[1] Robert Thorne Coryndon was born to English parents in Cape Colony, South Africa on 2 April 1870.

Unhappy with office work, after a few months he joined the Bechuanaland Border Police run by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which Cecil Rhodes had formed in 1889.

[3] In 1896 Coryndon was appointed private secretary to Cecil Rhodes, and served in that role during the 1896 Parliamentary Inquiry into the Jameson Raid.

In November 1899 Queen Victoria signed an order in council that established company rule in Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia, and in September 1900 Coryndon was appointed commissioner.

The settlers were in favour of devaluing the currency and then pegging it to the British pound, while investors strongly objected to the loss that they would incur as a result.

Some officials calculated that the loss incurred by the average family would be small, but others including Coryndon were concerned about the destruction of trust in the government that would result.

Coryndon's administration was praised for taking numerous measures to improve the economic well-being of Africans who were part of the cash economy.

[3] The previous governor Edward Northey had written in 1919: "I believe there is a great future for this country, but only if a steady flow of natives out of the Reserves, working willingly for a good wage, well-housed and fed, under European control and supervision, can be properly organized".

[10] In a letter to Churchill soon after arriving in Kenya, Coryndon said "I believe I shall be able to handle the settlers: largely by laughing at them a little and by getting them to use a sense of proportion in their outlook.

[12] Coryndon defined a "dual policy" to correct the problems that stemmed from excessive bias toward settler demands, while avoiding the idea that native interests were paramount.

The administration should pay attention to the native's moral welfare, sense of responsibility to the state, health and material well-being.

There was a growing influx of Indians into Nairobi's city center in the 1920s, working as shopkeepers, railway workers, government clerks and small-scale manufacturers.

[18] The 207 feet (63 m), 800 ton steamer SS Robert Coryndon, built by J Thorneycroft & Co of Southampton, was in service on Lake Albert between 1930 and 1964.