Sir Wilfred Collet (23 November 1856 – 1929) was a British colonial administrator who was governor of

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

and then of

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

Background

Wilfred Collet was born in Islington, London in 1856, the son of noted radical reformer

Collet Dobson Collet Collet Dobson Collet (31 December 1812 – 28 December 1898) was an English radical freethinker, Chartist and campaigner against newspaper taxation. Background and work Collet was born in London on 31 December 1812, the son of John Dobso ...

and nephew of

Sophia Dobson Collet Sophia Dobson Collet (1 February 1822 – 27 March 1894) was a 19th-century English feminist freethinker. She wrote under the pen name ''Panthea'' in George Holyoake's ''Reasoner'', wrote for ''The Spectator'' and was a friend of the leading f ...

and

Edward Dobson Edward Dobson (1816/17? – 19 September 1908) was Provincial Engineer for Canterbury Province, New Zealand from 1854 to 1868. Early life Edward Dobson was born in London, probably in 1816 or 1817. His parents were John Dobson, a merchant, and E ...

. His family had a tradition of overseas service. A great-great-great uncle,

Joseph Collett Joseph Collett (1673–1725) was a British administrator in the service of the British East India Company. He served as the deputy-governor of Bencoolen from 1712 to 1717 and as governor of the Madras Presidency from 1717 to 1720. He re-built ...

, had been an official in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and President of Madras (8 January 1717 – 18 January 1720). His sister

Clara Collet Clara Collet (10 September 1860 – 3 August 1948) was an economist and British civil servant. She was one of the first women graduates from the University of London and was pivotal in many reforms which greatly improved working conditions and pa ...

(1860–1948) was a noted social reformer during the early part of the twentieth century. He studied music at

Trinity College, London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

. In 1875, he and his sister Clara were frequently in contact with the

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

family. Wilfred Collet obtained his degree from

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

in 1881 and joined the Colonial service.

Early career

In the British colonial service, Collet held the positions of Assistant Native Commissioner,

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 ...

, Secretary to the High Commissioner, West Pacific (1884–1897), and then District Commissioner,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

(1897–1905). In 1905 he was appointed Colonial Secretary, British Honduras. On 9 May 1913, he was appointed Governor of British Honduras, holding office until January 1918. In 1915 he was knighted.

Governor of British Guiana

Collet was Governor of British Guiana from 15 April 1917 until 4 April 1923, when he retired. In February 1922, a three-man delegation from India visited British Guiana, consisting of the Deputy President of the

Madras Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembl ...

, and member of the

Servants of India Society The Servants of India Society was formed in Pune, Maharashtra, on June 12, 1905 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who left the Deccan Education Society to form this association. Along with him were a small group of educated Indians, as Natesh Appaji Dra ...

and the Director of Agriculture of Bombay. The delegation wanted to discuss a proposal for translocating Indian labourers to work on the sugar plantations. Collet was not favourable to the scheme but eventually proposed a new plan with much fewer benefits. The Indians also were not entirely positive since the price of sugar was falling, so wages would fall also. No decision had been made when Collet retired in 1923, handing over to Sir

Graeme Thomson Sir Graeme Thomson (9 August 1875 – 28 September 1933) was a British civil servant in the Admiralty, who served as a colonial civil servant and then governor in several British colonies. Admiralty clerk Graeme Thomson was educated at Winche ...

Other

Grave of Sir Wilfred Collet in Highgate Cemetery

In 1926, Collet was a member of the

Polynesian Society The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organisation based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography, and mythology of Oceania. History The society was co-founded in 1892 by Percy ...

. He was appointed 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. ...

(C.M.G.) in 1897 and knighted (

K.C.M.G. The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honou ...

) in 1915. He died on 29 June 1929 and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Works

''British Honduras and its resources ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collet, Wilfred 1856 births 1929 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Governors of British Honduras Governors of British Guiana Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George