales from the Raj''.

Dring died in England on 16 June 1991, aged 89 years.<ref name="whoswho"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Prime Ministers of Bahawalpur}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dring, John}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Administrators in British India]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Bahawalpur (princely state)]]
[[Category:British expatriates in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian Political Service officers]]

John Dring - Revision history

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