This close examination of Sir Arthur Gordon's six governorships (New Brunswick, Trinidad, Mauritius, Fiji, New Zealand, and Ceylon) and his administration of the Western Pacific High Commission should help fill the need for a more accurate assessment of the role of the colonial governor in the governing process than the paucity of biographies of these governors has previously made possible. It demonstrates the revolutionary impact that an inventive and determined governor of proconsular proclivities could have upon Crown colonies, and the sense of frustration and of wasted talent which might be experienced by such a man in self-governing colonies.