Lieutenant-General Sir John Stokes, KCB (17 June 1825 – 11 November 1902)[1] was a British Army officer heavily involved in the success of the running of the Suez Canal Company.

[2] For his service he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), civil division, in 1871,[4] and the following year he was appointed to command the Royal Engineers in South Wales, and promoted to colonel.

Traffic was below expectations after the canal was finished in 1871, and its manager Ferdinand de Lesseps therefore tried to increase revenues by re-interpreting the definition of tonnage allowed.

The ensuing commercial and diplomatic activities resulted in the International Commission of Constantinople, establishing a specific kind of net tonnage and settling the question of tariffs in its protocol of 18 December 1873.

Stokes had visited the canal to write up reports on its condition, and was considered instrumental in making the protocol be recognized in the ensuing years.