Henri Sautot

Henri Sautot
Acting Governor of St Pierre and Miquelon
In office 1929–1932
Preceded by	François Adrien Juvanon
Succeeded by	Georges Marie Roger Chanot
Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides
In office 1933–1935
Preceded by	Antoine Louis Carlotti
Succeeded by	Robert Casimir
Acting Governor of Tahiti
In office 1935–1937
Preceded by	Michel Lucien Montagné
Succeeded by	Jean Chastenet de Géry
Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides
In office 1935–1940
Preceded by	Robert Casimir
Succeeded by	Robert Charles Henri Kuter
Governor of New Caledonia
In office 1940–1942
Preceded by	Maurice Denis
Succeeded by	Auguste Montchamp
Governor of Ubangi-Shari
In office 1942–1946
Preceded by	André Latrille
Succeeded by	Jean Chalvet
Personal details
Born	5 May 1885 Bourbonne-les-Bains, France
Died	23 March 1963(1963-03-23) (aged 77) Nouméa, New Caledonia

Henri Camille Sautot (5 May 1885 – 23 March 1963) was a French colonial governor.

Biography

Sautot was born in Bourbonne-les-Bains and attended school in Nancy. He studied at the Nancy-Université before carrying out national service.

Sautot became an Indigenous Affairs clerk in 1909, before becoming a colonial administrator in 1915. He was appointed chief of staff of the Governor of Dahomey in 1925, before becoming Acting Governor of St Pierre and Miquelon in 1929, serving until 1932. He was appointed Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides in 1932, a post he held until becoming Acting Governor of Tahiti in 1935. He returned to his post in the New Hebrides in 1937.

Following the occupation of France in 1940, Sautot declared the New Hebrides' allegiance to the Free French on 20 July, the first territory to do so. On 13 September Charles de Gaulle appointed him Governor of New Caledonia. He sailed to New Caledonia and, greeted by large crowds on his arrival, went straight to Government House and removed Colonel Denis from office. He subsequently set up the Bataillon du Pacifique which sailed in May 1941 to fight in North Africa and Europe. He was made a companion of the Order of Liberation on 1 August 1941, later also becoming a Commander of the Legion of Honour and an Officer of the British Empire. However, after the new French High Commissioner in the Pacific Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu arrived in 1942, disagreements between the two led to Sautot being deported to Auckland in New Zealand in May 1942.

Later in 1942 Sautot was appointed Governor of Ubangi-Shari by de Gaulle, a post he held until retiring in 1946. He then returned to New Caledonia with his New Caledonian wife. He entered local politics, and served as mayor of Nouméa between 1947 and 1953.

Sautot died in a clinic in Nouméa in March 1963.

Further reading

• Regnault, Jean-Marc; Kurtovitch, Ismet (2002). "Les ralliements du Pacifique en 1940: Entre légende gaulliste, enjeux stratégiques mondiaux et rivalités Londres/Vichy". Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine. 49–4 (4): 71. doi:10.3917/rhmc.494.0071.
• Munholland, J. Kim (2006). Rock of Contention: Free French and Americans at War in New Caledonia, 1940-1945. New York: Berghahn. ISBN 978-1-84545-300-8.