Cyril George Fox Cartwright (18 April 1911 – 23 April 1943) was a British Colonial Service administrator. He died during the

Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands The Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands was the period in the history of Kiribati between 1941 and 1945 when Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands during World War II, in the Pacific War theatre. From 1941 to 1943, Imper ...

Biography

Cartwight was the third son of the Rev. G. F. Cartwright. He attended

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

from 1924 to 1930; then he proceeded to

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

and obtained his degree in 1933. He was appointed to the British Colonial Service and was posted to Ocean Island, which was the administrative centre of the

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

Colony. He was acting

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

of the

Colony on Ocean Island from December 1941 to August 1942. He was acting on behalf of

Vivian Fox-Strangways Vivian Fox-Strangways (born 29 July 1898, died 21 November 1974) was a British officer (Colonel, British Army), Resident Commissioner of the partly occupied by Japan Gilbert and Ellice Islands, from 1941 to 1946. Because of the Pacific War, F ...

, who had been appointed as Resident Commissioner, but because of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, Fox-Strangways was seconded into the army and was located on

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 ...

in the

British Solomon Islands The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson, R.N., of , declared the southern islands a British protectorate. Other islands were subsequently declared to form part o ...

. While he had the opportunity to leave Ocean Island when the personnel of the

British Phosphate Commission The British Phosphate Commissioners (BPC) was a board of Australian, British, and New Zealand representatives who managed extraction of phosphate from Christmas Island, Nauru, and Banaba (Ocean Island) from 1920 until 1981. Nauru was a mandate te ...

were evacuated, he choose to stay to safeguard the people of Ocean Island. Japanese forces occupied Ocean Island on 26 August 1942. He was subjected to ill-treatment and malnutrition. He died on 23 April 1943. He is named on the memorial inscriptions in Chapel Passage, East Wall of

Bibliography

* Ellis, Albert Fuller, Sir. 1946. ''Mid-Pacific Outposts''. xx, 303pp, (8vo), 21 cm, with intro. by Brigadier J.R. Stevenson...in command of the Nauru and Ocean Island expedition. appendix 299–303, Instrument of Surrender, attachment (vi) to report by Brig. J.R.S. on surrender of Japanese on Ocean Island dated 2nd Oct. 1945. Brown & Stewart, Auckland. BM DU/711/E47, UH D767.9.E4.

References

1911 births 1943 deaths Governors of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College British civilians killed in World War II {{UK-gov-bio-stub