Sir John Dennis Boles MBE DL (25 June 1925 – 1 July 2013) was a British Colonial Service officer in North Borneo, and later in England worked for the National Trust, serving as its Director-General from 1975 to 1983.
[2] After leaving the army Boles joined the Colonial Service, learning Arabic and Hebrew for working in Mandatory Palestine, but instead was posted as a district officer to North Borneo, a British protectorate which had suffered from Japanese occupation.
North Borneo was moving towards becoming part of an independent Malaysia, and Boles became Secretary to the last British Governor, Sir William Goode.
After independence, which took place on 16 September 1963, he stayed on for a further year as Secretary to the new federal Government of Malaysia's Minister for Land and Natural Resources.
With his second wife, he then settled at his childhood home, Rydon House, Talaton, Devon, spending his time restoring the garden, shooting, fishing, and keeping bees.