A V.C. GOVERNOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 847, 16 December 1929, Page 9

A V.C. GOVERNOR

SIR A. HORE-RUTHVEN VISITS N.Z. DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER His Excellency the Hon. Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven, V.C., K.C.M.G., C. 8., C.M.G., Governor of South Australia, arrived in Auckland this morning on his first visit to New Zealand. He is accompanied by Lady HoreRuthven and their son Mr. Patrick Hore-Ruthven, who is on holiday from Eton College. Captain R. B. and Mrs. Brassey are also with the vice regal Party. Sir Alexander stated this morning that he and his party will spend a month in New Zealand. They will stay in the Rotorua district until December 30, fishing at Taupo and “doing the sights.” Later they will go on to Wellington where they will be the guests of their Excellencies Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson at Government House. From Wellington some of the party will go to the South Island while the others resume their fishing. “I .look forward very much to this trip,” Sir Alexander said this morning on the Niagara. “I love the look of the countryside—it is so fresh and green.” One of the principal reasons for making the trip to New' Zealand is to allow Mr. Patrick Hore-Ruthven to see something of the Dominion. He will return to Eton at the end of the tour. Sir Alexander Hore-Ruthven is one of England's most distinguished soldiers, and has a wonderful military record in several campaigns. He won the V.C. at the battle of Gedaref during the Sudan campaign in 1898. Sir Alexander was then a captain in command of a camel corps detachment. At the height of the battle, when the Dervishes were advancing, he saw a wounded Egyptian officer lying in their path. Although the Dervishes were only 50 yards away. Sir Alexander ran to him, picked him up, and carried him back to the Egyptian battalion. Twice he laid the wounded officer down and fired into the advancing horde in an effort to stop them. After the battle the young captain was awarded the V.C., and also a decoration by the Egyptian Government. Sir Alexander, who is tall and distinguished-looking, comes of a soldiering family. He was born at Windsor in 1872, and after passing through Eton College was attached to the Highland Light Infantry. After the Sudan campaign Sir Alexander was sent to Somaliland in 190304 as a special service officer. He was military secretary to the Viceroy of Ireland in 1905-06, and in 1908 came out to Australia as military secretary to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth.

Sir Alexander served in the Great War, both in France and on Gallipoli. He was severely wounded, won the D.S.O. and bar, and was five times mentioned in dispatches. After the war he held several important military posts in England, and in 1924 he commanded the First Infantry (Guards) Brigade at Aldershot. He succeeded Sir Tom Bridges as Governor of South Australia in Januarv, 1925.

Lieut.-Colonel ,T. E. Duigan, D. 5.0., who was with Sir Alexander at a military staff college, met him on the Niagara this morning, and welcomed the distinguished visitor to New Zealand.