John Shaw Rennie
Sir John Shaw Rennie was a British civil servant. He was Commissioner-General for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from 1971 to 1977.
Biography
John Rennie was born in Glasgow and educated at Hillhead High School, Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1951 Rennie was appointed Britain's deputy colonial secretary for Mauritius. He was the British Resident in the New Hebrides from 1955 to 1962.From 1962 to 1968, he was Governor of Mauritius, overseeing Mauritius's transition to independence, including initiating discussions with Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the Mauritian premier, over the detachment of the Chagos Islands from Mauritian territory.
From 1968 to 1971, Rennie was UNRWA deputy commissioner-general under Laurence Michelmore, who persuaded the then UN secretary-general U Thant to appoint Rennie as his successor.
Rennie married Winifred McAlpine Robertson on 26 February 1946. The couple had one son.