THE NEW GOVERNOR

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4607, 9 October 1934, Page 6

THE NEW GOVERNOR

OLD ENGLISH ANCESTRY. In Viscount Galway, who succeeds Lord Bledisloe, New Zealand will have a Governor-General whose ancestry played a prominent part in many important events in English history. The present Viscount claims descent from Simon Monckton, of Monckton, near Broughbridge, County York, and goes back beyond the 13th century. The family can also trace association, through marriage, with the Duke of Rutland, with the Duke of Northumberland, and with Lord Houghton, who, as Richard Monckton Milnes, was known to literature as a minor poet of distinction, and the friend of William Thackeray and Lord Tennyson. In 1545 a William Monckton was commanded by the King to proceed with his tenants and retainers to Newcastle to oppose a threatened invasion of the Scots and French. A John Monckton was a major in the army of King Charles I. Sir Philip Monckton, who served some time in Parliament as member for Scarborough, was honourably distinguished for his loyalty to King Charles 11. He was several times imprisoned during the Civil War, and fined. At one time his grandfather, his father, and himself were all sequestered by Oliver Cromwell. In 1659 he encouraged the citizens of York against the Parliamentary Commanders Colonel Lilburne and Lord Fairfax. Robert Monckton, who succeeded Sir Philip, was an active promoter of the revolution of 1688. It was his son John who became the first Viscount Galway on July 17, 1727. He sat in the Irish House of Lords. Sir Philip's second son was second in command to General Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, Commander-in-Chief at New York, and Governor of Berwick. There was also a member of the line killed in the American War. Several others of the line were distinguished soldiers.