The Mau Mau rebellion (19521960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (19201963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities.Dominated by the Kikuyu people, Meru people and Embu people, the KLFA also comprised units of Kamba and Maasai peoples who fought against the white European colonist-settlers in Kenya, the British Army, and the local Kenya Regiment (British colonists, local auxiliary militia, and pro-British Kikuyu people).The capture of rebel leader Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 signalled the defeat of the Mau Mau, and essentially ended the British military campaign. However, the rebellion survived until after Kenya's independence from Britain, driven mainly by the Meru units led by Field Marshal Musa Mwariama and General Baimungi. Baimungi, one of the last Mau Mau generals, was killed shortly after Kenya attained self-rule.The KLFA failed to capture widespread public support. Frank Fredi, in The Mau Mau War in Perspective, suggests this was due to a British policy of divide and rule. The Mau Mau movement remained internally divided, despite attempts to unify the factions. The British, meanwhile, applied the strategy and tactics they developed in suppressing the Malayan Emergency (194860). The Mau Mau Uprising created a rift between the European colonial community in Kenya and the metropole, and also resulted in violent divisions within the Kikuyu community: "Much of the struggle tore through the African communities themselves, an internecine war waged between rebels and so-called 'loyalists' Africans who took the side of the government and opposed Mau Mau." Suppressing the Mau Mau Uprising in the Kenyan colony cost Britain £55 million and caused at least 11,000 deaths among the Mau Mau and other forces, with some estimates considerably higher. This included 1,090 executions by hanging. The rebellion was marked by war crimes and massacres committed by both sides.

This article contains a list of chairmen, administrators, commissioners and governors of British Kenya Colony.

The office of Governor of Kenya was replaced by the office of Governor General in 1963 and then later replaced by a President of Kenya, upon Kenya becoming a Republic in 1964. For continuation after independence, see: List of heads of state of Kenya.