Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix = Brigadier General The Right Honourable

name = Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie

honorific-suffix = VC GCMG CB DSO PC


imagesize =
small

caption =
order = 10^th
office = Governor-General of Australia
term_start = 23 January 1936
term_end = 30 January 1945
predecessor = Sir Isaac Isaacs
successor = HRH The Duke of Gloucester
order2 = 28^th
office2 = Governor of New South Wales
term_start2 = 15 January 1935
term_end2 = 23 January 1936
lieutenant2 =
monarch2 =
predecessor2 = Sir Philip Game
successor2 = Sir David Anderson
order3 = 20^th
office3 = Governor of South Australia
term_start3 = 14 May 1928
term_end3 = 26 April 1934
lieutenant3 =
monarch3 = King George V
predecessor3 = Sir George Bridges
successor3 = Sir Winston Joseph Dugan
birth_date = birth date|1872|7|6|df=y
birth_place = Windsor, Berkshire, England
death_date = death date and age|1955|5|2|1872|7|6|df=y
death_place = Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire, England
birthname =
nationality = British
spouse =
nickname =
allegiance = United Kingdom
branch = British Army
serviceyears = 1898–1928
rank = Brigadier General
battles = Sudan Campaign
World War I
awards = Victoria Cross
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mention in Despatches

Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie VC GCMG CB DSO PC (6 July 1872 – 2 May 1955), tenth and longest serving Governor-General of Australia, was born in Windsor, Berkshire, the second son of Walter Hore-Ruthven, 8th Lord Ruthven of Freeland. Hore-Ruthven (pronounced "Hore-Riven") was educated at Eton College, but was withdrawn from the school due to poor eyesight.

In 1898 Hore-Ruthven joined the British Army. During the Sudan Campaign he was a Captain in the 3rd Battalion of The Highland Light Infantry. During the action at Gedarif, Hore-Ruthven saw an Egyptian officer lying wounded within 50 yards of the advancing Dervishes, who were firing and charging. He picked up the wounded officer and carried him towards the 16th Egyptian Battalion; he had to drop his burden several times in order to fire upon the Dervishes and check their advance, but his action undoubtedly saved the officer's life; for his bravery, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

In 1905 Hore-Ruthven became an aide-de-camp to Lord Dudley, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1908 Dudley was appointed Governor-General of Australia, and Hore-Ruthven went with him as military secretary. In the same year he married Zara Pollok, with whom he had two sons, one of whom died in infancy. He left Australia in 1910 and returned to military service in India. During World War I he served in France and at Gallipoli, where he was severely wounded, awarded the Distinguished Service Order & Bar, and Mentioned in Despatches five times. He finished the war as a Brigadier-General, and commanded British forces in Germany between 1919 and 1920. After this he held various Army staff positions until 1928, when he was appointed Governor of South Australia.

He was in London when the third Bodyline Test cricket match in Adelaide caused Anglo-Australian political tension in 1933, and he played a significant part in smoothing relations through his meetings with the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs J.H. Thomas. His term as Governor ended in 1934, and he was then appointed Governor of New South Wales, with the title Baron Gowrie.

With his military record and experience, Gowrie was seen as an obvious choice to succeed Sir Isaac Isaacs when he retired as Governor-General in 1936. In accordance with established practice, the Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, was offered several alternatives, but Gowrie was the obvious candidate, as Lyons had no intention of appointing another Australian to the post. His appointment was approved by King George V, who died on 20 January 1936, three days before Gowrie was due to be sworn in as Governor-General. Thus he came to office during the reign of King Edward VIII.

In office, Gowrie was a popular if unobtrusive figure in Australia. The days when Governors-General exercised significant power, or even participated in negotiations between the Australian and British governments, had now passed, but Gowrie set a precedent in 1938 when he toured the Netherlands East Indies at the invitation of the colonial administration. This was the first time that a Governor-General had represented Australia abroad.

In April 1939 Lyons died suddenly and Gowrie commissioned Sir Earle Page, the leader of the Country Party, as Prime Minister until the United Australia Party could choose a new leader: this was the only circumstance in which the Governor-General still had some personal discretion.

Gowrie's political skills were tested again after the 1940 election, which left the UAP Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, dependent on the votes of two independent members to stay in power. When the UAP dropped Menzies as leader, the independent members voted to put the government out. Gowrie sent for them and demanded that they give him a guarantee that if he commissioned the Australian Labor Party leader, John Curtin, they would support him and end the instability in government.

During World War II Gowrie saw it as his duty to support the government and the British Empire, and also the troops. In 1943 he undertook a four-week tour of inspection of Allied Defence Forces in northern Australia and New Guinea. Shortly before undertaking this tour, Gowrie and his wife had learned that their son, Patrick, had been killed in Libya the previous year.

He officially opened the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1941.

Gowrie's term ended in September 1944 after which he returned to Britain, where he was created Earl of Gowrie and appointed Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle. In 1948 he was elected president of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He died in May 1955 at his home in Gloucestershire.

He was the only Governor-General of Australia to be advised by five different Prime Ministers (Lyons, Page, Menzies, Fadden and Curtin), although two (Page and Fadden) were short-term appointments.

External links

* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms2852 A guide to Lord Gowrie's Papers]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/historical/governors-general.htm Australian Government records]
* [http://www.burkes-peerage.net/sites/Contents/book/UK/FHP/Peerage/fhp-GOWRIE.asp Burke's Peerage entry for the family]
* [http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/guards/f-5WG.htm British Army Regimental Record]