| Tenure |
Incumbent |
Notes |
| British Suzerainty |
| 25 May 1887 |
Coastal areas granted to the British East Africa Association by the Sultan of Zanzibar |
| 25 May 1887 to 3 September 1888 |
Sir William Mackinnon, President of the British East Africa Association |
|
| 3 September 1888 to 1889 |
Sir William Mackinnon, President of the Imperial British East Africa Company |
|
| 1889 to 1890 |
George Sutherland Mackenzie, Administrator |
|
| May 1890 to February 1891 |
Francis Walter de Winton, Administrator |
|
| September 1891 to 1892 |
Lloyd Williams Matthews, Administrator |
|
| February 1892 to 1893 |
Sir Gerald Herbert Portal, Administrator |
|
| British East Africa Protectorate |
| 1 July 1895 |
|
| July 1895 to 1897 |
Arthur Henry Hardinge, Commissioner |
|
| 1897 to October 1900 |
Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge, Commissioner |
|
| December 1900 to 1904 |
Sir Charles Eliot, Commissioner |
|
| 20 June 1904 to 1 October 1905 |
Sir Donald William Stewart, Commissioner |
|
| 12 December 1905 to 31 December 1905 |
Sir James Hayes Sadler, Commissioner |
|
| 31 December 1905 to 1909 |
Sir James Hayes Sadler, Governor |
|
| 16 September 1909 to July 1912 |
Sir Edouard Percy Cranwill Girouard, Governor |
|
| 3 October 1912 to 1917 |
Sir Henry Conway Belfield, Governor |
|
| 1917 to 1919 |
Sir Charles Calvert Bowring, acting Governor |
|
| 22 July 1919 to 1920 |
Sir Edward Northey, Governor |
|
| Kenya Colony and Protectorate |
| 1920 to 1922 |
Sir Edward Northey, Governor |
|
| 15 August 1922 to 1925 |
Sir Robert Thorne Coryndon |
|
| 2 October 1925 to 1930 |
Edward William Macleay Grigg |
|
| 13 February 1931 to 1936 |
Sir Joseph Aloysius Byrne |
|
| 6 April 1937 to 1939 |
Sir Robert Brooke-Popham |
|
| 9 January 1940 to 1944 |
Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore |
|
| 11 December 1944 to 1952 |
Sir Philip Euen Mitchell |
|
| 30 September 1952 to 1959 |
Sir Evelyn Baring |
|
| 23 October 1959 to 1962 |
Sir Patrick Muir Renison |
|
| 4 January 1963 to 12 December 1963 |
Malcolm John MacDonald |
|
| 12 December 1963 |
Independence as Kenya |