Rex Hunt (governor)

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Sir Rex Masterman Hunt CMG (born 26 June 1926-) was the British Governor of the Falkland Islands between 1980 and September 1985 with a 3 month gap between 2 April 1982 and 25 June 1982, during the occupation by Argentine armed forces.

After attending Coatham School and St Peter's College, Oxford, Rex Hunt joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet in 1941 and was enlisted as an airman in 1944 and commissioned as a pilot in 1945. He transferred to No 5 Squadron in India in August 1946 where he flew Spitfires, before transferring to Germany with No 26 Squadron in August 1947. He left active service in 1948, but remained in the reserves until 1951 where he reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant.

In 1952 he joined the Colonial and Diplomatic Services and went on to serve on postings in Uganda, Sarawak, Brunei, Turkey, Indonesia, South Vietnam, Malaysia, British Antarctic Territory and the Falkland Islands. Hunt was the Consul General at the British Embassy in Saigon at the time of the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. From 1980 he was Governor of the Falkland Islands.

Hunt became a household name during the Falklands War after the Argentine invasion of the islands. He was captured by the Argentinian invasion force and expelled from the islands to Uruguay.

During the invasion he had made his official residence, Government House in Port Stanley the operational headquarters for the Royal Marines. He sent his family and domestic staff away to safer houses with only their most valuable possessions. His housekeeper took a picture of the Queen and a bottle of gin.^[1]

Government House quickly became the site of an engagement between the Royal Marines garrison and the Argentine military. Hunt gave the order to lay down arms, before going to Stanley town hall, wearing his governor's plumed hat, to meet the Argentine General. "You have landed unlawfully on British territory and I order you to remove yourself and your troops forthwith," said Hunt. Four hours later Hunt was on a plane to Montevideo.^[2]

He was portrayed by Ian Richardson in the BBC television drama An Ungentlemanly Act, depicting the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands.