Robert Logan (politician)

Robert Logan
Colonel Robert Logan reading a proclamation in Apia, Samoa, on 29 August 1914, the day he assumed responsibility as military administrator
Born	(1863-04-02)2 April 1863 Langton, Berwickshire, Scotland
Died	4 February 1935(1935-02-04) (aged 71) Seaton, Devon, England
Allegiance	New Zealand
Service/branch	New Zealand Military Forces
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	First World War Occupation of German Samoa
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath Chavalier of the Legion of Honour (France)

First World War

Robert Logan CB (2 April 1863 – 4 February 1935) was an officer in the New Zealand Military Forces who served in the First World War as the Military Administrator of Samoa.

Born in 1863 in Scotland, Logan migrated to New Zealand in 1881 and took up farming. Also involved in the militia, he became a professional soldier in 1912 when he joined the New Zealand Military Forces. He was commanding the Auckland Military District at the time of the outbreak of the First World War and was appointed the commander of the Samoa Expeditionary Force, dispatched from New Zealand to occupy the island of Samoa, a territory of Imperial Germany at the time. Samoa was easily occupied on 29 August 1914 and Logan became its Military Administrator; he remained in this capacity for the duration of the war. Although he was decorated for his services, his administration of Samoa was later criticised, particularly in relation to the handling of the influenza outbreak of November 1918, which led to 7,500 deaths. Logan retired from military service in 1919 and settled in Devon, England, where he died in 1935.

Robert Logan was born in Langton, Berwickshire, Scotland, on 2 April 1863 to Thomas Logan, a tenant farmer, and his wife, Euphemia Helen Logan. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy. In 1881, when he was 19, Logan migrated to New Zealand.

Logan settled in Southland and found work as a farmhand. After a couple of years, he became a , buying a sheep farm at Maniototo, in the Otago district, which he ran for several years. He married Elizabeth Catherine Preston at Fortrose, Southland, on 16 April 1890. The couple would go on to have four sons, although one died in infancy. He became involved in local body politics, joining the Maniototo County Council in 1888 and from 1901 to 1902, was its chairman. In 1910, Logan's wife died, leaving him to raise his three surviving sons on his own for a time until, in 1914, he remarried. With his second wife, Eleanor Mary Preston, he would have two daughters.