[3][full citation needed] He was seconded to the Sudan Political Service in February 1912, and was posted to Bahr al-Ghazal.
Owen explained that "if a Jihad is ever started in the Sudan and Northern Africa, it would be a great thing if the countries south of the Sudd were free from it and if we could link up with Uganda which is practically entirely Christian and so have an anti-Islam buffer or bulwark in this part of Africa".
[5] When Northcote was appointed governor in 1918, the fifteen provincial governorships in the Sudan under Governor General Reginald Wingate were held by eight army officers, or former officers, and severn civilians.
By 1924, when Wingate's successor Sir Lee Stack died, Northcote and M.J. Wheatley in Bahr al-Ghazal were the only governors with military backgrounds.
[6] Northcote was transferred to the Nuba Mountains in 1919, and was succeeded in Mongalla by Chauncey Hugh Stigand.