put phosphate-rich Ocean Island "on a war-time footing" as its "Supreme Co-Ordinating Authority", until Japan's advance led to the island's evacuation in March 1942. Garvey then left Fiji for a new position in East African Nyasaland, but did not arrive until October before of the difficulty of travelling due to war-time restrictions. He found it hard to adjust to this African setting after 16 years in the Pacific, but was soon offered the position of Administrator of Saint Vincent, in the West Indies. The Garvey family left Nyasaland for England in February 1944, Ronald sailing for St. Vincent in September. Governor Garvey started work as Administrator of Saint Vincent in 1944. He moved on to be Governor of British Honduras in 1949; there he had to contend with a general strike and the need to devalue the local currency. He launched one of the first credit unions in British Honduras to protect poorer people from loan sharks. He then served as Governor of Fiji from 1952, where he demonstrated his considerable public relations skills, until his retirement in 1958. In retirement he became Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man: he launched major initiatives there in the early 1960s to increase tourism, including the establishment of a new casino, and promoted the local tax incentives. He also sent the Home Office a Manx cat to replace the one they had lost. He subsequently wrote a memoir entitled Gentleman Pauper published in 1984. He is buried in Wrentham cemetery in Suffolk. Family He married Patricia Dorothy McGusty (1913-2005), daughter of Dr. V.W.T. McGusty, a District Medical Officer in Fiji, on 30 October 1934; they had one son, Anthony (born 1935), and three daughters (Grania, Lavinia and Julia) Bibliography Sir Ronald Garvey, Gentleman Pauper, Bognor Regis: Anchor Publications, 1984. References |- |- |- 1903 births People from Lincolnshire 1991 deaths People educated at Trent College Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Members of the Order of the British Empire Governors of British Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Governors of British Honduras Governors of Fiji Lieutenant Governors of the Isle of Man High Commissioners for the Western Pacific