William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield

The Right Honourable The Lord Huntingfield KCMG
17th Governor of Victoria
In office 14 May 1934 – 4 April 1939
Monarch	King George V (1934-1936) King Edward VIII (1936) King George VI (1936-1939)
Preceded by	Lord Somers
Succeeded by	Sir Winston Dugan
Personal details
Born	(1883-01-03)3 January 1883 Gatton, Queensland
Died	20 November 1969(1969-11-20) (aged 86) Hove, East Sussex, England
Alma mater	Wellington College

William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, KCMG (3 January 1883 – 20 November 1969) was a British Conservative Party politician, Governor of Victoria and Administrator of Australia. He was the first native-born governor of an Australian state.

Early life

Born in Gatton, Queensland, he was the son of Hon. William Arcedeckne Vanneck and Mary Armstrong, sister of William Drayton Armstrong (a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and its Speaker for many years). Vanneck grew up near Gatton (now the modern locality of Adare) until he was 14 years old when he went to England.^[1] He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, whereafter he joined the 13th/18th Hussars reaching the rank of captain. He succeeded his uncle in 1915 as 5th Baron Huntingfield of Heveningham Hall and 7th Baronet Vanneck of Putney.

He married American born Margaret Eleanor Crosby (d. 1 March 1943), the daughter of Ernest Howard Crosby, a descendant of Declaration of Independence signer William Floyd, and Fanny Kendall Schieffelin.^[2] From her paternal grandmother Margaret Evertson Givan, Crosby was descendant from Dutch, French Canadian and Scandinavian ancestors who settled in North America.

They had four children:

• Hon. Sara Carola Vanneck (25 September 1913 – 2001), married Major David Arthur Peel in Melbourne, Australia on 14 April 1936. He was a grandson of Arthur Peel, 1st Viscount Peel and died in action in World War II in September 1944.
• Gerald Vanneck, 6th Baron Huntingfield (1915–1994)
• Hon. Anne Margaret Theodosia Vanneck (20 May 1918 – 2000), married Peter Moro, the architect, on 2 March 1940 and had issue; divorced 1984.
• Hon. Sir Peter Vanneck (1922–1999)

Political career

Between 1923 and 1929 he was member for Eye, Suffolk in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was successively Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Home Office 1926–7, and then to the President of the Board of Trade between 1927–8.

Governorships

In 1934 Lord Huntingfield became the Governor of Victoria, Australia, being the first Australian-born governor of an Australian state (although he was always considered British).^[3] (Despite this, Victoria was the last of the states to appoint an Australian as governor, Sir Henry Winneke in 1974.) His term expired in 1939. He served as Administrator of Australia between March 1938 and September 1938.

Although he was offered the post of Governor of Southern Rhodesia in 1942, he did not take up the position due to ill-health.^[4]

Freemasonry

He was a freemason. He was initiated to the craft in 1919, in the United Lodge No. 1629. He became a member of the United Service Lodge No. 330 in Victoria as a Past Master in 1934. Shortly after that, in 1935, he became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Victoria. After his return to England, in 1940, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England.^[5]

Honours and later life

He was invested as a Knight Commander, Order of St Michael and St George in 1934. He was Colonel of the 58th Battalion, Company of London Home Guard during World War II. He was given the rank of Honorary Air Commodore in No. 21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. Finally he was invested as a Knight of Grace, Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

His first wife having died in 1943, he married Muriel Mary Georgina Duke (d. 13 May 1953) and had one daughter:

• Hon. Katherine Grace Vanneck (b. 10 August 1954), married Nicholas John Bacon on 2 December 1976 and had issue

References

• "thePeerage.com". Retrieved 27 January 2007.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Huntingfield