General Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, GCB, GCMG, DSO, MVO (17 January 1865 – 20 February 1951) was a British Army officer and the third Governor-General of New Zealand, in office from 1924 to 1930.
Early life and military career
Fergusson was the son of Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, the 6th Governor of New Zealand and Lady Edith Christian Ramsay, daughter of James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie. He was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before being commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in November 1883.[3][4] He served in Sudan from 1896 to 1898, becoming Commanding Officer of the 15th Sudanese Regiment in 1899 and Commander of the Omdurman District in 1900.[4] He was made Adjutant General of the Egyptian Army in early 1901 and Commanding Officer of 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards in 1904 before becoming a Brigadier-General on the staff of the Irish Command in 1907.[4]
After being promoted to major-general in September 1908,[5] at the very young age (in peacetime) of just 43, he was appointed Inspector of Infantry in April 1909[6] and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 5th Division in Ireland in 1913 – in this capacity he played a key role during the Curragh incident, ensuring his officers obeyed orders.[7]
He took the 5th Division to France in August 1914 shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.[7] He remained in command of the division during all of its early battles on the Western Front until he was suddenly removed from his command on 18 October, "ostensibly because he was being promoted to Lieutenant-General", with Major General Thomas Morland taking over.[8] The real reason, however, appears to be that Field Marshal Sir John French, commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, wanted Fergusson's removal, not believing that the latter had it in him to successfully command a division, despite the fact that Fergusson had been doing so for the past two months.[9]
Fergusson, promoted to lieutenant general,[10] then returned to the United Kingdom and briefly took command of the 9th (Scottish) Division, a newly created Kitchener's Army formation, from October to December 1914.[11] Returning to France, he commanded II Corps of the BEF from January 1915 onwards. In May 1916 he was moved on to take over XVII Corps, which he led until the end of the war, caused by the armistice with Germany, in November 1918.[7]
After the war Fergusson, promoted to the rank of full general in July 1921,[12] was a military governor of Cologne before he retired from the army in 1922.[4]
Governor-General of New Zealand
A year after an unsuccessful attempt to enter parliament through the South Ayrshire constituency in the 1923 general election,[13] Fergusson was appointed Governor-General of New Zealand and served until 1930.[4] His father, Sir James Fergusson, had served as a Governor of New Zealand, and his son Lord Ballantrae was the tenth and last British-appointed governor-general.
On 20 June 1929 Fergusson was involved in a railway accident, following the 1929 Murchison earthquake. Attached to the rear of a train leaving the National Dairy Show at Palmerston North with 200 passengers on board, the Viceregal carriage contained the Governor-General and his wife and other members of the Viceregal party. The train hit a slip between Paekākāriki and Pukerua Bay, with the locomotive falling down a steep bank and injuring the driver. The first three carriages of the train also left the rails, but the Viceregal carriage remained on the tracks, and Fergusson and his party suffered only minor cuts and bruises.[14]
Marriage and family
Fergusson married Lady Alice Mary Boyle on 18 July 1901. She was a daughter of David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow. They had five children:
- Helen Dorothea Fergusson (born 15 October 1902) married 1925 Major Leonard Proby Haviland
- Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet (born 18 September 1904, died 25 October 1973)
- The Reverend Simon Charles David Fergusson (born 5 June 1907, died 1982). He married Auriole Kathleen Hughes-Onslow, maternal granddaughter of Arthur Crofton, 4th Baron Crofton. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom was Scottish MP Alex Fergusson.
- Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae (born 6 May 1911, died 28 November 1980)
- Charles Fergusson (born 16 January 1917, died 22 January 1917)
Freemasonry
Fergusson was a Freemason. During his term as governor-general, he was also Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.[15]
Later life
After his term in New Zealand, Fergusson became chairman of the West Indies Closer Union Commission and was Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire from 1937 until his death on 20 February 1951.
Arms
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References
External links
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