Guide to the Memoirs of Sir Dudley De Chair (as filmed by the AJCP), 1923-1930
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Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- M716
- Creator:
- De Chair, Dudley Rawson Stratford, Sir
- Extent:
- 2 item
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for reference.
Background
- Content Summary:
- The autobiography of Sir Dudley de Chair, covering his naval career from 1878 to 1917, was edited by his son Seymour de Chair and published under the title The Sea is Strong in 1961. The publishers and Seymour de Chair considered that de Chair's memoirs of his later life, including his time as Governor of New South Wales, belonged to a separate book. Up to 2017, the two Australian volumes have not been published.
- Biographical / Historical:
-
Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair (1864-1958) was born in Lennoxville, Canada. His uncle, Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, was Governor of New South Wales in 1902-1909. De Chair's family returned to England in 1870 and in 1878 he joined the Royal Navy, becoming a midshipman in 1880. He was promoted to commander in 1897, captain in 1902 and rear admiral in 1912. De Chair married Enid Struben in 1903. In 1915-1916 he was commander of the tenth cruiser squadron, which was responsible for the North Sea blockade of Germany. He was knighted in 1916 and promoted to vice admiral in 1917. In 1918 he took command of the coastguard and reserves. He became an admiral in 1920.
De Chair was appointed Governor of New South Wales in October 1923 and he and Lady de Chair arrived in Sydney in February 1924. He faced considerable political difficulties following the election in May 1825 of a Labor Government led by J.T. Lang. Lang's attempts to appoint 25 new members to the Legislative Council, with the ultimate aim of abolishing the Council, were foiled by de Chair, leading to calls from Government supporters for his recall. The tensions between Premier and Governor ended when the Lang Government was defeated at the election in October 1927. The rest of the governorship was mostly uneventful.
De Chair retired in April 1930 and spent most of his later life in London. His autobiography The Sea is Strong was published posthumously in 1961.
Graham de Chair
Graham De Chair (1905-1995), the son of Sir Dudley de Chair, joined the Royal Navy in 1923 and served on the New Zealand Squadron in 1927-1929. He was ADC to his father in 1927-29 and accompanied his parents on their long journey back to England in 1930. His journals covering these four years were also microfilmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project (M717).
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Available for access.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
- Preferred citation:
-
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: