The first lieutenant governor was appointed in 1701 , but the British Virgin Islands were usually governed as part of other groups of islands in the Caribbean until 1960 when last legal links with the Leeward Islands were abolished . The British Virgin Islands were administered variously as part of the British Leeward Islands or with St. Kitts and Nevis , with an Administrator representing the British Government on the Islands . Separate colony status was gained for the Islands in 1960 and the Islands became autonomous in 1967 .