John de Vere Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst, (5 February 1895 – 30 October 1970) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator.

After serving in the army, the Foreign Office, and as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons, Wakehurst was appointed as the last British Governor of New South Wales, which he held from 1937 to 1946.

[citation needed] Through his mother's family, he was descended from an illegitimate royal line of King Charles II.

[3] In 1931 he returned to the House of Commons as member for Lewes, and represented this constituency until succeeding his father on his death as the second Baron Wakehurst in 1936, who had been raised to peerage in 1934.

[2] The following year, Wakehurst was appointed as Governor of New South Wales to succeed Sir David Anderson, who had died in office.

He was recommended by the Dominions Secretary, Malcolm MacDonald, to the Premier of New South Wales, Bertram Stevens, who promptly accepted.

While Wakehurst was well within his rights to exercise his discretion, the Leader of the Opposition, Jack Lang, criticised him for being biased towards the government.

However, on 5 September Lang was deposed by his party and replaced by the more moderate William McKell, who became Premier at the May 1941 election and got on well with Wakehurst, extending his term past 1942.

[2] In 1945, the Wakehursts accompanied General Sir Thomas Blamey and his wife on a visit to troops in the South-West Pacific Area.

[13] On 22 March 1946, to commemorate his service as Governor a major new road through Sydney's Northern Beaches was named as the "Wakehurst Parkway" by Premier McKell.

She was also a Dame of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (DStJ) from 1960 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Queen's University, Belfast (1957).