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
Flag from 1937 to 1976
StyleHis Excellency
ResidenceGovernment House, Bairiki
Appointer
Term lengthAt Her Majesty's pleasure
PrecursorResident Commissioner
Formation1 January 1972
First holderJohn Field
Final holderReginald James Wallace
Abolished12 July 1979
SS Tokelau: Government Steamer Gilbert & Ellice Islands Protectorates (30 April 1909)
The Presidential residence, former Government House, Bairiki.

The post was established in 1892 with the title 'Resident Commissioner' by Governor of Fiji John Bates Thurston after the islands were made a British protectorate, having previously been under the supervision of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.[1][2][3] The Commissioner initially had jurisdiction over only the Ellice Islands. Charles Richard Swayne was appointed as the first Commissioner, arriving in the islands the same year.

In 1893 the responsibilities of Resident were extended to cover the Gilbert Islands,[4] with the title becoming Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Swayne arrived in the Gilbert Islands in October 1893. His salary was £500 a year, which was covered by local revenue. 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 and the Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands. 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
Resident Commissioner
1892–1895Charles Richard Swayne
1895–1909William Telfer Campbell
1909–1913John Quayle-Dickson
1913–1921Edward Carlyon Eliot
1921–1926Herbert Reginald McClure
1926–1933Arthur Grimble
1933–1941Jack Barley
1941–1946Vivian Fox-Strangways
1946–1949Henry Evans Maude
1949–1952John Peel
1952–1961Michael Bernacchi
1961–1969Val Andersen
1970–1972John Osbaldiston Field
Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
1972–1973John Osbaldiston Field
1973–1978John Hilary Smith
Governor of the Gilbert Islands
1978–1979Reginald James Wallace
Sources: Henige,[1] Macdonald[3]

References
  1. David P. Henige (1970) Colonial governors from the Fifteenth Century to the Present, p119
  2. Barrie Macdonald (1971) Policy and Practice in an Atoll Territory: British Rule in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, 1892-1970, Canberra, ANU
  3. Barrie Macdonald (1982) Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu, ANU Press
  4. Michael Ravell Walsh (2020) A History of Kiribati: From the Earliest Times to the 40th Anniversary of the Republic, pp170–171.
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