After an education at Tonbridge School, in 1880 Egerton went out from England to the Straits Settlements as a cadet[3] and for several years served there and in the protected states of Malaya.

[2] In this role, he got involved in the laws related to a form of servitude where a woman's illegitimate children were given into the custody of the local ruler.

[citation needed] Egerton became Governor of Lagos Colony, covering most of the Yoruba lands in the southwest of what is now Nigeria, in 1903.

[9] On that date the two territories were formally united and Egerton was appointed Governor of the new Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, holding office until 1912.

[15] He also sponsored extensive road construction, building on the legislative foundation laid by his predecessor Moor which enabled use of unpaid local labor.

[16] Egerton shared Moor's views on the damage that was being done to the Cross River trade by the combination of indigenous middlemen and traders based in Calabar.

[19] Egerton endorsed the development of rubber plantations, a concept familiar to him from his time in Malaya, and arranged for land to be leased for this purpose.

And there was dispute over whether railway lines from the north should terminate at Lagos or should take alternative routes to the Niger River and the coast.

[22] Egerton had reason on his side in objecting to the proposed line terminating at Baro on the Niger, since navigation southward to the coast was restricted to the high water season, and even then was uncertain.

[26] In 1912, Egerton was replaced by Frederick Lugard, who was appointed Governor-General of both Southern and Northern Nigeria with the mandate to unite the two.

Egerton was appointed Governor of British Guiana as his next posting, clearly a demotion, which may have been connected to his fights with the Colonial Office officials.

The new line would open up gold and diamond fields as well as supporting timber extraction and development of arable land.