British Western Pacific Territories

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The British Western Pacific Territories was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner (compare other uses of this title), of a series of relatively minor Pacific islands in and around Oceania

Contents 1 The island entities 1.1 In Polynesia 1.2 In Micronesia 1.3 In Melanesia 2 The High Commissioners 2.1 to 3 July 1952 also governors of Fiji, hence capital Suva 2.2 then also governors of the Solomon Islands, hence capital Honiara 3 Sources and references

[edit] The island entities

• Gilbert and Ellice Islands to 1971 (presently: Kiribati in Micronesia respectively Tuvalu in Polynesia)
• Phoenix Islands to 1939 (The nearly uninhabited eight atolls are presently part of Kiribati)

[edit] In Polynesia

• Cook Islands (The 15 small islands are now a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand)
• Niue [to 1901] (also known as "Rock of Polynesia"; presently self-governing, in free association with New Zealand)
• Union Islands [to 1926] (presently Tokelau)
• the native kingdom of Tonga [to 1952]
• The Pitcairn Islands [to 1952] (five islands, of which only Pitcairn Island — the second largest — is inhabited, the only remaining British colony in the Pacific; became home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and accompanying Tahitians)
• cfr. supra Tuvalu

[edit] In Micronesia

• Nauru till 1921 (After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations Mandate territory in 1920, administered by Australia; in 1947, a trusteeship was approved by the United Nations; it achieved independence in 1968)
• cfr. supra Kiribati

[edit] In Melanesia

• Fiji; its governor, in Suva, was also the joint High Commissioner until it was separated from the High commission in 1952
• the British Solomon Islands [to 1974]; their governor, in Honoria, was also the High Commissioner, after Fiji had left, since 1952
• New Hebrides (present Vanuatu), a condominium shared with France, which appointed its own Haut commissaire here

[edit] The High Commissioners

The office was never an independent one, but always filled ex officio the Governorship of one of the constitutive British islands colonies

[edit] to 3 July 1952 also governors of Fiji, hence capital Suva

• 1877 - January 1880 Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon (b. 1829 - d. 1912)
• January 1880 - January 1887 Sir George William Des Vœux (b. 1834 - d. 1909)
• January 1887 - February 1888 Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell (b. 1836 - d. 1899)
• February 1888 - 7 February 1897 Sir John Bates Thurston (b. 1836 - d. 1897)
• March 1897 - 1901 Sir George Thomas Michael O'Brien (b. 1844 - d. 1906)
• 1901 - 10 September 1902 William Lamond Allardyce (acting) (b. 1861 - d. 1930)
• 10 September 1902 - 11 October 1904 Sir Henry Moore Jackson (b. 1849 - d. 1908)
• 11 October 1904 - 21 February 1911 Sir Everard F. im Thurn (b. 1852 - d. 1932)
• 21 February 1911 - 25 July 1912 Sir Francis Henry May (b. 1860 - d. 1922)
• 25 July 1912 - 10 October 1918 Sir Ernest Bickham Sweet-Escott (b. 1857 - d. 1941)
• 10 October 1918 - 25 April 1925 Cecil Hunter Rodwell (from 1919, Sir Cecil Hunter-Rodwell) (b. 1874 - d. 1953)
• 25 April 1925 - 22 November 1929 Sir Eyre Hutson (b. 1864 - d. 1936)
• 22 November 1929 - 28 November 1936 Sir Arthur George Murchinson Fletcher (b. 1878 - d. 1954)
• 28 November 1936 - 16 September 1938 Sir Arthur Frederick Richards (b. 1885 - d. 1978)
• 16 September 1938 - 1942 Sir Harry Charles Luke (b. 1884 - d. 1969)
• 1942 - 1945 Vacant: high commission suspended, while most islands were under British military administration, but Solomon Islands, Gilbert Islands and Phoenix islands came under Japanese occupation.
• 1945 - 1946 Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham (b. 1899 - d. 1978)
• 20 January 1948 - 3 July 1952 Sir Leslie Brian Freestone (b. 1892 - d. 1958)

[edit] then also governors of the Solomon Islands, hence capital Honiara

• 3 July 1952 - 1952 Sir Robert Christopher Stafford Stanley (b. 1899 - d. 1981)
• 1952 - 1955 Henry Graham Gregory-Smith
• 1955 - 4 March 1961 John Gutch from 1957, Sir John Gutch) (b. 1905 - d. 1988)
• 4 March 1961 - 16 June 1964 David Trench (from 1961, Sir David Trench) (b. 1915 - d. 1988)
• 16 June 1964 - 6 March 1969 Sir Robert Sidney Foster (b. 1913 - d. 2005)
• 6 March 1969 - July 1971 Sir Michael David Irving Gass (b. 1916 - d. 1983)
• July 1971 - 1973 Vacant
• 1973 - 2 January 1976 Donald Collin Cumyn Luddington (b. 1920)

On 2 January 1976 the office and the entity were abolished, after nearly all island groups had been given separate statehood.

[edit] Sources and references

• WorldStatesmen