John Ryder Oliver (1834–1909)

Army officer. Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, 1855; served in the Indian Mutiny campaigns, 1857–9. Lieutenant, Royal Horse Artillery, 1860–4; captain, 1864; at St Helena, 1866–9; major, 1874. Brigade major, Royal Artillery, Aldershot, 1869–74; lieutenant-colonel, 1882; brevet colonel, 1885. Senior professor, Royal Military College, Canada, 1877–86; commandant, 1886–8. Honorary major-general, 1887. Inventor of a sundial that showed true mean time.