Charles Morris Woodford (30 October 1852 – 4 October 1927) was a British naturalist and government minister active in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
.
He became the first
Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate, serving from 1896 (three years after the establishment of the
British Solomon Islands Protectorate) until 1915.
Life before appointment
Woodford was born in Gravesend, Kent, the first son of Henry Pack Woodford, a wine merchant. He went to study at Tonbridge school where the headmaster introduced him to the study of natural history.
[ In the early 1880s, Woodford worked for a time for the colonial government in ]Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
. He undertook three journeys to the Solomons as a naturalist, and learned several of the local languages. Between 1885 and 1886 he made three unsuccessful attempts to reach the centre of Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
from his base on nearby Bara Island, to collect specimens for the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
Woodford noted the decadence of the society in the Solomon Islands following contact with labour recruiters. In his book ''A Naturalist Among the Head-Hunters'', he noted that cannibalism and killing had become common, and deplored the lawlessness. He wrote "I know no place where firm and paternal government would sooner produce beneficial results than the Solomons...while I believe that the natives themselves would not be slow to recognise the advantages of increased security to life and property. Here is an object worthy indeed of the devotion of one's life."
Britain declared a protectorate over the islands in 1893, but did not establish a government. The High Commissioner of the British Western Pacific Territories
The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Paci ...
, Sir John Bates Thurston, paid a visit, reporting that there was no means of raising revenue, and that no settled government could be established. He suggested the establishment of a Resident Deputy Commissioner, to attempt to control the firearms trade. The Colonial Office replied that the Solomons must pay for themselves, without indicating how that might be possible.
Woodford knew that there might be a Resident Commissioner appointed for the islands, and was working as an assistant in the High Commissioner's office, figuring that would improve his chances of being appointed. Thurston was away when the Colonial Office refusal came, and was able to write that a small salary recently voted on in the High Commission, and an annual imperial grant of £600, with further revenue to be raised through traders' and recruiters' licenses, as well as commercial prospects.[Coates, 228.]
Furthermore, he wrote that he himself had been appointed Deputy Commissioner, and was proceeding to the islands to report. Woodford then went to Sydney, holding the despatch, to convince Thurston to sign it. Thurston did not have a high opinion of Woodford, but was convinced, and in his last days became a major supporter of him. With the appointment signed, Woodford set off for the Solomons.
From 30 May to 10 August 1896, HMS ''Pylades'' toured through the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
with Woodford, who was investigating the economic feasibility of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. On 29 September 1896, in anticipation of the establishment of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Woodford purchased the island of Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...
, which he has selected as the site for the administrative centre.
Resident Commissioner
Woodford's report from his first trip as Commissioner in 1896, impressed the Colonial Office, and he was given a small amount of money and permitted to hold the position provisionally for a year, though it remained precarious. The Colonial Office appointed Woodford as the Resident Commissioner in the Solomon Islands on 17 February 1897. He was directed to control the labour trade operating in the Solomon Island waters and to stop the illegal trade in firearms.
Woodford returned to the Solomons in 1897, with six Fijian policemen and a whaleboat, and about six pence in reserve funds. With this, he founded the colonial capital of Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...
, on a small island just off the south coast of Florida Island
The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state (since 1978) in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
The chain is composed of four larger islands and about ...
. He urged the crown to assume possession of all unclaimed land, thereby preventing large-scale land purchases, which aroused the Colonial Office's mistrust of big business, and gave him £1200 to build a Residency.[Coates, 229.] Woodford established the first mails from the islands which travelled by sealed bag to Sydney, New South Wales, and from there on to their destination.[''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth and British Empire Stamps 1840-1970''. 112th edition. London: ]Stanley Gibbons
The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...
, 2010, pp. 123-126.
A smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic at the Anglican Mission settlement of Siota Siota is a region on the north side of Nggela Island at the western end of Utuhu Passage in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a state in the southwest Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oc ...
, and the need to impose quarantine
A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...
