Sir Geoffrey Edmund Cator (14 August 1884 – 21 April 1973) was an English diplomat mainly active in the Malayan Civil Service.

Biography

Cator was born in

Lacock Lacock is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham, and about outside the Cotswolds area. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust a ...

, Wiltshire, the son of brewer Robert Cator of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and Evelyn Susan Sotheron Estcourt. He married Elizabeth Margaret Wynne Mostyn in 1922; they had a son, Peter John Cator (26 October 1924 – 22 January 2006) and daughter Rosemary Ann Cator. Sir Geoffrey joined the Malayan Civil Service in 1907 until 1939. He was the British Resident of Brunei from May 1916 until March 1921. Later he was posted as the Superintendent of Government Monopolies of

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

, the District Officer of Klang and also member of the Legislative Council of

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

. He was the British Resident of Selangor (1932-1933) and British Resident of Perak (1933-1939). His last post was the head of the Malay States Information Agency in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginnin ...

. He had previously been awarded the CMG in 1936. He died at a nursing home in Surrey. Cator Avenue in

Taiping __NOTOC__ Taiping, Tai-p’ing, or Tai Ping most often refers to: Chinese history * Princess Taiping (died 713), Tang dynasty princess * Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), civil war in southern China ** Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), the re ...

was named after him.

Contributions

During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Sir Geoffrey also responsible for planning the war strategy, initially he published some written reviews, when

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

was ambushed by the Japanese. His publications were, *"Malaya's war effort", ''Asiatic Review'' (1940) *"Malaya: The first year", ''Asiatic Review'' (1940) *"Course of Japanese invasion of Malaya", ''Crown Colonist'' (February 1942) *"Malaya and the Japanese attack", ''Asiatic Review'' (1942) *"Malaya: a retrospect", ''Asiatic Review'' (1942)

References

National Archive of Malaysia
*Geoffrey C. Gunn, ''New World Hegemony in the Malay World'' 1884 births 1973 deaths Administrators in British Brunei Administrators in British Malaya Administrators in British Borneo Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Alumni of the University of Cambridge Colonial Administrative Service officers British people in British Malaya {{UK-gov-bio-stub