William Thomas Pritchard (13 October 1829 - 1 November 1907) was a British consul and adventurer.

Pritchard was born in Papeete

Papeete

-Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront esplanade*Bougainville Park -Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront...

, Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, the son of George Pritchard

George Pritchard (missionary)

George Pritchard was a British Christian missionary and diplomatist.Pritchard was born in Birmingham and studied at the mission seminary at Gosport. In 1824 he travelled to the Society Islands to undertake work for the London Missionary Society. In 1837 he was appointed British consul at Tahiti,...

. He was educated in Britain before returning to join his father, the British consul in Samoa. In Samoa, he acquired an exceptional knowledge of the Polynesian language and traditions. In 1858 he was appointed the first British consul at Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

, and in the same year traveled to England with an offer from Seru Epenisa Cakobau

Seru Epenisa Cakobau

Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau was a Fijian Ratu and warlord who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, establishing a united Fijian kingdom.-Background:...

 to cede Fiji to the British crown. He was dismissed from his post in 1863.

He is commemorated in the name of the Polynesian Megapode

Polynesian Megapode

The Tongan Megapode is a species of bird in the megapode family Megapodiidae, currently endemic to Tonga. The species is also known as the Polynesian Megapode, and as the Niuafo'ou Megapode after the island of Niuafo'ou to which it was restricted for many years...

 Megapodius pritchardii and the plant genus Pritchardia

Pritchardia

The genus Pritchardia consists of between 24-40 species of fan palms found on tropical Pacific Ocean islands in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuamotus, and Hawaii. The generic name honours William Thomas Pritchard , a British consul at Fiji.-Description:These palms vary in height, ranging from...

.

External links

• Pritchard, William Thomas (1829-1907), consul and adventurer by Andrew E. Robson in Dictionary of National Biography
  Dictionary of National Biography
  The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
  
  .
• Andrew E. Robson, Prelude to Empire. Consuls, Missionary Kingdoms, and the Pre-Colonial South Seas Seen Through the Life of William Thomas Pritchard, Vienna
  Vienna
  Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
  
   : Lit Verlag, 2004
• Pritchard, William Thomas, Remniscences, or Life in the South Pacific Islands, London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  : Chapman and Hall, 1866