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A seasoned diplomat, as
well as a cultured and widely travelled
nobleman, Freeman Thomas, Baron
Willingdon of Ratton and Earl and
Marquess of Willingdon, was the
thirteenth Governor General.
Born on September 12,
1866, he was educated at Eton and
Trinity College, Cambridge. He went to
Australia in 1897 where he served for
three years as Aide-de-Camp to his
father in Law, Lord Brassey, Governor of
Victoria, then returned to enter the
House of Commons. He remained there
until he was elevated to the peerage and
joined the Hose of Lords in 1910, when
he was also appointed Lord-in-Waiting to
King George V. He was a keen cricketer
and a Hunt Master.
In 1913, he was named
Governor of Bombay; in 1919 Governor of
Madras and in 1926, prior to his
Canadian appointment, he chaired a
mission to China on the Boxer Rebellion
indemnities. He took his oath of office
in Quebec City on October 2, 1926.
Willingdon visited many
parts of the Dominion and made goodwill
visits t the United States. He was
warmly received everywhere he went.
Early in his tenure, the Statute of
Westminster was signed and the Governor
General became solely the representative
of the Crown in Canada, taking his
advice from the sovereign's Canadian
advisors. The British Government then
appointed a British High Commissioner to
Ottawa to act as liaison between the
Government of Canada and the United
Kingdom. Canada had previously
established a High Commissioner's office
in London.
In 1927, he entertained
the Prince of Wales on his historic tour
of Canada, and Prime Minister Ramsey
Macdonald. He also set a precedent by
flying from Ottawa to Montreal return,
the first Governor General to take
to the air.
On completion of his term
of office in 1931, he went directly to
India as Viceroy, a post that had been
held by three of his predecessors. He
later carried out many important
missions for his country; was raised to
the rank of Marquis and made Chancellor
of the Order of St Michael and St
George. He died in London in 1941. |
