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Sir Robert Sidney Foster GCMG KCVO (11 August 1913 – 12 October 2005) was a British colonial administrator, best remembered as the last colonial Governor of Fiji and the first Governor-General of the Dominion of Fiji. He had previously served as Governor of the Solomon Islands and as High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (positions that briefly overlapped with his tenure as Governor of Fiji).

Colonial service

Foster entered the administrative service in 1936 in Northern Rhodesia. He remained there, and in Nyasaland (now Malawi) until 1964, serving first as a cadet until 1938, and then as a District Officer until 1940. From 1957 to 1960, he was a Major Provincial Commissioner, before serving as Secretary to the Ministry of Native Affairs from 1960 to 1961, when he became Chief Secretary of Nyasaland, a position he held until 1963. He was Deputy Governor of Nyasaland from 1963 to 1964.

In 1964, he left Africa for the Pacific Islands to become High Commissioner of the Western Pacific. In this capacity, he had overall responsibility for the British colonies and protectorates in the region, namely the Solomon Islands, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu), and over the British participation in the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu). He remained High Commissioner until December 1968, when he became Governor of Fiji. When Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970 he assumed the new position of Governor-General. His role was little changed, except that he now acted on the advice of the Fijian Cabinet rather than the British government. He retired on 13 January 1973, ending a 37-year career in the colonial service. He was succeeded as Governor-General by Ratu Sir George Cakobau, a patrilineal descendant of King Seru Epenisa Cakobau, who had ceded Fiji to the United Kingdom in 1874.

Personal life and honours

Foster married Madge Walker in 1947. She died in 1991.

A number of honours were awarded to Foster during his lifetime. He received the CMG in 1961, the KCMG in 1964, and the GCMG in 1970.

Foster died in Cambridge, England on 12 October 2005, aged 92.

Family Connections

References

1. Ross, Martha; Spuler, Bertold (1977). Rulers and Governments of the World. ISBN 9780859350563.
2. "Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes". 1969.
3. "Index Fo-Fy".

v t e Governors of Fiji
Robinson Gordon Des Vœux Mitchell Thurston O'Brien Allardyce Jackson im Thurn Major May Sweet-Escott Hunter-Rodwell Hutson Fletcher Barton Richards Luke Mitchell Rankine Nicoll Grantham Freeston Garvey Maddocks Jakeway Foster

v t e Governors-General of Fiji
Sir Robert Sidney Foster Ratu Sir George Cakobau Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau

• Colonial Administrative Service officers
• Governors of Fiji
• Governors-general of Fiji
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
• People from Cambridge
• 1913 births
• 2005 deaths
• Governors of the Solomon Islands
• High commissioners for the Western Pacific
• British expatriates in Zambia
• British expatriates in Malawi