Sir Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard, was born on January 22, 1858, in Madras, India.

He was a British soldier, explorer, administrator, and author. Entering the British army, he received his commission in 1878 in the Norfolk 9th Foot Regiment, joining the 2nd battalion in India. He also served in the Afghan (1878–1880), Sudan (1884–1885), and Burma (1885) campaigns and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1887. His career was derailed after a catastrophic love affair with a married woman in India. After recovering from Burma fever, he accepted a position with the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1889. He explored the area of the Sabaki River in Kenya and developed a scheme for the emancipation of the slaves held by Arabs in the Zanzibar mainland. Lugard served as Military Administrator of Uganda from 1890 to 1892 and persuaded the British government to adopt Uganda as a protectorate in 1894. In 1894, he was dispatched by the Royal Niger Company to Borgu, where he secured treaties with the kings and chiefs who acknowledged the sovereignty of the British company. In 1897, he became Commissioner for the Hinterland of Nigeria, where he organized the West African Frontier Force and commanded it until 1899. After the declaration of a protectorate over Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1900, he became High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria. Lugard restored peace and order, stopped slave raiding, abolished slavery and the slave trade. He was knighted in 1901 for his service in Nigeria. In 1907, he became Governor of Hong Kong, where he helped establish the University of Hong Kong in 1911. In 1912, Lugard returned to Nigeria as Governor of the two protectorates and was made Governor-General (1914-1919). After he retired in 1919, he acted as the leading authority on the colonial government. From 1922 to 1936, he was a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. He was also a member of the international slavery committees (1924-1925, 1932), he served on the Colonial Advisory Committee on Education (1923-1936) and from 1926, he was chairman of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures. Lugard served on the International Labour Organisation's Committee of Experts on Native Labour (1925-1941). He received honorary degrees from Oxford, Durham, Cambridge, Glasgow, and Hong Kong universities. He was also a gold medallist of the Royal Geographical Society, Royal African Society and Royal Empire Society, and a silver medallist of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He wrote, "The Rise of Our East African Empire" (1893) and "Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa" (1922).

In 1902, he married Lady Flora Louise Shaw (1852–1929). He died on April 11, 1945, in Dorking, Surrey, England.