Biographical entry: Crichlow, Nathaniel

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Dr Nathaniel Crichlow, who was part-Chinese, was brought up by a Scottish family. He had lived in the West Indies before arriving in the Solomons in 1914 as doctor in charge of the new Tulagi (q.v.) Hospital. He was the second-longest-serving member of the pre-war administration, as government Medical Officer (1914-1923) and District Medical Officer (1923-1942), before being evacuated when the Second World War (q.v.) threatened the Protectorate. Crichlow was based in the Shortlands soon after arriving (1915-1916) and again for short periods in 1923 and 1933. He travelled through the islands on the Medical Department ship MV Hygeia, supervising the health of plantation labourers. Crichlow seems to have been regarded as British (or rather Scottish), and one wonders what his relationship was with the local Chinese. He was known as 'Crich' throughout the islands, and District Officer Dick Horton, who knew him in the 1930s, described him as 'short and cheerful and one of the nicest of men'. (Horton 1965, 149-150; Golden 1993, 410; Bennett 1987, 397)

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Published resources

Books

  • Bennett, Judith A., Wealth of the Solomons: A History of a Pacific Archipelago, 1800-1978, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 1987. Details
  • Golden, Graeme A., The Early European Settlers of the Solomon Islands, Graeme A. Golden, Melbourne, 1993. Details
  • Horton, Dick C., The Happy Isles: A Diary of the Solomons, Originally published: 1965, Heinemann, London, 1965. Details