Keith Wookey

Walter Keith Caple Wookey (1912 - 1963), also known as Keith Wookey, was a District Officer and later Resident in the post-war British Colonial Government of North Borneo. At some point Wookey was the most senior official stationed in Sandakan as Resident (known as Resident Commissioner in full) and was also appointed by the Queen to the Executive Council, North Borneo.

Biography

Early life

Walter Keith Caple Wookey was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire and soon after moved to Barbados Lodge, Bath, Somerset, schooled at Lewisham, Bristol, UK and went on to further his studies at Oxford. His mother, Elizabeth Walker, died in 1921 at the birth of Keith’s sister Betty. Soon, both Keith & Betty were taken to their grandparents, Francis & Alice Wookey who raised them at Stones Cross House, Somerset. On 28 June 1935 Keith joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve becoming a probationary second Lieutenant 9 (UK Navy List 1935).

Pre-war

On 17 April 1936 Keith came to North Borneo as a cadet (trainee government official), joining the British North Borneo Chartered Company administrators. He arrived in Sandakan with Mr J.H. Macartney by S.S. Kajang on 18 April 1936. At the beginning of his career as a trainee government official, Keith was placed within the Secretariat, although he was also supervised most of the time by the Under Secretary. From then on, Keith transferred from various branches of Government taking short posts while doing his study of the Laws of the State and of the Malay language.

In 1938, two years after his arrival in Sandakan, Keith became Assistant District officer at Mempakul, Kuala Penyu (today as the westernmost part of Sabah, Malaysia; known as Kampung Mempakul and its township known today as Menumbok) and then was posted to Kota Belud after a year. During his stay in Kota Belud, Keith met his first wife, Tampusis, a Kadazan-Dusun lass; they had two daughters, Agnes (born 1939) and Susan (born 1941). During this time, Keith lived in various Kampongs for weeks at a time, and claims he became proficient in various dialects, notably the local Kadazandusun language. Not long after Susan’s birth in 1941, Keith’s family moved to Lahad Datu where he was appointed as an Assistant District Officer. thumb For more than three years, North Borneo remained under the control of the Japanese Imperial Army until the units of the Ninth Australian Division landed in Labuan on 10 June 1945. he states that this was the first time he was given a piece of paper to write on since the Japanese invasion.

Post War

In September 1945, Keith and his friend Dr. Marcus Clarke, then a surgeon captured by the Japanese and stationed in Batu Lintang as well, were released from internment. Shortly thereafter, Keith, in October 1945 Keith, together with Dr Marcus Clarke, traveled to Sydney, Australia for recuperation in 1946. Keith left Sydney on the Aquitania on 10/12/45 arriving Southampton late January 1945.

Upon his return to Jessellton, North Borneo in April 1947, Keith played a key role in the rebuilding and the development of North Borneo in the aftermath of the Second World War. During this time, North Borneo changed status from a protectorate of England and administration by the Chartered Company to a Crown Colony, (British North Borneo) overseen by the government of Britain in London.

In November 9, 1963, Keith passed away of a heart attack shortly after North Borneo (now known as Sabah) was granted self-governance on 31 August 1963, preparing to join Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore in forming the Federation of Malaysia.