Charles Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie

Norrie (left) on a visit to Foxton, New Zealand in 1954

Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie (born September 26, 1893 in London , England , † May 25, 1977 in Wantage , Oxfordshire ) was a British general during the Second World War and later Governor of South Australia and Governor General of New Zealand .

Life

After studying at the Royal Military College Sandhurst , he entered active service in 1913. During the First World War he received several awards and was wounded four times. Most recently he was general staff officer of the 2nd Panzer Corps .

After the war he served in India and became a specialist in mechanized warfare. At the outbreak of World War II he was in command of the 1st Armored Brigade . In 1941 he was promoted to major general and assumed command of the British 1st Armored Division as General Officer Commanding . In November of the same year, the division was relocated to North Africa to stop the German advance. As the commander of the XXX. Corps , Lieutenant General Vyvyan Pope , was killed in a plane crash, he took over his post and led the corps in Operation Crusader . In June 1942, however, his troops suffered a severe defeat as part of the Theseus company , whereupon he was released from his post and was appointed Commander of the Royal Armored Corps in Great Britain .

In 1944, Norrie was offered the office of Governor of South Australia. He accepted and resigned from the army with the rank of lieutenant general honorary out; on December 12, 1944 he took office. During his tenure as governor, he made many trips around the state, attended over 300 schools, and gave up to ten speeches a day. In his detailed reports to the Colonial Office , he criticized Charles Duguid and his commitment to aboriginal rights as “misguided sentimentality”.

In 1948 his term of office was extended. In 1952, however, he resigned after he had been offered the post of Governor General of New Zealand. He held this post from December 1952 to July 1957. On his return to England he was raised to hereditary peer on August 22, 1957 with the title Baron Norrie , of Wellington in New Zealand and of Hawkesbury Upton in the County of Gloucester , and received a seat in the House of Lords . In his retirement he was still the director of the London branch of the Bank of New South Wales . He died on May 25, 1977 in Wantage .

Awards

• Military Cross (1915)
• Medal Bar (1916)
• Mentioned in despatches (twice)
• Distinguished Service Order (1919)
• Companion of the Order of the Bath (1942)
• Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1944)
• Knight of the Order of St. John (1945)
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1952)

Web links

• Charles Norrie at Hansard (English)

literature

• PA Howell: Norrie, Sir Charles Willoughby Moke (1893-1977) . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966–2012 (English).

Individual evidence

1. ^ The London Gazette : No. 41161, p. 5053. August 27, 1957.