Gerald Gallagher
| Gerald Bernard Gallagher | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Gerald Bernard Gallagher 6 July 1912 |
| Died | 29 September 1941 (aged 29) Nikumaroro |
| Cause of death | tropical sprue |
| Resting place | Tarawa |
| Other names | Karaka |
| Occupation | first officer |
| Years active | 1936–1941 |
| Employer | Colonial Administrative Service of the United Kingdom |
| Notable work | Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme |
| Parent(s) | Gerald Hugh Gallagher, Edith |
Gerald Bernard Gallagher (6 July 1912 – 27 September 1941, Nikumaroro) is noted as the first officer-in-charge of the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme, the last colonial expansion of the British Empire.
He was the son of Gerald and Edith Gallagher. The father, Gerald Hugh Gallagher, was born in Ireland about 1882 and attended the Catholic University in Dublin, becoming a doctor in 1905. From 1905–1909 Dr. Gallagher worked at Westmoreland Lock Hospital, Townsend Street, Dublin, from where he went on to serve with the British colonial medical service in West Africa for 30 years, from 1909–1939, returning again to service during WW2. He married Edith Annie Clancy on 8 August 1911 in Chelsea, London, England; they had two sons: Gerald Bernard Gallagher in 1912, and Terence Hugh Gallagher, in 1916/1917.
Gerald Bernard Gallagher attended Stonyhurst College, the University of Cambridge (Downing College) and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School. While in college he was also active in gymnastics and rowing. After studying practical agriculture with George Butler (the father of the writer Hubert Butler) at Maiden Hall in Bennetsbridge, County Kilkenny, Ireland he joined the Colonial Administrative Service of the UK as a civil servant in 1936.
After arriving at Ocean Island on 21 September 1937, Gallagher received additional training before being appointed deputy commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony on 3 June 1938. Sent to Tuvalu to learn Tuvaluan he became popular with the residents, who wanted him to stay. Nevertheless, after a bout with tropical ulcers he was assigned to the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme, as second-in-command to Harry Maude. In December 1938 they sailed with the first Gilbertese colonists to Manra in the Phoenix Islands, where Gallagher remained to supervise development of that island. When Maude fell ill in late 1939 and was assigned to Pitcairn Island, Gallagher was appointed officer in charge of the three atolls selected for development. He was assisted by Jack Kimo Petro, later characterized by archaeologist and historian Tom King as "a half-Tuvaluan/half Portuguese engineer and artisan of considerable skill and energy."
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