John Saint (agricultural chemist)
Sir Sidney John Saint FRCS (16 September 1898 – 15 June 1987) was an English agricultural chemist who spent most of his working life in Barbados, where he was Director of Agriculture, Controller of Supplies, a member of the island's Executive Council, and a Privy Counsellor.
After retiring in 1963, he returned to England and lived in Sussex.
Life
Saint was educated at Beaminster Grammar School in Dorset and the University of Reading, where he graduated MSc. He also gained the London degrees of BSc and PhD.
In 1916, during the First World War, Saint joined the Royal Flying Corps, and he remained in the new Royal Air Force until 1919. He held a Salter research fellowship for two years from 1920, then was a lecturer in Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Leeds from 1922 to 1927. That year, he went out to Barbados as a Chemist in the Department of Agriculture, and in 1937 was appointed as the colony's Director of Agriculture, a post he held until 1949. While Director, he was also chairman of the British West Indies Sugar Cane Breeding Station. During the Second World War he was Controller of Supplies in Barbados. In 1947 he was appointed as a member of the Executive Council of Barbados, in which he remained until 1961, when he became a Privy Counsellor for Barbados. In 1963 he retired to England, settling at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex.