Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet

General Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Bt GCB, GCMG, DSO, MVO
Sir Charles Fergusson, circa 1926
3rd Governor-General of New Zealand
In office 13 December 1924 – 8 February 1930
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	The Viscount Jellicoe
Succeeded by	The Lord Bledisloe
Personal details
Born	17 January 1865
Died	20 February 1951 (aged 86) Maybole, Ayrshire Scotland
Nationality	British
Relations	Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (father)
Children	Bernard Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1883–1922
Rank	General
Commands	5th Division 9th (Scottish) Division II Corps XVII Corps
Battles/wars	Mahdist War First World War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order Member of the Royal Victorian Order

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.

Early life and military career

Charles was the son of Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, the 6th Governor of New Zealand. He was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before joining the Grenadier Guards in 1883.^[1] 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.^[1] He was made Adjutant General of the Egyptian Army 1901 and Commanding Officer of 3rd Bn Grenadier Guards in 1904 before becoming a Brigadier-General on the staff of the Irish Command in 1907.^[1] He was appointed Inspector of Infantry in 1909 and General Officer Commanding 5th Division in Ireland in 1913 – in this capacity he played a key role during the Curragh incident, ensuring his officers obeyed orders.^[2] He took the 5th Division to France in August 1914 at the start of the First World War^[2] and then briefly took command of 9th (Scottish) Division from October to December 1914.^[3] He commanded II Corps from January 1915 and then, from May 1916, XVII Corps corps which he led until the end of the war.^[2]

After the war he was a Military Governor of Cologne before he retired in 1922.^[1]

Governor-General of New Zealand

After an unsuccessful attempt to enter Parliament through the South Ayrshire constituency in the 1923 general election,^[4] the next year Fergusson was appointed Governor General of New Zealand and served until 1930.^[1] His father, Sir James Fergusson, had previously served as a Governor of New Zealand, and his son Bernard 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 Paekakariki 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.^[5]

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:^[6]

• Helen Dorothea Fergusson (born 15 October 1902)
• Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, 8th Bt (born 18 September 1904, died 25 October 1973)
• The Reverend Simon Charles David Fergusson (born 5 June 1907, died 1982)
• Brigadier Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE (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 (1925-1928), he was also Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.^[7]

Later life

After his term in New Zealand, he 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

Arms of Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet

Notes The arms of Charles Fergusson consist of: Crest A bee on a thistle Proper. Escutcheon Azure, a buckle Argent between three boars’ heads couped Or. Motto “Dulcius ex asperis”, All the sweeter for having undergone bitterness, 2 (on compartment) “Ut prosim aliis”, May I profit others.

References

1. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
2. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
3. Army Commands
4. McLintock, A. H., ed. (23 April 2009) [First published in 1966]. "Fergusson, General Sir Charles, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., D.S.O., M.V.O., LL.D. (Glasgow), Bt.". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
5. Gavin McLean (October 2006), The Governors, New Zealand Governors and Governors-General, Otago University Press, ISBN 978-1-877372-25-4
6. The Peerage, entry for Lady Alice Boyle
7. Vice Regal Grand Masters - Who and Why?

External links

• Official biography