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Tongan Registration records

Replies: 143

Re: Tongan Registration records

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:00AM GMT
Classification: Query
Henry Cocker born 1925 was probably registered as a British subject with the British Consul in Nuku'alofa, Tonga. These registrations were then sent to the High Commission for the Western Pacific in Suva, Fiji and a Birth certificate was sent back to Tonga and given to the family.
The High Commission moved to Honiara in the Solomons when Fiji became independent. For a period, copies of British registrations for all over the Pacific area, excluding Fiji, could be obtained from Honiara, but then the Solomons became independent, and the High Commission closed, and all the files were sent to London.

I think the records are now somewhere in England, but no-one seems to know where. I have previously been in touch with the Public Record Office, the Colonial Office and the Foreign office trying to get copies of several British registrations and have not managed to get any!!

Auckland University, which now holds most of the High Commission for the Western Pacific files, does not hold the registration books, and could not issue legal certificates anyway, as they are not the British Government. However there are despatch notices and passport files in the collection which often give dates etc, but these would be insufficient for proving citizenship. The University also holds one microfilm of the original British birth registration book from 1922 to 1944.
This could quite possibly contain the original registration for Henry Cocker, but a printout is not a certificate.

You did not say where Henry Cocker died. If it was in Tonga, his death could be registered with the Tongan registrations, even if he were a British subject, as the Tongan laws have now changed. To begin with they only registered Tongans, and foreign citizens had to register with their consuls, but I think they now register all deaths, and possibly all births, in Tonga. If you contact the Registrar at the Dept of Justice, she may be able to help She may also hold information on Joshua's birth. If not, I suggest you try the British, but I doubt that you will get anything.

I have an index to the applications for British passports from Tonga, but neither Henry nor Joshua is in it, even though many other Cockers are. These go from 1916 until 1964. When did Joshua get his original passport? Was it a British or a Tongan one?
Please contact me with more details. cliavaa@gmail.com
SubjectAuthorDate Posted
Chris_Liavaa 20 Feb 2013 12:18AM GMT 
akenese_hamil... 20 Feb 2013 12:12AM GMT 
LTaualupe 5 Oct 2013 12:53PM GMT 
Mishka Kupu 20 Mar 2014 7:59AM GMT 
Chris_Liavaa 20 Mar 2014 5:00PM GMT 
vanessa vaomo... 18 Jun 2014 5:31AM GMT 
ElizabethKili... 19 Jun 2014 1:54AM GMT 
Chris_Liavaa 12 Jul 2014 4:22AM GMT 
michelle_smit... 28 Jul 2014 8:59PM GMT 
Chris_Liavaa 28 Jul 2014 10:18PM GMT 
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