Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 21:28
GOVERNORS
A brief survey of the persons who have held viceregal office in New Zealand shows that our Governors can be classified into certain relatively well-defined groups. Those who held office in the first period, from Gipps to Gore Browne, were military or naval officers who had been detached from active service to assist the Colonial Office, New Zealand being their first or early charge. The Governors of the second period — from Sir George Grey (second term) to Sir W. F. D. Jervois – were already well-experienced colonial administrators by the time they arrived in New Zealand, and most of them became Governors of other colonies after they left. All the Governors of this period were picked men, and two of them — Robinson and Gordon – were regarded as being among the most competent of Britain's colonial administrators. As a group these Governors came into prominence during the second half of the nineteenth century. Their rise was due, principally, to the provision which made their retirement pensions, paid by the Imperial Government, dependent upon the size or class of salary attaching to their final vice-regal position. Because there were such wide divergencies between payments made by the various colonies, the Colonial Office was able to institute a system of viceregal promotions within the Empire which enabled the Service to retain an experienced Governor's services for many years. When, after Jervois's term, the New Zealand Government reduced the Governor's salary and allowances, the Colonial Office could no longer send such men to this country, Lord Onslow, who came to New Zealand as our first “cheap Governor”, accepted his appointment on the clear understanding that he would be expected to spend large sums from his own purse to keep up the dignity of his office. This proved an expensive undertaking, and one of the immediate effects was to reduce the Governor's term of office in New Zealand from six to four years. After Lord Onslow's appointment, Lord Liverpool was the first Governor to serve his full term. The Governors of this period, all extremely wealthy men, were members of the House of Lords with no previous experience of vice-regal office.
With the gradual evolution of Dominion status, and the corresponding lessening of Imperial control over the New Zealand Government, greater emphasis came to be placed on the Governor-General as the Monarch's personal representative. This necessitated a further change in the type of person selected. Since Lord Freyberg, New Zealand Governors are drawn from men who have distinguished themselves either in the British political world or in the armed forces. Nowadays it is most unusual for a Governor-General to have had prior vice-regal service.
Governors of New Zealand | |||
Assumed Office | Retired | ||
1. | Sir George Gipps | 30 Jan 1840 | 3 Jan 1841 |
Captain William Hobson, Lieutenant-Governor | 30 Jan 1840 | 3 Jan 1841 | |
2. | Captain William Hobson | 3 Jan 1841 | *10 Sep 1842 |
Lieutenant Willoughby Shortland, Administrator | 10 Sep 1842 | 26 Dec 1843 | |
3. | Captain Robert FitzRoy | 26 Dec 1843 | 17 Nov 1845 |
4. | Sir George Grey | 18 Nov 1845 | 31 Dec 1853 |
Lieutenant-Colonel R. H. Wynyard, Administrator | 3 Jan 1854 | 6 Sep 1855 | |
5. | Colonel Thomas Gore Browne | 6 Sep 1855 | 2 Oct 1861 |
Sir George Grey, Administrator | 3 Oct 1861 | 3 Dec 1861 | |
6. | Sir George Grey | 4 Dec 1861 | 5 Feb 1868 |
7. | Sir George Bowen | 5 Feb 1868 | 19 Mar 1873 |
8. | Sir James Fergusson | 14 Jun 1873 | 3 Dec 1874 |
Lord Normanby, Administrator | 3 Dec 1874 | 8 Jan 1875 | |
9. | Lord Normanby | 9 Jan 1875 | 21 Feb 1879 |
Sir Hercules Robinson, Administrator | 27 Mar 1879 | 16 Apr 1879 | |
10. | Sir Hercules Robinson | 17 Apr 1879 | 8 Sep 1880 |
11. | Sir Arthur Gordon | 29 Nov 1880 | 23 Jun 1882 |
12. | Sir William Jervois | 20 Jan 1883 | 22 Mar 1889 |
13. | Lord Onslow | 2 May 1889 | 24 Feb 1892 |
14. | Lord Glasgow | 7 Jun 1892 | 6 Feb 1897 |
15. | Lord Ranfurly | 10 Aug 1897 | 19 Jun 1904 |
16. | Lord Plunket | 20 Jun 1904 | 8 Jun 1910 |
17. | Lord Islington | 22 Jun 1910 | 2 Dec 1912 |
18. | Lord Liverpool | 19 Dec 1912 | 27 Jun 1917 |
*Died in office
Governors-General of New Zealand | |||
Assumed Office | Retired | ||
1. | Lord Liverpool | 28 Jun 1917 | 7 July 1920 |
2. | Lord Jellicoe | 27 Sep 1920 | 26 Nov 1924 |
3. | Sir Charles Fergusson | 13 Dec 1924 | 8 Feb 1930 |
4. | Lord Bledisloe | 19 Mar 1930 | 15 Mar 1935 |
5. | Lord Galway | 12 Apr 1935 | 3 Feb 1941 |
6. | Sir Cyril Newall | 22 Feb 1941 | 19 Apr 1946 |
7. | Sir Bernard Freyberg | 17 Jun 1946 | 15 Aug 1952 |
8. | Sir Willoughby Norrie | 2 Dec 1952 | 25 Jul 1957 |
9. | Lord Cobham | 5 Sep 1957 | 13 Sep 1962 |
10. | Sir Bernard Fergusson | 9 Nov 1962 | .. |
For biographical details see separate entries: e.g., Gipps, Sir George; Freyberg, Sir Bernard, etc.
by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.