[note 1] Headed by a High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, who was also ex officio the Governor of Fiji, until the end of 1952, it included numerous islands, mostly small, throughout Oceania.
Composition varied over time, but Fiji (1877–1952) and the Solomon Islands (1893–1976) were its most durable members.
From 1877 through 1961, the Chief Justice of Fiji was ex officio Chief Judicial Commissioner, apart from a three-year suspension of the High Commission from 1942 through 1945 during the War in the Pacific, when many of Britain's colonies in Oceania were under either military administration or Japanese occupation.
On 2 January 1976 after nearly all had been given separate statehood, the office of High Commissioner and the entity of the Pacific Territories were abolished.
The High Commission of the Western Pacific was abolished, the last archives being finally packed up in Honiara in August 1978.