View source for Benjamin Pine

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{short description|British colonial administrator}}
[[Image:Benjamin Pine.jpg|thumb|right|Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine]]

'''Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine''' (1809 – 25 February 1891) was at various times administrator of [[Colony of Natal|Natal]], the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], [[Antigua]], the [[British Leeward Islands|Leeward Islands]] and Western Australia.

==Life==
Born in 1809 in Maidstone Kent, Benjamin Pine was educated in Brighton and at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=PN829BC|name=Pine, Benjamin Chilley Campbell}}</ref> He became a career officer in the British Colonial Service.  From 1850 to 1855, he was [[List_of_governors_of_British_South_African_colonies#Natal_Colony|Lieutenant-Governor of Natal Colony]], and from March 1857 until 17 April 1858 was [[Governor of the Gold Coast]].

On 30 July 1868, Pine was appointed by [[letters patent]] to the position of [[Governor of Western Australia]].  Shortly afterwards, however, a vacancy occurred for the position of [[Governor of the Leeward Islands]], and it was decided that he should fill that position instead.  He never arrived in Western Australia, and six months passed before the colony received news that he would not be coming.

Pine served as Governor of the Leeward Islands from  1869 until 1871.  His title then became [[Governor of Antigua]] until 1873, but the Leeward Islands continued under his governorship.  He died in 1891.

The city of [[Pinetown]], in modern-day [[KwaZulu-Natal]], South Africa, is named after him.

There is also a Primary school called Benjamin Pine Primary School named after him in Pinetown as well as the Pinetown High Schools (Boys and Girls) Honouring his name by the Pine Cones on the Badges.

He is buried on the eastern side of [[Highgate Cemetery]]. His grave (no.29309) has no headstone or marker.

==Status as Governor of Western Australia==
In Burt (1996), [[Francis Burt (judge)|Sir Francis Burt]], who was a lawyer, a judge and himself a former Governor of Western Australia, analysed the question whether Pine should be considered to have served as Governor of Western Australia.  He concluded that the appointment by letters patent, together with the publication of that appointment in the newspapers of the colony, legally implied that Pine was Governor of Western Australia, even though he never arrived at the colony and was never sworn in.

The person who actually administered the colony during the period of Pine's formal tenure (2 November 1868&ndash;29 September 1869) was Lieut Col John Bruce.

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite journal|author2-link=Francis Burt (judge)|last2=Burt|first2= Francis Theodore Page, Sir|last1=Honniball|first1=John Herbert Melville|year=1996|title=Our Reluctant Governor: Sir Benjamin Pine, Knight|journal=Early Days: Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society|volume=11|issue=2|pages=141–154|issn=0312-6145|url=https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=980808278;res=IELAPA}}
*{{cite book|year=2002|chapter=Sir Benjamin Chilley Campbell Pine 1868-1869|chapter-url=http://www.ccentre.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?event=governorsBenjaminpine|title=Governors and Premiers of Western Australia|url=http://www.ccentre.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?event=govPrem|location=West Perth, Western Australia|publisher=The Constitution Centre of Western Australia|isbn=0-7307-3821-3|access-date=2005-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913040745/http://ccentre.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?event=govPrem|archive-date=2009-09-13|url-status=dead}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[list of Governors of Natal|Lieutenant Governor of Natal]] |
before=[[Martin West (colonial administrator)|Martin Thomas West]] | 
after=[[John Scott (governor)|John Scott]] | 
years=1850–1855
}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[Governor of the Gold Coast]] |
before=[[Henry Connor (governor)|Henry Connor]] | 
after=[[Henry Bird (governor)|Henry Bird]] | 
years=1857–1858
}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[Lieutenant Governor of Saint Christopher]] |
before=[[Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead|Sir Hercules Robinson]] | 
after=[[James George Mackenzie]] | 
years=1860–1866
}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[Governor of Western Australia]] | 
before=[[John Hampton]] | 
after=[[Frederick Weld]] | 
years=1868–1869
}}
{{s-bef|before=Sir [[Steven John Hill]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[list of Governors of Antigua|Governor of Antigua]] | years=1869–1871}}
{{s-non|reason=Post abolished}}
|-
{{s-vac|last=Sir [[James Leith (British Army officer)|James Leith]] | reason=Dissolution of the Leeward Islands}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[list of Governors of the Leeward Islands|Governor of the Leeward Islands]] | years=1871–1873}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir [[Henry Turner Irving]]}}
{{succession box | 
title=[[list of Governors of Natal|Lieutenant Governor of Natal]] |
before=Thomas Miles | 
after=Sir [[Garnet Joseph Wolseley]] | 
years=1873–1875
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Western Australia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pine, Benjamin Chilley Campbell}}
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery]]
[[Category:Governors of the Gold Coast (British colony)]]
[[Category:Governors of Western Australia]]
[[Category:Governors of the Leeward Islands]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Governors of Natal]]
[[Category:Colony of Western Australia people]]
[[Category:Governors of British Saint Christopher]]
[[Category:Governors of Antigua and Barbuda]]