Major William Edmund Willoughby-Tottenham (died 22 August 1962) was a British army major and later a politician in Fiji, where he served as a member of the Legislative Council in two spells between 1922 and 1937.
Biography Willoughby-Tottenham fought in both the Second Boer War and World War I.Major W.E. Willoughby-Tottenham Pacific Islands Monthly, October 1962, p153 He moved to Fiji after World War I and became a planter in Savusavu.Four Hundred Capitalists The Shannon News, 15 February 1924 In 1920 he married Mabel Attenborough, who was later awarded an MBE for her work on social services.Parish pump Uckfield - September 19, 2014 Sussex Express, 19 September 2014
After moving to Fiji, Willoughby-Tottenham successfully contested the Vanua Levu & Taveuni seat on the Legislative Council in a 1922 by-election.Fiji Blue Book for the Year 1922, p83 Although he was defeated by Arthur Hallam Roberts by two votes in the general elections the following year, he returned to the Legislative Council after winning the seat in the 1926 elections. He was subsequently re-elected in 1929 and 1932.
The Legislative Council was reorganised prior to the 1937 elections, with the number of elected European seats reduced from five to three. Willoughby-Tottenham ran in the Eastern constituency, but was defeated by Harold Brockett Gibson. He later unsuccessfully challenged Gibson in the 1940 and 1953 elections.
Outside politics, Willoughby-Tottenham was president of the Fijian St John Ambulance Association and owned the Hot Springs Hotel in Savusavu together with 210 acres of land.Philip Snow (1997) Years of Hope: Cambridge, Colonial Administrator in the South Seas, and Cricket, p287 He later sold his holdings to Sathi Narain.Satya Colpani (1996) Beyond the Black Waters: A Memoir of Sir Sathi Narain, pp58–59
He died in Suva on 22 August 1962 at the age of 84.
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