| width="20%"|Tenure | width="40%"|Incumbent | width="20%"|Notes |
| olspan="3"|British Suzerainty |
| a href="/encyclopedia/25-May" title="25 May">25 May 1887 | colspan="2"|Coastal areas granted to the British East Africa Association by the Sultan of Zanzibar |
| small>25 May 1887 to 3 September 1888 | Sir William Mackinnon, President of the British East Africa Association | |
| small>3 September 1888 to 1889 | Sir William Mackinnon, President of the Imperial British East Africa Company | |
| small>1889 to 1890 | George Sutherland Mackenzie, Administrator | |
| small>May 1890 to February 1891 | Francis Walter de Winton, Administrator | |
| small>September 1891 to 1892 | Lloyd Williams Matthews, Administrator | |
| small>February 1892 to 1893 | Sir Gerald Herbert Portal, Administrator | |
| olspan="3"|British East Africa Protectorate |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1-July" title="1 July">1 July 1895 | colspan="2"| |
| small>July 1895 to 1897 | Arthur Henry Hardinge, Commissioner | |
| small>1897 to October 1900 | Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge, Commissioner | |
| small>December 1900 to 1904 | Sir Charles Eliot, Commissioner | |
| small>20 June 1904 to 1 October 1905 | Sir Donald William Stewart, Commissioner | |
| small>12 December 1905 to 31 December 1905 | Sir James Hayes Sadler, Commissioner | |
| small>31 December 1905 to 1909 | Sir James Hayes Sadler, Governor | |
| small>16 September 1909 to July 1912 | Sir Edouard Percy Cranwill Girouard, Governor | |
| small>3 October 1912 to 1917 | Sir Henry Conway Belfield, Governor | |
| small>1917 to 1919 | Sir Charles Calvert Bowring, acting Governor | |
| small>22 July 1919 to 1920 | Sir Edward Northey, Governor | |
| olspan="3"|Kenya Colony and Protectorate |
| small>1920 to 1922 | Sir Edward Northey, Governor | |
| small>15 August 1922 to 1925 | Sir Robert Thorne Coryndon | |
| small>2 October 1925 to 1930 | Edward William Macleay Grigg | |
| small>13 February 1931 to 1936 | Sir Joseph Aloysius Byrne | |
| small>6 April 1937 to 1939 | Sir Robert Brooke-Popham | |
| small>9 January 1940 to 1944 | Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore | |
| small>11 December 1944 to 1952 | Sir Philip Euen Mitchell | |
| small>30 September 1952 to 1959 | Sir Evelyn Baring | |
| small>23 October 1959 to 1962 | Sir Patrick Muir Renison | |
| small>4 January 1963 to 12 December 1963 | Malcolm John MacDonald | |
| a href="/encyclopedia/12-December" title="12 December">12 December 1963 | colspan="2"|Independence as 'Kenya' |
For continuation after independence,