Robert Logan

Robert Logan (2 April 1863 – 4 February 1935) was an officer in the New Zealand Military Forces who served in the First World War as the Military Administrator of Samoa.

Born in 1863 in Scotland, Logan migrated to New Zealand in 1881 and took up farming. Also involved in the militia, he became a professional soldier in 1912 when he joined the New Zealand Military Forces. He was commanding the Auckland Military District at the time of the outbreak of the First World War and was appointed the commander of the Samoa Expeditionary Force, dispatched from New Zealand to occupy the island of Samoa, a territory of the German Empire at the time. Samoa was easily occupied on 29 August 1914 and Logan became its Military Administrator; he remained in this capacity for the duration of the war. Although he was decorated for his services, his administration of Samoa was later criticised, particularly in relation to the handling of the influenza outbreak of November 1918, which led to 7,500 deaths. Logan retired from military service in 1919 and settled in Devon, England, where he died in 1935.

Early life Robert Logan was born in Langton, Berwickshire, Scotland, on 2 April 1863 to Thomas Logan, a tenant farmer, and his wife, Euphemia Helen Logan. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy. In 1881, when he was 19, Logan migrated to New Zealand.

Life in New Zealand Logan settled in Southland and found work as a farmhand. After a couple of years, he became a runholder, buying a sheep farm at Maniototo, in the Otago district, which he ran for several years. He married Elizabeth Catherine Preston at Fortrose, Southland, on 16 April 1890. The couple would go on to have four sons, although one died in infancy. He became involved in local politics, joining the Maniototo County Council in 1888 and from 1901 to 1902, was its chairman. Logan's wife Elizabeth died in 1910, leaving him to raise his three surviving sons on his own, until he remarried in 1914. Logan and his second wife, Eleanor Mary Preston, had two daughters. He was later awarded the Croix de Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in December 1919 "in recognition of valuable services in Samoa during the first year of the military occupation of that territory."

Logan returned to New Zealand in January 1919. Although his temporary rank of colonel had been made substantive in 1915, he received no further promotions. He was condemned for negligence in handling of the influenza outbreak by a New Zealand commission of inquiry. His relatively harsh administration, and the errors he made, greatly affected Samoan relations with New Zealand.

Later life Discharged from the NZEF in September 1919, Logan returned to his duties with the New Zealand Staff Corps but after a few months he was posted to the retired list. He chose to retire to England, settling on an estate he purchased in Devon. Beginning to develop a tendency to exaggerate his contributions to the war effort, he wrote a foreword to a history of the Samoa Expeditionary Force, which was published in 1924. In 1928, Logan moved to Scotland, taking up a family estate in Lanarkshire upon the death of his cousin. He died in Seaton, in the county of Devon, on 4 February 1935, but was buried in the family crypt in Lanarkshire.