John Mark Ambrose Herdman Commander of the Order of the British Empire LVO was a British diplomat and overseas civil servant.
Background
Mark Herdman was born in Rhu, Scotland, on 26 April 1932, to Joan (née Tennant) and Claud Herdman, a Commander of the British Navy. His mother, Joan, died in 1936 when he was four years old. Herdman was raised by his paternal aunt in Northern Ireland until his father remarried in 1939.
Education
He attended Street Edward"s School, a boarding school in Oxford. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin.
Career
Herdman served as the Deputy Governor of Bermuda from 1983 to 1986 (including a stint as Bermuda"s acting Governor in 1983) and the Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 1986 until 1991. Early life and education
The Herdman family had established the village of Sion Mills in 1835. Herdman then enrolled at The Queen"s College, Oxford, for one year to prepare for a posting in the British Overseas Civil Service.
Diplomatic career
Herdman first served as district officer and district commissioner in British Kenya until the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964.
After leaving Kenya, Herdman transferred from the British Overseas Civil Service to Her Majesty"s Diplomatic Service. He studied Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS) in Shemlan, Lebanon, to prepare for his positing in neighboring Jordan.
He then served at diplomatic embassies and missions in Zambia, Saudi Arabia and Malawi. Deputy Governor of Bermuda
Mark Herdman was appointed Deputy Governor of Bermuda from 1983 to 1986, including a brief tenure as acting Governor from 14 February 1983 until July 1983, following the resignation of Governor Richard Posnett.
Governor of British Virgin Islands
Herdman was appointed Governor of the British Virgin Islands from 1986 to 1991.
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck the British Virgin Islands in 1989 during Herdman"s tenure, devastating the islands. Hurricane Hugo was the first major hurricane to strike the territory since 1960. Governor Herdman oversaw the British Virgin Islands" emergency management programs and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurrican Hugo.
Herdman appointed the BVI"s first full-time disaster preparedness coordinator, which led to founding of the Department of Disaster Management of the British Virgin Islands in 1993, after he left office.
In a 2015 statement, Premier Orlando Smith praised Herdman"s role in the territory"s recovery from Hurricane Hugo, noting that "helped to lay the foundation for the development of the modern Virgin Islands’ disaster management systems and operations."
In 1990, Governor Herdman was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Later life
He left his position in the British Virgin Islands in 1991.
Mark Herdman died on 5 August 2015 at the age of 83. He was buried at Saint Mary"s Church in Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey, on 25 August 2015.
Membership
Mark Herdman was a member of the Herdman family, who owned and operated a respected linen factory in Sion Mills in County Tyrone. Herdman served as a member of the European Union"s Peace Monitoring Mission during the breakup of Yugoslavia before retiring from diplomacy in 1992.