Biographical entry: Horton, Dick Crofton

Details

Dick Crofton Horton arrived in the Solomon Islands in August 1937. He was District Officer on Isabel (Sept. 1937-Mar. 1938), on Malaita (Mar. to Oct. 1938) and on Guadalcanal (Oct. 1938-Apr. 1942). He carried out his first local census on Malaita in 1938 and also was involved in a census on Rennell and Bellona in 1941. He spent most of the war years in the Solomons as a coastwatcher, and later was a District Officer again. He wrote three books: The Happy Isles (1965) covering his 1937-1942 years, which was serialised over the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, Fire over the Islands (1970) about the part played by the coastwatchers during the Second World War, and New Georgia: Pattern for Victory (1971), about the wartime campaign there. He was Census Commissioner from 1968 to 1970, and then supervised the computing of the 1970 census figures in Sydney before returning to Britain as a teacher. (NS 30 June 1970; Horton 1965, 1970)

Related Party

Published resources

Books

  • Horton, Dick C., The Happy Isles: A Diary of the Solomons, Originally published: 1965, Heinemann, London, 1965. Details
  • Horton, Dick C., Fire Over the Islands: Coast Watchers of the Solomons, A.H. and A.W. Reed, Sydney, 1970. Details

Journals

  • British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS), 1955-1975. Details