Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
The Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands was the colonial head of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands civil service from 1892 until 1979.
Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands | |
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Coat of Arms of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands | |
Style | His Excellency |
Residence | Government House, Bairiki |
Appointer |
|
Term length | At Her Majesty's pleasure |
Precursor | Resident Commissioner |
Formation | 1 January 1972 |
First holder | John Field |
Final holder | Reginald James Wallace |
Abolished | 12 July 1979 |
The post was established in 1892 as the Resident Commissioner when the islands were made a British protectorate, having previously been under the supervision of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.[1][2][3] Swayne, the first Resident Commissioner, arrived in the Ellice Islands in 1892 and in the Gilbert Islands in October 1893. In 1895, the headquarters of the protectorate were established in Tarawa before being moved to Ocean Island in 1908, which remained the headquarters until World War II. The Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands became separate colonies in 1976, but remained under a single governor. After the independence of Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) in 1978, the post was renamed the Governor of the Gilbert Islands until the independence of Kiribati the following year.
List of governors
Term | Post-holder |
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Resident Commissioner | |
1892–1895 | Charles Richard Swayne |
1895–1909 | William Telfer Campbell |
1909–1913 | John Quayle Dickson |
1913–1921 | Edward Carlyon Eliot |
1921–1926 | Herbert Reginald McClure |
1926–1933 | Arthur Grimble |
1933–1941 | Jack Barley |
1941–1946 | Vivian Fox-Strangways |
1946–1949 | Henry Evans Maude |
1949–1952 | John Peel |
1952–1961 | Michael Bernacchi |
1961–1969 | Val Andersen |
1970–1972 | John Osbaldiston Field |
Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands | |
1972–1973 | John Osbaldiston Field |
1973–1978 | John Hilary Smith |
Governor of the Gilbert Islands | |
1978–1979 | Reginald James Wallace |
Sources: Henige,[1] Macdonald[3] |
References
- David P. Henige (1970) Colonial governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present, p119
- Barrie Macdonald (May 1971) Policy and Practice in an Atoll Territory: British Rule in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, 1892-1970, Canberra, ANU
- Barrie Macdonald (1982) Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu, ANU Press