John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow

John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 1902

John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (before 1873 as Viscount Aithrie and then until 1902 as The Earl of Hopetoun ) KT , GCMG , GCVO , PC (born September 25, 1860 in South Queensferry , West Lothian , Scotland ; † February 29, 1908 ) was the first Governor General of Australia .

Career

John Adrian Louis Hope, eldest son of John Hope, 6th Earl of Hopetoun , was born on September 25, 1860 in South Queensferry, West Lothian, Scotland. He attended Eton College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , which he graduated from in 1879, but did not join the Army. Instead, he managed the family property and lived a carefree life. In 1883 he became one of the Whips of the Conservatives in the House of Lords and was from June 1885 to January 1886, and from August 1886 to 1889 Chamberlain ( Engl. Lord-in-waiting ). He married Hersey Everleigh-de-Moleyns (1867-1937), daughter of the 4th Baron Ventry. The marriage resulted in two daughters and two sons. One daughter died in childhood.

In 1889 he was appointed governor of Victoria , a position he held until 1895. After returning to the UK , he was accepted into the Privy Council . He was also appointed paymaster-general in the Salisbury government. He held this position between 1895 and 1898. He also held the office of Lord Chamberlains until 1900. The Australian colonies have agreed to merge and formed the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1, 1901. Hopetoun's popularity in Victoria and friendship with key Australian politicians led him to become the first Governor General of the Commonwealth. He was appointed in July 1900 and arrived in Sydney on December 15 .

Hope's immediate task was to appoint a prime minister who would form an interim government and take office on January 1, 1901. Since the first state elections were not held until March, he could not follow standard practice and simply appoint the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives. So he offered the post of Sir William Lyne , Prime Minister of the largest state, New South Wales .

This decision was justifiable with the protocol modalities, but he ignored the fact that Lyne opposed the Federation of Australia and that he was unpopular with the leading federal politicians. Alfred Deakin and other major politicians informed Hope that they would not serve under Lyne. Ultimately, Lyne resigned and Hope sent for Edmund Barton , the leader of the federal movement who everyone believed deserved the post. Hope had been widely criticized for the so-called " Hopetoun Blunder ".

Statue of John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Linlithgow Avenue, Melbourne

More problems soon arose. Hope had brought along his own Official Secretary, Captain Edward William Wallington, who handled all of his communications with London . The Australians resented a British being in charge of service matters. They also felt a grudge against the royal pomp that Hope insisted on in his leading role and the cost it entailed. He also had an unfortunate tendency to speak as if he were co-ruler of Australia alongside the Prime Minister, which was not what the authors thought when they drafted the constitution .

An interesting friendship developed between Lord Hopetoun and the Melbourne anarchist and union leader , John 'Chummy' Fleming . In May 1901 Fleming protested rushingly on Prince's Bridge against unemployment in Melbourne and called for the governor-general's term of office to end. Hope ordered the police not to interfere, so they had to listen to Fleming's statements about unemployment. The friendship lasted beyond this clash even when Hopetoun returned to Britain. According to some reports, Hope agreed to government pressure to speed up state work projects.

Eventually a dispute arose over the remuneration paid to the Governor General, which enabled him to maintain two viceroy seats, one in Sydney, the largest city in the country, and the other in Melbourne, the temporary capital. The rivalry between New South Wales and Victoria resulted in both the Commonwealth and the Victorian Parliament refusing to pay any further bills, let alone pay Hope any further allowances. As a result, Hope unexpectedly resigned in May 1902. Hope left Australia in July 1902 knowing that he had failed in his historic role. To compensate, he was appointed Marquess of Linlithgow on October 23, 1902 . He was also Secretary for Scotland from February to December 1905 .

John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, died suddenly on February 29, 1908.

While he had failed to secure the governor-general of India he most coveted, his son, Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow , became the senior viceroy between 1936 and 1943. His grandson, Lord Glendevon , married the daughter of the British novelist William Somerset Maugham .

literature

• David Torrance: The Scottish Secretaries . Birlinn 2006.
• Percival Serle: Hope, John Adrian Loius. In: Dictionary of Australian Biography. Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1949 ( gutenberg.net.au ).

Web links

Commons : John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ thegazette.co.uk  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ thegazette.co.uk  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Marquess of Linlithgow 1902-1908	Victor Hope
John Hope	Earl of Hopetoun 1873-1908	Victor Hope