William Allardyce

Sir William Lamond Allardyce
GCMG
Acting High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
In office
1901  10 September 1902
Monarch Edward VII
Preceded by George Thomas Michael O'Brien
Succeeded by Henry Moore Jackson
Acting Governor of Fiji
In office
1901  10 September 1902
Monarch Edward VII
Preceded by George Thomas Michael O'Brien
Succeeded by Henry Moore Jackson
13th Governor of the Falkland Islands
In office
March 1904  February 1914
Monarch Edward VII
George V
Preceded by William Grey-Wilson
Succeeded by William Douglas Young
48th Governor of the Bahamas
In office
15 June 1914  8 December 1920
Monarch George V
Preceded by Sir George Basil Haddon-Smith
Succeeded by Sir Harry Edward Spiller Cordeaux
13th Governor of Tasmania
In office
16 April 1920  27 January 1922
Monarch George V
Preceded by Sir Francis Newdegate
Succeeded by Sir James O'Grady
5th Governor of Newfoundland
In office
1 September 1922  1 October 1928
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Richard Squires
William Warren
Albert Hickman
Walter Stanley Monroe
Frederick C. Alderdice
Preceded by Charles Alexander Harris
Succeeded by John Middleton
Personal details
Born 14 November 1861
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Died 10 June 1930(1930-06-10) (aged 68)
Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Spouse(s) Constance Angel Greene, m.1895, d.1919)
Elsie Elizabeth Goodfellow, (nee Stewart, m.1920)

Sir William Lamond Allardyce GCMG (14 November 1861 – 10 June 1930) was a career British civil servant in the Colonial Office who served as governor of Fiji (1901–1902), the Falkland Islands (1904–1914), Bahamas (1914–1920), Tasmania (1920–1922), and Newfoundland (1922–1928).

Allardyce was born near Bombay, India, the son of Georgina Dickson Abbott and Colonel James Allardyce. Educated in Aberdeen, Scotland and at Oxford Military College, at the age of 18 he joined the British Civil Service in the Colonial Office.

His first posting was Fiji where only two years after arriving there he was named acting Resident Commissioner for the island of Rotuma. The following year as magistrate and seven years later he was appointed to the Native Regulation Board and made the commissioner of the Supreme Court. In 1894 he was made Commissioner for Native Lands and given a seat in the Legislative Council. In 1895 he was appointed Native Commissioner, the chief liaison between the Fijian natives and the British.

In 1904 Allardyce was appointed as Governor of the Falkland Islands. After 10 years at the Falklands he was then transferred to the Bahamas to become its governor. A post he held for six years. Allardyce then became governor of Tasmania, but retired after only two years—taking the last three months as leave—as a result of his failure to obtain an increase in his salary of £2750. In fact a statement made to the Parliament of Tasmania on his salary and allowances was followed by a vote by the Legislative Assembly to abolish his office, although the same motion was defeated in the Legislative Council. Nevertheless, when he left office he was widely praised for his performance of the office.[1]

Allardyce was subsequently ordered to Newfoundland where he was to succeed Sir Charles Alexander Harris as Governor of Newfoundland, where he was invited to become patron of the Great War Veterans Association. He was the official Crown representative of the unveiling of the National War Memorial by Field Marshal the Earl Haig on 1 July 1924. He officiated at the opening of the other national war memorial, Memorial University College, on 15 September 1925. Allardyce as governor was a key promoter in the decision awarding jurisdiction over most of the Labrador Peninsula to Newfoundland by the British Privy Council.

In 1916 Allardyce was made Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and St. George by King George V. Some years later he became Knight Grand Cross in 1927.

Allardyce married twice, first to Constance Greene of Melbourne, Australia in 1895. She died in 1918; he then in 1920 married Elsie Elizabeth Stewart,[2] widow of A.C. Goodfellow. In 1923, Lady Allardyce helped start the Girl Guide movement in Newfoundland, and then in 1924 she established the Newfoundland Outport Nursing and Industrial Association (NONIA).

Allardyce was noted as one of the most competent administrators ever appointed by the Colonial Office to serve as the official representative of the British Crown in Newfoundland and Labrador.

See also

References

Government offices
Preceded by
Sir George O'Brien
High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, acting
1901–1902
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Jackson
Governor of Fiji, acting
1901–1902
Preceded by
Sir William Grey-Wilson, KCMG
Governor of the Falkland Islands
1904–1914
Succeeded by
Sir William Young, KBE, CMG
Preceded by
Sir George Haddon-Smith
Governor of the Bahamas
1914–1920
Succeeded by
Sir Harry Cordeaux
Preceded by
Sir Francis Newdegate
Governor of Tasmania
1920–1922
Succeeded by
Captain James O'Grady
Preceded by
Sir Charles Alexander
Dominion Governor of Newfoundland
1922–1928
Succeeded by
Sir John Middleton
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