Governor of South Australia, 1927-35
- Component identifier:
- Series 3
- Content Summary:
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Late in 1927, when commander of the 1st Guards Brigade, Aldershot, Gowrie received an unexpected summons to Downing Street. There Prime Minister Baldwin asked the astonished officer whether he could be recommended to the King for the position of Governor of South Australia, as successor to Sir Thomas Bridges. After consulting his wife and son Patrick, the five-year appointment was announced on 6 January 1928, and a knighthood created on 24 January. The newly dubbed Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven and his wife arrived in Adelaide on 12 May 1928, on the eve of the Great Depression, leaving Patrick to continue his studies at Eton. Figuring in the disembarkation party was, the Honourable Hugh 'Puck' Grosvenor, a qualified pilot and Gowrie's Aide-de-Camp, with whom he flew on official duties to all areas of the State.
This series contains material largely recording the unofficial aspects of Gowrie's period of office. A popular governor, Gowrie's term was extended by one year to 1934, when an estimated crowd of 100,000 people bade him farewell. Within the series the papers are generally arranged chronologically, and include: arrangements and letters of congratulations on his appointment as Governor (from correspondents such as Sir Isaac Isaacs and Keith Officer); a volume of dispatches to and from the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, 1928-33 (one discussing the 'bodyline' cricket crisis); pocket appointment diaries, 1933-34; and printed souvenirs and pamphlets. Amongst the correspondence are letters from Lord Baden Powell requesting Hore-Ruthven's patronage of the scout movement (of which he became Chief Scout), items documenting Lady Hore-Ruthven's association with the Girl Guides, papers containing interesting information on administrative conditions in India, and a letter from Sir Philip Game, Governor of New South Wales, outlining his position in the constitutional crisis involving Premier Jack Lang.
Series 17 contains an album of speeches delivered during the period of Gowrie's governorship. Correspondence and papers relating to his appointment as Governor of New South Wales, received whilst still Governor of South Australia, are located in Series 4; papers and correspondence relating to the accidental death of 'Puck' Grosvenor are filed in Series 10.
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The papers were donated to the National Library in seven instalments: by Gowrie's grandson, the Honourable Malise Hore-Ruthven, in 1970, 1981 (two instalments), 1983, 1986 and 1993, and; in 1999 by Barbara Blanch, widow of Gowrie's biographer, John Blanch. In addition, in 1969 the Library received a collection of books acquired by Lord Gowrie, which had been housed at Australia House since 1955. Most of the volumes were presentation copies inscribed by the authors. Those books not already held were added to the Library's general book collection, whilst duplicate titles were offered to other libraries through the Clearing Centre.
- Names:
- Hore-Ruthven, Malise
Contents
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- The collection is partly available for reference and partly closed. Files 1, 11, 12 and 15 in Series 6 and Folder 17 in Series 8 are subject to Royal Copyright and access restrictions, and remain closed for 60 years from the date of creation; all other papers are available for reference.
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: