Agent-General

An Agent-General was the representative in the United Kingdom of the government of a British colony in Jamaica, Nigeria, Canada, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand and subsequently, of a Nigerian Region, Canadian Province or an Australian State in the United Kingdom. Nigeria, Australia and Canada's federal governments were represented by High Commissions.

Following a military coup in Nigeria in 1966, the federal system was abolished, and the posts of the Agent-General of Nigerian Regions in London were subsumed in the Nigerian High Commission.

By the 1990s, some Australian state governments regarded the office of their Agent-General in London as a costly anachronism, even for promoting tourism and investment, and have since been closed and subsumed into the Australian High Commission. The majority of Australian States continue to have Agents General in London, but operate from Australia House rather than maintain separate premises.

Many Canadian provinces similarly are no longer represented by an Agent-General, although Quebec has a Government Office (Délégation Générale du Québec à Londres) in London.

List of Agents-General for New South Wales

The first Agent-General for NSW was appointed on 1 May 1787 and it existed until it was abolished in 1992.

• William Colburn Mayne 1864–1871
• Charles Cowper 1871–1875
• William Forster 1876–1879
• Alexander Stuart 1879–1890
• Sir Daniel Cooper c.1880s
• Sir Saul Samuel 1880–1897
• Sir Julian Salomons 1899–1900
• Sir Timothy Augustine Coghlan 1905–1915, 1916–17, 1920–1925
• Bernhard Wise 1915–1916
• Sir Charles Wade 1917–1919
• David Hall 1920
• Sir Arthur Cocks 1925
• The Viscount Chelmsford 1926–1927
• Sir George Fuller 1928–1931
• Albert Charles Willis 1931–1932
• Albert Edward Heath 1937–1938
• Clifford Henderson Hay 1938–1939
• Jack Tully 1946-1954
• Abe Landa 1965-1970
• Sir Davis Hughes 1972-1975
• Sir Ken McCaw 1975-1980
• Jack Renshaw 1980-1983
• Kevin Stewart 1986-1988
• Neil Pickard 1991-1992

List of Agents-General for Queensland

• John Douglas 1869–1870
• Thomas Archer (1870–1872)?, 1881-1884, 1888-1890
• Richard Daintree 1872–1876
• Arthur Macalister 1876–1881
• James Francis Garrick 1884–1888, 1890–1895
• William Hemmant 1885 (acting)
• Sir Henry Wylie Norman 1896
• Hon Sir Horace Tozer 1898–1909
• Thomas Bilbe Robinson 1910–1919
• John McEwan Hunter 1919–1922
• John Arthur Fihelly 1922–1924
• John Saunders Huxham 1924–1929
• Edward Henry Macartney 1929–1931
• Leonard Henry Pike 1931-51
• Sir David Muir 1951-64
• William Alan Thompson Summerville 1964–1970
• Hon Sir Peter Roylance Delamothe 1971–1973
• N C Sweeney (Acting) 1973 - 1974
• Hon Sir Wallace Rae 1974 -1980
• G.W Swan (Acting) August 1980 - March 1981
• John H Andrews April 1981 - September 1984
• John F S Brown September 1984 - March 1988
• Hon D T McVeigh April 1988 - January 1991
• Ray T Anderson June 1991 - September 1995
• Dermot A McManus February 1996 - October 2000
• Ray Kelly (Acting) October 2000 - April 2001
• John Dawson April 2001 - September 2007
• Ross Buchanan (Acting) October 2007 - April 2008
• Andrew Hugh Craig April 2008 -

List of Agents-General for South Australia

• Francis Dutton 1865–1877
• Arthur Blyth 1877–1891
• John Cox Bray 1892–1894
• Thomas Playford II 1894–1898
• Sir John Cockburn 1898–1901
• Henry Grainger 1901–1905
• John Jenkins 1905–1908
• Andrew Kirkpatrick 1909–1914
• Sir Frederick Young 1915–1918
• Sir Edward Lucas 1918–1925
• John Price 1925–1928
• Sir Henry Barwell 1928–1933
• Lionel Hill 1933–1934
• Sir Charles McCann 1934–1951

• Alfred Greenham (in 1959?)
• Malcolm Pearce 1961–1966

• Geoff Walls 1985?–1998
• Maurice de Rohan 1998–2006
• William Mortimer Muirhead 2007–present [1]

