FIFTEENTH GOVERNOR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20170, 13 February 1940, Page 7

FIFTEENTH GOVERNOR

CAREER IN POLITICS SCHOLAR AND AUTHOR I SERVICE IN GREAT WAR Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, the Governor-General of Canada, whose death occurred at Montreal on Sunday evening, was 64 years of age. He was created a baron in 1935 following his appointment as Governor-General of Canada. Lord Tweedsmuir was the fifteenth Governor-General of Canada, his predecessors in office being Viscount Monck, who served from July 1, 1867, to February 2, 1869, and was the first Governor-General after Confederation; Lord Lisgar, 1869-1872; the Earl of Dufferin, 1872-1878; the Marquess of Lome, 1878-1883; the Marquess of ' Landsdowne, 1883-1888; Lord Stanley, 1888-1893; the Earl of Aberdeen, 18931898; the Earl of Minto, 1898-1904; Earl Grey. 1904-1911; the Duke of Connaught, 1911-1916; the Duke of Devonshire, 1916-1921; Baron Byng of Vimy, 1921-1926; Viscount Willingdon, 19261931, and Earl Bessborough, 1931-1935. The son of a Scottish clergyman, the first Baron Tweedsmuir became widely known before his elevation to the peerage as the siiccessful author, historian and politician, John Buchan. He was the Conservative M.P. for the Scottish Universities from. 1927 to 1935, and was Lord High Commissioner to the Church of Scotland in 1933 and 1934. Prizes at Oxford Born in Scotland in 1875, he was educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford, of which he was a scholar, taking the Newdifate and Stanhope Historical Essay i Prizes. In 1899 he was president of the union. fie had already begun | writing, having published in 1893 “Scholar-Gipsies.” and in 1898 “John! Burnet of Barns” and a “History of; Brasenose College.” In the next two years he produced “Grey Weather,” “A Lost Lady of Old Years,” and “The Half-Hearted.”

In the meanwhile. Mr. Buchan had been reading law, and was called to '.he Bar in 1901. Soon afterward he was appointed private secretary to Lord Milner, who had just been made High Commissioner in South Africa. Even then boolcs flowed from his pen, notably "The African Colony.” Near Plane of Stevenson

Returning to England in 1903, he became a member of the publishing firm of Nelsons and devo f ed much of his lime to writing, producing a number of romances, some of them based on his South African days. These, in the opinion of many critics, placed him near the plane of R. L. Stevenson. At the same time he proved in his “Sir Walter Raleigh” and "The Marquis of Monh’ose” that he was a painstaking historian.

At the commencement of the Great War Mr. Buchan was a special corre-

spondent in France, but was soon appointed to British Headquarters with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1917 he was transferred to England to take the onerous post of Director of Information, but meanwhile he was preparing a detailed history of the war, and also records of various phases of it, which appeared after the end of the conflict. Also he displayed the scholar’s sense of historical values in memoirs of eminent persons, and wrote scenarios for British historical films.

Mr. Buchan was an honorary LL.D. of Glasgow University. Among his novels are “Prester John,” “Greenmantle,” “Salute to Adventurers,” “The Thirty-nine Steps,” “Huntingtower.” “The Path of the King,” “Midwinter,” “The Dancing Floor,” “Witchwood,” “The Watcher by the Threshold,” “The Moon Endureth,” and “The Three Hostages.” Later works include “Oliver Cromwell,” “The Free Fishers,” “Gordon at Khartoum,” “A Prince of the Captivity,” “The Massacre of Glencoe,” and “The Magic Walking-Stick.” He was made a Companion of Honour in 1932.