| 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
|
