{{Short description|French colonial governor (1885–1963)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Henri Sautot.png
| office1 = Acting Governor of St Pierre and Miquelon | term1 = 1929–1932 | predecessor1= François Adrien Juvanon | successor1 = Georges Marie Roger Chanot
| office2 = Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides | term2 = 1933–1935 | predecessor2= Antoine Louis Carlotti | successor2 = Robert Casimir
| office3 = Acting Governor of Tahiti | term3 = 1935–1937 | predecessor3= Michel Lucien Montagné | successor3 = Jean Chastenet de Géry
| office4 = Resident Commissioner of the New Hebrides | term4 = 1935–1940 | predecessor4= Robert Casimir | successor4 = Robert Charles Henri Kuter
| office5 = Governor of New Caledonia | term5 = 1940–1942 | predecessor5= Maurice Denis | successor5 = Auguste Montchamp
| office6 = Governor of Ubangi-Shari | term6 = 1942–1946 | predecessor6= André Latrille | successor6 = Jean Chalvet
| birth_date = 5 May 1885 | birth_place = Bourbonne-les-Bains, France | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|3|23|1885|5|5|df=y}} | death_place = 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.<ref name=PIM1>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-324691793/view?partId=nla.obj-324755924#page/n142/mode/1up Former Governor Of New Caledonia Dies In Noumea] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', April 1963, p141</ref> He studied at the Nancy-Université before carrying out national service.<ref name=OL>[https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/compagnons/henri-sautot Henri Sautot] Order of Liberation</ref>
Sautot became an Indigenous Affairs clerk in 1909, before becoming a colonial administrator in 1915.<ref name=OL/> He was appointed chief of staff of the Governor of Dahomey in 1925,<ref name=OL/> before becoming Acting Governor of St Pierre and Miquelon in 1929,<ref name=PIM1/> 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.<ref name=PIM1/> He subsequently played a key role in the rallying of New Caledonia to Free France. On 13 September Charles de Gaulle appointed him Governor of New Caledonia.<ref name=PIM1/> He sailed to New Caledonia and, greeted by large crowds on his arrival, went straight to Government House and removed Colonel Denis from office.<ref name=PIM1/> He subsequently set up the {{ill|Bataillon du Pacifique|fr}} which sailed in May 1941 to fight in North Africa and Europe.<ref name=PIM1/> 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.<ref name=OL/> 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.<ref name=PIM1/>
Later in 1942 Sautot was appointed Governor of Ubangi-Shari by de Gaulle, a post he held until retiring in 1946.<ref name=PIM1/> He then returned to New Caledonia with his New Caledonian wife.<ref name=PIM1/> He entered local politics, and served as mayor of Nouméa between 1947 and 1953.<ref name=OL/>
Sautot died in a clinic in Nouméa in March 1963.<ref name=PIM1/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal |last1=Regnault |first1=Jean-Marc |last2=Kurtovitch |first2=Ismet |title=Les ralliements du Pacifique en 1940: Entre légende gaulliste, enjeux stratégiques mondiaux et rivalités Londres/Vichy |journal=Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine |date=2002 |volume=49-4 |issue=4 |pages=71 |doi=10.3917/rhmc.494.0071 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-d-histoire-moderne-et-contemporaine-2002-4-page-71.htm?|doi-access=free }} *{{cite book |last1=Munholland |first1=J. Kim |title=Rock of Contention: Free French and Americans at War in New Caledonia, 1940-1945 |date=2006 |publisher=Berghahn |location=New York |isbn=978-1-84545-300-8}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sautot, Henri}} Category:1885 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Prefects of Saint Pierre and Miquelon Category:Resident commissioners of the New Hebrides (France) Category:Governors of French Polynesia Category:Governors of New Caledonia Category:Mayors of Nouméa Category:Companions of the Liberation Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Governors of Ubangi-Shari Category:People from Haute-Marne Category:Nancy-Université alumni