, enabled him to get an assistant. Arthur William Mahaffy was appointed at the Deputy Commissioner in January 1889. He was based in Gizo, his duties included suppressing head hunting in New Georgia and neighbouring islands.[ Woodford seized the opportunity provided by the Anglo-German Samoa Convention, in which Germany ceded the North Solomon Islands to Britain, to stress the extension of the area of his responsibility and get another sailing vessel and more police. That year he also established an administrative headquarters for the Western territory, at Gizo.
Civil administration was set up along the lines of the ]Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...
and Ellice Islands, starting in the Florida Islands, which were divided into five small districts, each under a chief responsible to Woodford. This political arrangement was welcomed by the Anglican Mission there. Woodford's resources were still limited, however, and for major assistance he had to rely on ships sent by the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. In 1910, when three missionaries were killed on Rennell Island
Rennell Island, locally known as Mugaba, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the nation state of Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of that is about long and wide. It is th ...
, his only possibility was to close the island to outsiders, and when a murder was committed on Malaita, he had to appeal for to be sent to make a punitive raid.
Much of the interest in capital investment that Woodford sought was diverted to Banaba Island, when its rich phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
discovered in 1900. However, Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore
Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore (26 November 1829 – 30 January 1912) was a British Liberal Party politician and colonial administrator. He had extensive contact with Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
Career
Gordon was ...
, who Woodford had been able to interest in commercial investment in the Solomons, persevered with his plans, buying German landholdings and trying to amass enough capital for large-scale coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
agriculture. In 1905 that land was sold to Lever's Pacific Plantations
Levers Pacific Plantations Ltd. was a British company incorporated in 1902, by William Lever, in London, as a subsidiary of Lever Brothers which wanted to get more control on raw materials like copra for its soap, mainly for Lever Brothers Factor ...
, and the rent it provided for the protectorate enabled the government to expand further.
Woodford, worried that the Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
ns were a dying race, supported a plan to import labourers from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, which was refused by the India Office
The India Office was a British government department established in London in 1858 to oversee the administration, through a Viceroy and other officials, of the Provinces of India. These territories comprised most of the modern-day nations of I ...
. The development of local plantations coincided with the end of the labour trade in Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
, and the difficulties caused by the repatriation of the workers under the White Australia policy was predicted by Woodford.
Woodford left the islands in January 1914, and by that time the islands were largely pacified, and head-hunting had nearly died out. New Georgia and Malaita
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the se ...
remained troubled areas, but a district office on the latter, at Auki, was established in 1909. However, after he left, much of his progress was undone. He retired from public life, and the protectorate government never regained the initiative that it had during his control.
In the King's Birthday Honours list of 14 June 1912 Woodford was made an Ordinary Member of the Third Class, of the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
.
Legacy
Several animals in the Solomons, including ''Mynes woodfordi
''Mynes woodfordi'' is a medium-sized butterfly of the family Nymphalidae found in and around the Solomon Islands and Bougainville. It was described by Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin in 1888 and named after British naturalist Charle ...
'', '' Corvus woodfordi'', ''Pteropus woodfordi
The dwarf flying fox, least flying fox, or least fruit bat (''Pteropus woodfordi'') is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands. It is threatened by deforestation
Deforestation or forest ...
'', '' Nesoclopeus woodfordi'', and a genus of birds, ''Woodfordia
''Zosterops'' (meaning "eye-girdle") is a genus of passerine birds containing the typical white-eyes in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. The genus has the largest number of species in the white-eye family. They occur in the Afrotropical, Indom ...
'', were named after Woodford. He is also commemorated in the scientific names of two species of lizards: '' Lepidodactylus woodfordi'' and '' Sphenomorphus woodfordi''.[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Woodford", p. 289).]
Publications
* ''A Naturalist Among the Head-Hunters'' (1890)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodford, Charles Morris
Colonial Service officers
British naturalists
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Governors of the Solomon Islands
Headhunting accounts and studies
1852 births
1927 deaths