Preceded by Lord Somers Role British Politician | Succeeded by Sir Winston Dugan Name William 5th Died November 20, 1969 | |
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Monarch King George V (1934-1936)King Edward VIII (1936)King George VI (1936-1939) Born 3 January 1883Gatton, Queensland ( 1883-01-03 ) Education | ||
William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, KCMG (3 January 1883 – 20 November 1969) was a British Conservative Party politician, Governor of Victoria and Administrator of Australia. He was the first native-born governor of an Australian state.
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Early life
Born in Gatton, Queensland, Australia. He was the son of Hon. William Arcedeckne Vanneck and Mary Armstrong. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, whereafter he joined the 13th/18th Hussars reaching the rank of captain. He succeeded his uncle in 1915 as 5th Baron Huntingfield of Heveningham Hall and 7th Baronet Vanneck of Putney.
He married American born Margaret Eleanor Crosby (d. 1 March 1943), the daughter of Ernest Howard Crosby and Fanny Kendall Schieffelin. From her paternal grandmother Margaret Evertson Givan, Crosby was descendant from Dutch, French Canadian and Scandinavian ancestors who settled in North America. She was also a descendant of King Robert III of Scotland.
They had four children:
Political career
Between 1923 and 1929 he was member for Eye, Suffolk in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was successively Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Home Office 1926–7, and then to the President of the Board of Trade between 1927–8.
Governorships
In 1934 Lord Huntingfield became the Governor of Victoria, Australia, being the first Australian-born governor of an Australian state (although he was always considered British). (Despite this, Victoria was the last of the states to appoint an Australian as governor, Sir Henry Winneke in 1974.) His term expired in 1939. He served as Administrator of Australia between March 1938 and September 1938.
Although he was offered the post of Governor of Southern Rhodesia in 1942, he did not take up the position due to ill-health.
Freemasonry
He was a freemason. He was initiated to the craft in 1919, in the United Lodge No. 1629. He became a member of the United Service Lodge No. 330 in Victoria as a Past Master in 1934. Shortly after that, in 1935, he became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Victoria. After his return to England, in 1940, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England.
Honours and later life
He was invested as a Knight Commander, Order of St Michael and St George in 1934. He was Colonel of the 58th Battalion, Company of London Home Guard during World War II. He was given the rank of Honorary Air Commodore in No. 21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. Finally he was invested as a Knight of Grace, Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
His first wife having died in 1943, he married Muriel Mary Georgina Duke (d. 13 May 1953) and had one daughter: