Albert Henry (politician)

Albert Henry
Bust of Albert Henry at his grave, Rarotonga
1st Premier of the Cook Islands
In office 4 August 1965 – 25 July 1978
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Tom Davis
Personal details
Born	(1907-06-11)11 June 1907 Tutakimoa, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Died	1 January 1981(1981-01-01) (aged 73) Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Political party	Cook Islands Party
Spouse(s)	Mrs Henry
Children	4
Profession	Politician
Religion	Congregationalist

Albert Royle Henry (11 June 1907 – 1 January 1981) was the first Premier of the Cook Islands. He was forced to resign from that post in a 1978 voting scandal for which he was later convicted of fraud. Henry was the founder and first leader of the Cook Islands Party (CIP).

Henry became the Cook Islands' first Premier in 1965 after having lived in New Zealand for several years before returning to his home country. Before the country's accession to a self-governing status, the country had been ruled by New Zealand since annexation in 1901. Global changes to post-colonial attitudes regarding nations colonized by colonial powers prompted New Zealand to alter its political course as regards to the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. The New Zealand government wanted to give its colonial territories independence but, prior to 1965, the Cook Islands had no political system. The general population rarely took any interest as to what the country's future should be. Although Albert Henry was a resident of New Zealand, his interest to become politically involved in the Cook Islands was partially driven by those linked to the New Zealand government at the time. Over the years, the New Zealand government have wanted to let go of the Cook Islands from its administration but the Cook Islands and its people had never shown interest in severing this relationship.

In the early 1960s, the New Zealand government had offered the Cook Islands four options concerning the future of the islands. They were (a) complete independence, (b) assimilation within New Zealand, (c) self-government while remaining associated with New Zealand via citizenship, and (d) membership in a future Polynesian federation. The third option was chosen by the Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands, and the 1965 election was planned as an intervening election before the arrangements for self-government were finalised. Henry's CIP supported the third option; it campaigned as a party that would implement self-government while maintaining New Zealand citizenship for Cook Islanders.

Henry was not eligible to run for election to the Legislative Assembly in the 1965 Cook Islands election because he had not been a resident of the Cook Islands for three years. The CIP had Henry's sister, Marguerite Story, run in the Te-au-o-Tonga riding as a "stand-in" for Henry. After the CIP formed the government, it quickly changed the residency requirement from three years to three months, and Story resigned the seat so that Henry could run in the by-election. Henry won the by-election in Te-au-o-Tonga and shortly afterwards he was selected as the first Premier of the Cook Islands. (In return, Henry ensured that Story was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.) Henry was re-elected consistently in the election of 1968, 1972, 1974 and March 1978. Upon being elected Premier, Henry did much to unify the Cook Islands and to promote its newly awarded self-government. His government quickly approved the proposed constitution, which awarded self-rule to the Cook Islands while maintaining New Zealand citizenship for its residents. He was a charismatic orator in both Māori and in English.