List of Agents-General for Tasmania

• Hon Adye Douglas (later Sir, Kt) 1886–1887
• Sir Arthur Blyth (acting) 1887–1888
• James A Youl CMG (later Sir, KCMG) (acting) 1888
• Hon Edward Braddon (later Right Hon Sir, PC KCMG) 1888–1893
• Sir Robert Herbert 1893–1896
• Sir Andrew Clarke (acting) 1896
• Sir Westby Percival 1896–1898
• Sir Andrew Clarke (acting) 1898–1899
• Hon Sir Philip Oakley Fysh, KCMG 1899–1901
• Sir Andrew Clarke (acting) 1901
• Hon Alfred Dobson, CMG 1901–1908
• Sir John McCall, KCMG, Kt 1909–1919
• Alfred Henry Ashbolt (later Sir, Kt) 1919–1924
• Lieut-Colonel R Eccles Snowden (later Sir, Kt) 1924–1930
• Darcy W Addison, CMG, ISO, MVO 1930–1931
• Herbert W Ely, ISO (acting) 1931–1937
• Hon Sir Claude Ernest Weymouth James, Kt 1937–1950
• Sir Eric E von Bibra, Kt, OBE 1950–1958
• Hon Sir Alfred J White, Kt 1959–1971
• Royce R Neville 1971–1978
• Hon William A Neilson, AC 1978–1981

List of Agents-General for Victoria

• Hugh Culling Eardley Childers 1857–1858
• George Frederic Verdon 1868 - 1872
• Hugh Culling Eardley Childers 1872 - 1873
• James McColloch 1873
• Archibald Michie 1873–1879
• Charles Pasley 1880–1882
• Robert Murray Smith 1882–1886
• Graham Berry 1886–1891
• James Munro 1892 - 1893
• Duncan Gillies 1893–1897
• Andrew Clarke 1897–1902 (and for Tasmania)
• John William Taverner 1903–1913
• Peter McBride 1913–1922
• John McWhae 1922–1924
• George Fairbairn 1924–1927
• Walter Leitch 1929–1933
• Richard Linton 1933–1936
• Murray William James Bourchier 1936–1937
• Albert Louis Bussau 1938–1944
• Norman Angus Martin 1945–1950
• John Henry Lienhop 1950–1956
• William Watt Leggatt 1956– 1964
• Sir Horace Petty 1964-1969
• Kenneth Andrew Finnin 1985 - 1988
• Peter Hansen 2000-2004
• David Buckingham 2004-2009
• Sally Capp 2009 - present

List of Agents-General for Western Australia

1910 Advertisement from WA Agent General

• Hon Septimus Burt KC 1891-92 (Acting)
• Hon Sir Malcolm Fraser 1892–1898
• Hon Sir Edward Wittenoom 1898–1901
• Hon Sir Henry Lefroy 1901–1904
• Hon Sir Walter James 1904–1907
• Hon Sir Cornthwaite Rason 1907–1911
• Hon Sir Newton Moore 1911–1917
• Hon Sir James Connolly 1917–1923
• Hon Sir Hal Colebatch 1923–1927
• Hon William Angwin 1927–1933
• Hon Sir Hal Colebatch 1933–1939
• Hon Michael Troy 1939–1947
• Hon William Kitson 1947–1952
• Hon James Dimmitt 1953–1957
• Hon Ernest Hoar 1957–1965
• Hon Gerald Wild 1965–1971
• Hon William Bovell 1971–1974
• Jim Richards 1975-1978
• Les Slade 1978-1982
• Ron Douglas 1982-1986
• Hon Ron Davies 1986–1990
• David Fischer 1990-1992
• Gary Stokes 1992-1994
• Bill Hassell 1994–1996
• Hon Clive Griffiths 1997–2001
• Robert Fisher 2001–2005
• Noel Ashcroft 2005–2008
• Kerry Sanderson 2008–present

Agent-General for Nigeria

The last Nigerian Agent-Generals in London were:

• Northern Region-Baba Gana
• Eastern Region-A. Ekukinam-Bassey
• Western Region-
• Mid-West Region-

Agent for Jamaica

source:Historic Jamaica

• 1664-1666: Sir James Modyford
• 1682-?: Sir Charles Lyttelton
• William Beeston
• 1688: Ralph Knight
• Gilbert Heathcote
• 1693–1704: Bartholomew Gracedieu
• 1714: P. Marsh
• 1725: Alexander Stephenson
• 1725–1726: Edward Charlton
• 1728–1733: Charles de la Foy
• 1733: John Gregory
• 1733–1757: John Sharpe
• 1757–1762: Lovell Stanhope (MP for Winchester
• 1764-1795: Stephen Fuller
• 1795-1803: Robert Sewell
• 1803–1812: Edmund Pusey Lyon
• 1812–1831: George Hibbert
• 1831–1845: William Burge
• 1845 Office abolished

References

• Australian Dictionary of Biography

External links

• Australian High Commission Website
• Quebec Government Office in London
• Victorian Government Agent-General