Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale (5 August 1948 – 17 June 2017) was a

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

an politician and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest who served as the

president of Vanuatu The president of Vanuatu () is the head of state of Vanuatu. The president is elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of Parliament and the presidents of the regional councils. The president's role is mostly ceremonia ...

from 22 September 2014 until his death in 2017.

Early life and career

Lonsdale was born on

Mota Lava Mota Lava or Motalava is an island of the Banks group, in the north of Vanuatu. It forms a single coral system with the small island of Ra. The 2009 census figures give a population of 1,640 inhabitants (Mota Lava + Ra), which amounts to a p ...

, in the

Banks Islands The Banks Islands (in Bislama ''Bankis'') are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba Province, Torba. The island group lies about north of Maew ...

, in 1948. Before becoming president, Lonsdale was a civil servant who served as the secretary general of the province of Torba on the island of

. He later became an Anglican priest. Lonsdale was occasionally referred to as ''Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale''. The title of ''Womtelo'' (“Rising Sun” in

Mwotlap Mwotlap (pronounced ; formerly known as ''Motlav'') is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people in Vanuatu. The majority of speakers are found on the island of Motalava in the Banks Islands, with smaller communities in the islands of ...

) is the highest rank within the customary system of chiefly grades of his native island

2014 Presidential Election

Lonsdale was elected president in an indirect election by an electoral college consisting of members of parliament and provincial governors. The vote took eight rounds; the longest ballot in the country's history. In the last vote, Lonsdale received 46 votes of 58 possible satisfying the two-thirds majority requirement. The speaker of Vanuatu's parliament, Philip Boedoro, served as interim president during the voting. Lonsdale was the second Anglican priest after

John Bani John Bennett Bani (born 1 July 1941) is a former Vanuatuan politician who was the president of Vanuatu from 25 March 1999 to 24 March 2004. He is an Anglican priest from Pentecost Island, and is one of the founders of the Cultural Association whi ...

to be elected president of Vanuatu.

Presidency

In his first speech as president, Lonsdale stressed the importance of the appointment for the province of Torba, promised to uphold the constitution, and asked the people of Vanuatu to stand united. Baldwin Lonsdale

In March 2015, Lonsdale, who was attending the

World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is a series of United Nations conferences focusing on disaster and climate risk management in the context of sustainable development. The World Conference has been convened three times, with each edit ...

Sendai, Japan is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the twelfth most populated city in Japan. The modern city was founded in 1600 by th ...

, appealed for international assistance in the aftermath of

Cyclone Pam Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam was the second List of the most intense tropical cyclones, most intense tropical cyclone of the South Pacific Ocean in terms of sustained winds and is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of ...

. In October 2015, while President Lonsdale was abroad, the then Speaker of Parliament

Marcellino Pipite Marcellino Pipite is a ni-Vanuatu politician and former school administration, who was first elected to Parliament in 2004. He was the foreign minister of Vanuatu from November 2004 until December 2004, in the government of Serge Vohor. He was ...

used his position as Acting President to issue a 'presidential pardon' to himself and 13 other MPs who had just been convicted of

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and were awaiting sentence. Returning to Vanuatu only hours after the pardon was issued, Lonsdale expressed his sorrow at what had happened and gave a widely welcomed speech declaring that nobody is above the law and that "I will clean the dirt from my backyard". After consulting with legal experts and other leaders, Lonsdale revoked the pardon, citing the articles in the Vanuatu constitution which oblige leaders to avoid conflicts of interest and avoid bringing their integrity into question. Lonsdale's decision was upheld by the

Supreme Court of Vanuatu Supreme Court of Vanuatu is the superior court of Vanuatu and is based in Port Vila. The Court consists of the Chief Justice and three puisne judges. Appeals from the Supreme Court are heard by the Court of Appeal of Vanuatu, which is the supre ...

Death

Lonsdale died on 17 June 2017 in

Port Vila Port Vila ( ; ), or simply Vila (), is the capital of Vanuatu and its largest city. It is on the island of Efate, in Shefa Province. The population was 49,034 as of the 2020 census. In 2020, the population of Port Vila formed 16.3% of the ...

of a heart attack at the age of 68. In his honour, the ''Arep Secondary School'' located on

Sola, Vanuatu Sola is the capital village of Torba Province in Vanuatu. It is on the island of Vanua Lava. Near the village of Sola is the volcano Mount Suretamate (also called Sürétimiat or Sere'ama). The Selva and Alket rivers pass north of the village. ...

was renamed “Baldwin Lonsdale Memorial School” (abbreviated BLMS).''Baldwin Lonsdale Memorial School'' News & Development
(community page on Facebook).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lonsdale, Baldwin 1948 births 2017 deaths People from Torba Province Presidents of Vanuatu Vanuatuan Anglican priests Vanuatuan chiefs 21st-century Vanuatuan politicians