John Cornell Chads

Lieutenant-Colonel John Cornell Chads (9 August 1793 – 28 February 1854) was a Royal Marines officer who served as the President of the British Virgin Islands.

He returned to England with his family and lived in Portsea, Hampshire, until his appointment as President of the British Virgin Islands in 1852.

By 3 August, the only white people remaining in the territory were John Chads himself, the Collector of Customs, a Methodist missionary and the island's doctor.

The riots were eventually suppressed with military assistance from nearby St. Thomas, but they marked the beginning of almost a complete exodus of the white population of the territory.

The episode marked the beginning of the era sometimes referred to as "decline and disorder" in the history of the British Virgin Islands.