List of colonial governors in 1872

Denmark

 * Danish West Indies - Frantz Ernst Bille (until July), then Johan August Stakemann (until September), then Janus August Garde (1872-1881)

Portugal

 * Angola – José Maria da Ponte e Horta, Governor-General of Angola (1870–1873)

United Kingdom

 * Ceylon – Sir Hercules Robinson (until January), then William Henry Gregory (from March)
 * Hong Kong – Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell (until April), then Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy
 * Jamaica – Sir John Peter Grant, Governor of Jamaica (1866–1874)
 * Malta Colony
 * Patrick Grant, Governor of Malta (1867–1872)
 * Charles van Straubenzee, Governor of Malta (1872–1878)
 * New South Wales
 * Somerset Lowry-Corry, Lord Belmore, Governor of New South Wales (1868–1872)
 * Hercules Robinson, Lord Rosmead, Governor of New South Wales (1872–1879)
 * Queensland – George Phipps, Lord Normanby, Governor of Queensland (1871–1874)
 * Tasmania – Sir Charles Du Cane, Governor of Tasmania (1869–1874)
 * South Australia – Sir James Fergusson, Bt, Governor of South Australia (1869–1873)
 * Victoria – John Manners-Sutton, Lord Canterbury, Governor of Victoria (1866–1873)
 * Western Australia – Major Frederick Weld, Governor of Western Australia (1869–1875)