Ronald Garvey

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Sir
Ronald Garvey
Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
In office
1959–1966
MonarchElizabeth II
Preceded bySir Ambrose Dundas
Succeeded bySir Peter Stallard
Personal details
Born(1903-07-04)4 July 1903
Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Died31 May 1991(1991-05-31) (aged 87)
CitizenshipBritish
SpousePatricia Dorothy McGusty
Children3 daughters, 1 son
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
OccupationColonial administrator

Sir Ronald Herbert Garvey

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
at the end of his career.

Biography

Education and early career

A parson's son from the

Indian Civil Service.[2] He became involved in breaking the 1926 general strike, and did not find time to study for this examination, and instead applied for a position in the Colonial Service.[3] He accepted a position in the Solomon Islands Protectorate, and sailed from Southampton to Fiji in November 1926.[4]

Garvey spent six years in the Solomons, most of them as a district officer for the

Queen Salote to declare war on Nazi Germany if war was to break out in Europe.[10] Due to his success, a few months later he was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[11]

In Spring 1940, while on his way back to Britain on leave, he was recalled to serve as acting Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides, at a time of turmoil as this Franco-British territory was the first to follow Charles de Gaulle's appeal to fight against Philippe Pétain's government.[12] Garvey assisted the French Commissioner Henri Sautot in his quick and bloodless overthrowing of Vichy power in New Caledonia.[13] In October 1941, he was again sent to the Gilbert and Ellice colony[14] to put phosphate-rich Ocean Island "on a war-time footing" as its "Supreme Co-Ordinating Authority", until Japan's advance led to the island's evacuation in March 1942.[15]

Garvey then left Fiji for a new position in East African

Administrator of Saint Vincent, in the West Indies.[17] The Garvey family left Nyasaland for England in February 1944, Ronald sailing for St. Vincent in September.[18]

Governor

Garvey started work as

Governor of British Honduras in 1949;[20] there he had to contend with a general strike and the need to devalue the local currency.[21] He launched one of the first credit unions in British Honduras to protect poorer people from loan sharks.[22] He then served as Governor of Fiji from 1952, where he demonstrated his considerable public relations skills,[23] until his retirement in 1958.[24]

In retirement he became

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man:[25] he launched major initiatives there in the early 1960s to increase tourism, including the establishment of a new casino, and promoted the local tax incentives.[26] He also sent the Home Office a Manx cat to replace the one they had lost.[27] He subsequently wrote a memoir entitled Gentleman Pauper published in 1984.[28] He is buried in Wrentham cemetery in Suffolk.[29]

Family

Garvey married Patricia Dorothy McGusty (1913-2005),[30] daughter of Dr. V.W.T. McGusty, a District Medical Officer in Fiji,[31] on 30 October 1934;[8] they had one son, Anthony (born 1935), and three daughters (Grania, Lavinia and Julia)[32]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 5.
  2. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 13.
  3. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 15.
  4. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 23.
  5. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 30.
  6. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 39.
  7. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 47.
  8. ^ a b Garvey 1984, p. 49.
  9. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 53.
  10. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 71.
  11. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 81.
  12. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 89.
  13. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 92.
  14. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 99.
  15. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 101.
  16. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 95.
  17. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 115.
  18. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 118.
  19. ^ World Statesmen: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  20. ^ Rulers of Belize
  21. ^ Belize, general strikes, 1952 by Edward T. Brett
  22. ^ The perils of organising credit unions in developing countries
  23. ^ Obituary: Sir Kenneth Maddocks The Independent, 1 September 2001
  24. ^ Rulers of Fiji
  25. ^ World Statesmen: Isle of Man
  26. ^ Obituary: Sir Charles Kerruish, The Independent, 2 August 2003
  27. ^ Home Office cat history revealed BBC News, 4 January 2005
  28. ^ Gentleman Pauper by Sir Ronald Garvey, published by Anchor Publications in 1984
  29. ^ Wrentham Cemetery Records
  30. ^ National Portrait Gallery
  31. ^ Garvey 1984, p. 26.
  32. ^ Isle of Man Report British Pathe, 21 September 1959
Government offices
Preceded by
Administrator of Saint Vincent

1944–1948 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Edward Hawkesworth
Governor of British Honduras

1949–1952 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of Fiji
1952–1958 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man

1959–1966 		Succeeded by
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