John Osbaldiston Field

{{Short description|British Colonial Service administrator (1913–1985)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific_prefix = Sir

|name = John Osbaldiston Field

|image = Sir John Osbaldiston Field.jpg

|caption = John Osbaldiston Field in 1962

|order = Resident Commissioner then Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands

|lieutenant =

|term_start = 9 January 1970

|term_end = April 1973

|predecessor = Val Andersen

|successor = John Hilary Smith

|birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1913|10|30}}

|birth_place = Southsea, Hampshire, England

|death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1985|02|22|1913|10|30}}

|death_place =

|nationality = British

|other_names =

|occupation = Colonial Service

|party =

|spouse =

|children =

|alma_mater =

}}

Sir John Osbaldiston Field {{post-nominals|KBE|CMG}} (30 October 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a British colonial administrator who was the last Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands from 9 January 1970 and then, from 1 January 1972, the first Governor of this Crown Colony.{{London Gazette |issue=45593 |date=8 February 1972 |page=1588 }}

Field was one of three children of Frank Osbaldiston Field of Gosport, Hampshire and Gertrude Caroline Perrin of Natal, South Africa. He was educated at Stellenbosch Boys School in South Africa and Magdalene College, Cambridge.{{cite book |title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |date=1963 |publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited. |page=2741 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVKqeEPMZoC&q=Stellenbosch+Boys+ |access-date=1 February 2021 |language=en}}

From 1963 to 1969, he also was the British Governor of Saint Helena. He was before the Commissioner of the British Cameroons (United Nations trust territory) before incorporation.

Field died on 22 February 1985, at the age of 71.{{cite web |title=Field, Sir John (Osbaldiston) |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-164122 |website=WHO WAS WHO 2024 |access-date=11 January 2024}}