In the
British Empire (most of the territories of which became the Commonwealth), high commissioners were envoys of the Imperial government appointed to manage
protectorates or groups of territories not fully under the sovereignty of the British Crown, while
Crown colonies (British sovereign territories) were normally administered by a governor, and the most significant possessions, large confederations and the self-governing
dominions were headed by a
governor-general. For example, when
Cyprus came under British administration in 1878 it remained nominally under the
suzerainty of the
Ottoman Empire. The representative of the British government and head of the administration was titled high commissioner until Cyprus became a Crown colony in 1925, when the incumbent high commissioner became the first governor. Another example were the
high commissioners for Palestine. A high commissioner could also be charged with the last phase of
decolonisation, as in the
Crown colony of the Seychelles, where the last
governor became high commissioner in 1975, when self-rule under the Crown was granted, until 1976, when the archipelago became an independent republic within the Commonwealth.
Other usage As diplomatic
residents (as diplomatic ranks were codified, this became a lower class than ambassadors and high commissioners) were sometimes appointed to native rulers, high commissioners could likewise be appointed as British agents of
indirect rule over native states. Thus high commissioners could be charged with managing diplomatic relations with native rulers and their states (analogous to the
resident minister), and might have under them several
resident commissioners or similar agents attached to each state. In regions of particular importance, a commissioner-general was appointed to have control over several high commissioners and governors, e.g. the commissioner-general for South-East Asia had responsibility for
Malaya, Singapore and
British Borneo. The first high commissioner of India to London was appointed in 1920; he had no political role, but mostly dealt with the business interests of the 'Indian Federation'. The first agent of the Indian government was appointed to South Africa in 1927. Although not a dominion, the self-governing colony of
Southern Rhodesia was represented in the United Kingdom by a high commission in London, while the United Kingdom similarly had a high commission in
Salisbury. Following the
Unilateral Declaration of Independence by the government of
Ian Smith in 1965, the Rhodesian high commissioner,
Andrew Skeen was expelled from London, while his British counterpart,
Sir John Johnston, was withdrawn by the British government.
Governors also acting as high commissioners The role of
high commissioner for Southern Africa was coupled with that of British governor of the
Cape Colony in the 19th century, giving the colonial administrator in question responsibility both for administering
British possessions and relating to neighbouring
Boer settlements. Historically, the
protectorates of
Bechuanaland (now
Botswana),
Basutoland (now
Lesotho) and
Swaziland (now
Eswatini) were administered as
high commission territories by the
Governor-General of the Union of South Africa who was also the British high commissioner for Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland until the 1930s, with various local representatives, then by the British high commissioner (from 1961 ambassador) to South Africa, who was represented locally in each by a resident commissioner. The British governor of the Crown colony of the
Straits Settlements, based in Singapore, doubled as high commissioner of the
Federated Malay States, and had authority over the resident-general in Kuala Lumpur, who in turn was responsible for the various residents appointed to the native rulers of the Malay states under British protection. The
British Western Pacific Territories were permanently governed as a group of minor insular colonial territories, under one single, not even full-time, Western Pacific high commissioner (1905–53), an office attached first to the governorship of
Fiji, and subsequently to that of the
Solomon Islands, represented in each of the other islands units: by a
Resident Commissioner,
Consul or other official (on tiny
Pitcairn Islands a mere
chief magistrate). The
British High Commissioner to
New Zealand is also
ex-officio the
governor of the Pitcairn Islands.
Dominions in London. The first
dominion high commissioner was appointed by
Canada as its envoy in London. Previously, Sir
John Rose, 1st Baronet, a Canadian businessman resident in London and former
Canadian finance minister, had acted as the personal representative of the
Canadian prime minister Sir
John A. Macdonald, from 1869 to 1874 and then was given the title of Financial Commissioner from 1874 until 1880.
Alexander Mackenzie, while he was prime minister, appointed
Edward Jenkins a British Member of Parliament with links to Canada, to act as the government's representative in London as
agent-general (1874–1876), followed by former Nova Scotia premier
William Annand (1876–1878). When Macdonald returned to power in 1878 he requested to elevate the position of financial commissioner to resident minister, but was denied the request by the British government who instead offered to allow the designation of high commissioner. The Canadian government appointed
Alexander Tilloch Galt as the first
high commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom in 1880.
New Zealand appointed a high commissioner in 1905, in place of a resident agent-general who had been appointed since 1871. Australia did the same in 1910, and South Africa in 1911. The British government continued not to appoint high commissioners to the Dominions, holding that the British government was already represented by the relevant governor-general or governor. This arrangement began to create problems after the
First World War with Dominions expecting a greater degree of control over their external and foreign affairs and beginning to challenge the constitutional role of their governors-general. In Canada, matters came to a head during the
King–Byng affair of 1926, when the governor-general refused the advice of the Canadian prime minister to dissolve parliament and call elections, as would normally apply under the
Westminster system. The incident led to the
Balfour Declaration made at the
Imperial Conference of 1926 that established that governors-general in the independent Dominions were not the representatives of the United Kingdom government but the personal representatives of the monarch. In 1930, Australia broke another tradition by insisting that the monarch act on the advice of the Australian prime minister in the appointment of the
governor-general, and insisted on the appointment of Sir
Isaac Isaacs, the first Australian-born person to serve in the office. The practice became the norm throughout the Commonwealth. The first British high commissioner to a dominion was appointed in 1928 to Canada. South Africa received a British high commissioner in 1930; Australia in 1936; and New Zealand in 1939. Yet, because of various procedural complications, only in 1945 was South African envoy to Canada designated officially as high commissioner. New Zealand appointed a
high commissioner to Canada in 1942, and a
high commissioner to Australia in 1943. In 1973, the then
Australian
Prime Minister,
Gough Whitlam, proposed that the title be replaced with that of ambassador, but other Commonwealth members in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean indicated a preference for keeping the separate title and status of high commissioner, and the matter was not pursued further. ==Current practice==