The Administrator of Tristan da Cunha is the head of government and representative of the Governor of Saint Helena in Tristan da Cunha.
Objective
The role of the Administrator is to chair the territory's Island Council which consists of eight elected members and three appointed members. As a part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, the head of state is Elizabeth II, with the Governor of Saint Helena appointed by the British government to act as her local representative.
As Tristan da Cunha is located at a distance of more than 1,350 miles (2,170 km) from Saint Helena, an Administrator is appointed as the Governor's representative on the island. Previously the Administrator also acted as the local magistrate, but the appointment is to be transferred to a non-member of the executive or legislative branches of government.
History
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The first Administrator, appointed during World War II, was Surgeon Lieutenant Commander E. J. S. Woolley, the head of the 16-man British naval garrison on the island which was charged with monitoring German submarines and intercepting their communications.
The first appointee to the post was Sir Hugh Elliott in 1949, when commercial development began of the local crayfish catch, for export markets. There was then no currency on Tristan da Cunha: local trade was by barter. Elliott's activities included the island's first postal service and discovery of a new species of flea, which he named for his wife Elizabeth.
The Administrator has his own flag, a Union Jack with the addition of the territory's coat of arms in the centre of the flag.
List of Administrators
The following is a complete list of Administrators of Tristan da Cunha:[1]
- 1950–1952: Sir Hugh Elliott OBE
- 1952–1954: John Philip Lennox Scott
- 1954–1957: Patrick Richard Forsyth-Thompson
- 1957–1959: Godfrey Francis Harris
- 1959–1961: Peter Andrew Day
- 1961: Peter Wheeler
- 1963–1965: Peter Andrew Day
- 1965–1966: Gordon Henry Whitefield
- 1966–1969: Brian Watkins CMG
- 1969–1974: James Ian Hendry Fleming
- 1974–1975: William Sandham (acting)
- 1975–1978: Sir Stanley Graham Trees MVO OBE
- 1978–1981: Edward Charles Brooks OBE
- 1981–1984: Colin Frank Redston
- 1984–1989: Roger Perry
- 1989–1992: Bernard Edward Pauncefort
- 1992–1994: Philip Hughes Johnson
- 1994–1997: Brendan G. P. Dalley
- 1995–1996: Alan Victor Waters (acting)
- 1997–1998: Brian Walter Money (acting)
- 1998–2001: Brian Paul Baldwin
- 2001–2004: William Andrew Dickson
- 2004–2007: Michael Joseph Hentley
- 2007–2010: David John Morley
- 2010–2013: Sean Gilbert Peter Burns
- 2013–2016: Richard Alexander John Mitham
- 2016–2020: Sean Gilbert Peter Burns
- 2020–present: Fiona Kilpatrick and Steve Townsend - jointly and serve rotationally every 3 months.
References
- ^ "Tristan da Cunha Administrator", Tristan da Cunha. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
External links
- Tristan da Cunha Administrator – Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association