George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, GCMG, DSO, OBE, KStJ, PC (24 March 1882 – 27 March 1943) was a British politician. He served as the fifth Governor-General of New Zealand from 1935 to 1941.
Early life
George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell Galway was born on 24 March 1882.[1] His parents were George Monckton-Arundell, 7th Viscount Galway and Vere Gosling.[2] He had one sibling: Violet Frances Monckton-Arundell (wife of married Lt.-Col. Geoffrey Henry Julian FitzPatrick, son of Edward Skeffington-Smyth).[3]
He received his education at a preparatory school in Berkshire[4] before attending Eton College (1895–1900) and Christ Church College, University of Oxford (1900–1904). He read Modern History and graduated with Bachelor of Arts and took the Master of Arts subsequently (this degree at Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin is an elevation in rank and not a postgraduate qualification).[2][5]
Lord Galway succeeded his father to the family's Irish peerage in 1931.[5]
Viscount Galway was Governor-General of New Zealand from 12 April 1935 to 3 February 1941. His military background made an impression with cabinet ministers of the time. His term was twice extended because of the Second World War.[9] Viscount Galway and his wife received numerous gifts during his time as governor-general. Some were returned to New Zealand around the time of the sale of the family house Serlby Hall,[13] and were donated to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 1980.[14]
Galway was a freemason. During his term as governor-general, he was also Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand.[15] In the 1937 Coronation Honours, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council.[16]
Viscount Galway married Lucia Margaret White, daughter of the 3rd Baron Annaly, in 1922. They had four children:[5]
Mary Victoria Monckton (1924–2010), who married David Henry Fetherstonhaugh, son of Lt.-Col. Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, in 1947. They divorced in 1972 and she married Maj. Robert Patricius Chaworth-Musters, son of Col. John Neville Chaworth-Musters, in 1974.[18]
Quarterly, 1st and 4th Sable, six swallows, three, two and one, Argent (Arundell); 2nd and 3rd Sable, on a chevron, between three martlets Or, as many mullets of the field (Monckton).
Supporters
Two unicorns Ermine, crined, armed and unguled, each gorged with an Eastern diadem Or.
Motto
Famam Extendere Factis (To extend my fame by deeds)
References
^McLintock, Alexander Hare; Bernard John Foster, M. A.; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "GALWAY, Sir George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell, Eighth Viscount". An encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
^Page 351-353, Regimental Fire, A History of the HAC in World war II, Author: Brigadier RF Johnson
^ abcA. H. McLintock, ed. (22 April 2009) [originally published in 1966]. "Galway, Sir George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell, Eighth Viscount". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
^L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 197.