Baldwin Lonsdale

Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale (5 August 1948 – 17 June 2017) was a Vanuatuan politician and Anglican priest who served as the president of Vanuatu from 22 September 2014 until his death in 2017. Early life and career Lonsdale was born on Mota Lava, in the Banks Islands, in 1948. Before becoming president, Lonsdale was a civil servant who served as the secretary general of the province of Torba on the island of Mota Lava. He later became an Anglican priest. Lonsdale was occasionally referred to as Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale. The title of Womtelo (“Rising Sun” in Mwotlap) is the highest rank within the customary system of chiefly grades of his native island Mota Lava.