William Boyd McCleary

{{Short description|British diplomat (born 1949)}}

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

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = William Boyd McCleary

|honorific-prefix =

|image = Boyd McCleary.jpg

|office = Governor of the British Virgin Islands

|monarch = Elizabeth II

|premier = Ralph T. O'Neal
Orlando Smith

|term_start = 20 August 2010

|term_end = 1 August 2014

|predecessor = V. Inez Archibald (acting)

|successor = V. Inez Archibald (acting)

|monarch2 =

|governor2 =

|term_start2 =

|term_end2 =

|predecessor2 =

|successor2 =

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|3|30|df=y}}

|birth_place = Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

|death_date =

|death_place =

}}

{{Infobox viceroy styles

| image = 150px

| name = William Boyd McCleary
(2010-2014)

| dipstyle = His Excellency

| offstyle = Your Excellency

| altstyle = Sir

}}

William Boyd McCleary (born 30 March 1949)[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U119906 McCLEARY, (William) Boyd], Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012; online edn, Nov 2012; accessed 14 February 2013. is a retired British diplomat originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In September 2010 he was appointed Governor of the British Virgin Islands, to act as the de facto head of state in the Territory.{{cite web|title=Change of Governor of the British Virgin Islands|url=http://www.bvi.org.uk/government/pressrelease/newgovernorappointed|publisher=Government of the British Virgin Islands, London office|date=14 December 2009|accessdate=8 August 2013}} Prior to his appointment as governor McCleary served as High Commissioner to Malaysia from 2006 to 2010. In 2008 he was presented by Malaysian activists with a memorandum condemning the Batang Kali massacre in which the Scots Guards executed 24 unarmed civilians.{{Cite news |last=Doyle |first=Kevin |date=11 December 2023 |title=No justice: 75 years after a British massacre in colonial Malaya |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/12/11/batang-kali-a-british-massacre-in-colonial-malaya-and-a-fight-for-justice |access-date=2 April 2024 |work=Al Jazeera}}

Shortly after his arrival in the British Virgin Islands, the territory was damaged by Hurricane Earl. At the time of his appointment there was a degree of tension over constitutional matters between the United Kingdom and the British Virgin Islands,; McCleary was praised in the local press for his deft handling of the situation.{{cite web|url=http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/news/community/governor-issues-all-clear-for-viexcept-anegada |title=Governor issues all clear for VI, except for Anegada |date=31 August 2010 |accessdate=8 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903162810/http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/news/community/governor-issues-all-clear-for-viexcept-anegada |archivedate=September 3, 2010 }} He is on the advisory board of OMFIF where he is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system. Previously, he was also one of the patrons of the British Theatre Playhouse, a company aiming to produce British theatrical plays and musical shows.{{Cite web |url=http://www.britishtheatreplayhouse.com/patrons.html |title=British Theatre Playhouse - Patrons - Professional theatre production company incorporated in Singapore in 2004 but is internationally focused with a solid British connection - SISTIC |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=10 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810045922/http://britishtheatreplayhouse.com/patrons.html |url-status=dead }}