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The Governor of Pitcairn is the representative of the British monarch in the Pitcairn Islands, the last remaining British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. Despite technically being under the authority of the colonial governor, Pitcairn has local autonomy.
Because of the dependency's small population (it peaked at 233 in the 1930s, and has since dwindled to 35 in 2023), the British never considered it worthwhile to station a resident governor on Pitcairn. Instead, the Governor of Fiji doubled as governor of Pitcairn from 1898 onward. When Fiji became independent in 1970, the governorship of Pitcairn was transferred to the British high commissioner to New Zealand. The office is currently held by Iona Thomas.
Throughout the island's history, the authority of the British governor was almost never used. An exception was Governor Richard Fell's dismissal of Mayor Steve Christian, who was convicted in the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004.
List of governors since 1970
 Pitcairn Islands 
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Name (Birth–Death) |
Title | Portrait | Tenure | Notes | Monarch | ||
| From | Until | |||||||
| 1 | Sir Arthur Norman Galsworthy (1916-1986) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
October 1970 | January 1973 | _(cropped)_(3-to-4_aspect_ratio).jpg) Elizabeth II | ||
| 2 | Sir David Aubrey Scott (1919–2010) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
January 1973 | 1975 | |||
| 3 | Sir Harold Smedley (1920–2004) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
February 1976 | 1980 | |||
| 4 | Richard Stratton (?–?) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
September 1980 | 1984 | |||
| 5 | Terence Daniel O'Leary (1928–2006) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
July 1984 | 1987 | |||
| 6 | Robin Byatt (1930–2019) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
December 1987 | 1990 | |||
| 7 | David Moss (born 1938) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
September 1990 | 1994 | |||
| 8 | Robert John Alston (born 1938) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
August 1994 | 10 February 1998 | |||
| 9 | Martin Williams (born 1941) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
April 1998 | 2001 | |||
| 10 | Richard Fell (born 1948) |
Governor of Pitcairn |
|
10 December 2001 | April 2006 | |||
| 11 | George Fergusson (born 1955) |
Governor of Pitcairn | .jpg)
|
2 May 2006 | 18 May 2010 | |||
| – | Mike Cherrett (?–?) |
Acting Governor of Pitcairn |
|
19 May 2010 | 3 June 2010 | |||
| 12 | Victoria "Vicki" Treadell (born 1959) |
Governor of Pitcairn | .jpg)
|
3 June 2010 | July 2014 | |||
| 13 | Jonathan Sinclair (born 1970) |
Governor of Pitcairn | _(cropped).jpeg)
|
15 August 2014 | 9 December 2017 | |||
| – | Robin Shackell (?–?) |
Acting Governor of Pitcairn |
.jpg)
|
9 December 2017 | 25 January 2018 | |||
| 14 | Laura Clarke (born 1978) |
Governor of Pitcairn | .jpg)
|
25 January 2018 | 7 July 2022 | |||
| 15 | Iona Thomas | Governor of Pitcairn | 
|
9 August 2022 | Incumbent | |||
.jpg)
| ||||||||
See also
- List of rulers of the Pitcairn Islands, for local rulers since 1790
- List of governors of Fiji, for governors from 1898 until 1970
- List of high commissioners of the United Kingdom to New Zealand, for governors since 1970
References
- "Minutes of the Regular council Meeting held at the Pulau school" (PDF). PITCAIRN ISLAND COUNCIL. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- While the territory is commonly called 'Pitcairn Islands', the official title of the office of her governor is 'Governor of Pitcairn' under section 27(1) of the Pitcairn Constitution Order, 2010 Archived 10 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
- https://www.immigration.pn/life-on-pitcairn-island
- From 1 January 1974, Sir David Aubrey Scott.
- From 31 December 1977, Sir Harold Smedley.
- From 1982, Sir Richard Stratton.
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