The Right Honourable The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG PC JP DL |
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13th Governor of New Zealand | |
In office 1897–1904 |
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Monarch |
Victoria Edward VII |
Prime Minister | Richard Seddon |
Preceded by | The Earl of Glasgow |
Succeeded by | The Lord Plunket |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 August 1856 Guernsey |
Died | 1 October 1933 (aged 77) |
Spouse(s) | Hon. Constance Caulfield |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Uchter John Mark Knox, 5th Earl of Ranfurly GCMG PC JP DL (14 August 1856 – 1 October 1933) was a British politician and colonial governor. He was Governor of New Zealand from 1897 to 1904.
Lord Ranfurly was born in Guernsey, the second son of Thomas Knox, 3rd Earl of Ranfurly, by his wife Harriet, daughter of John Rimmington, of Broomhead Hall, Yorkshire. Becoming a cadet on board H.M.S. Britannia, he passed for the Royal Navy, but, giving up a naval career, entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of eighteen.
He succeeded in the earldom (and several subsidiary titles) in May 1875 when his elder brother died on a shooting expedition in Abyssinia.
Ranfurly served as a Lord-in-Waiting under Lord Salisbury between 1895 and 1897 and was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1897 for his public services. He was appointed to succeed The Earl of Glasgow as Governor of New Zealand on 6 April 1897, assuming office on 10 August. Lord Ranfurly became Honorary Colonel of the 1st Wellington Battalion (1898) and of the 1st South Canterbury Mounted Rifles (1902). He was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in June 1901, on the occasion of the visit of TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) to New Zealand. His term ended on 19 June 1904, when he personally handed over office to Lord Plunket. He is remembered for his donation of the Ranfurly Shield, a New Zealand sporting trophy.