Henry Harrison Vaskess

Henry Harrison Vaskess, Esq., O.B.E. (~1891-1969)

• Colonial Secretary at the time the bones were brought to Fiji.
  • The Colonial Secretary was virtually a dictator. The Governor was a ceremonial figure and might set policy, but the Colonial Secretary was the CEO. He had three telephones on his desk, gave orders, and approved spending.

• "Prince of Bureaucrats" not just because he had an iron-bottom and a mind for endless details, but because he was incorruptible.
• Tofiga agrees that Vaskess was not the kind of man to be careless about his responsibilities. "You could squeeze blood from a stone more easily than you could get money from Vaskess." He thinks Vaskess retired in the mid-1940s (easily checked in the Civil Lists; he seems still to have been in office in 1946,). He was a good man, careful and responsible. His wife was in Australia. His room was barren--he was clearly not in the habit of taking things from the office to decorate his quarters. Vaskess did a lot of exercise to keep fit. He walked from his home each day up the Museum hill to the office, carrying a bag of sandwiches for his lunch and having a smoke. He would arrive before 8 AM and leave at 5:30 PM.

(In 1946, Vaskess helped Tofiga's home community on Vaitup in Tuvalu (formerly the Ellice Islands) purchase the island of Kioa in Fiji.)

• "The enigmatic Henry Vaskess, Secretary of the Western Pacific High Commission, ... was an absolute loner (he lived with a part-European) given only to rare exclusive tennis on his own court ... This bland man ... managed to secure after Fiji almost the top gubernatorial post ranking after Nigeria and Kenya, that of Hong Kong, whence he had started as a cadet."
• Short ad found in an old magazine in Auckland: "H. H. Vaskess (Proprietor). Fairview House, Suva Fiji."
• Probate #10701.
• Born ~1891. Died July 7, 1969. Death record #65/69.
• His wife, Coral Loloma (Letford) Vaskess, died in Canberra on 20 Jul 1990.
• Two sons:
  • Keith Harrison Vaskess, born 23 Aug 1924.
  • Colin Francis Vaskess, born 12 Sep 1927.

Links

• Service record in World War I?