- Patrick Duncan (governor-general)
Sir Patrick Duncan (1870-1943) was the sixth
Governor-General of the Union of South Africa , holding office from 1937 to 1943.Born in
Scotland in 1870, he took degrees in classics at theUniversity of Edinburgh and atBalliol College ,Oxford , and studied law in theInner Temple , before joining the Britishcivil service .In 1901, during the
Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), he was recruited byViscount Milner , to join a team of young administrators - known as "Milner's Kindergarten" - to govern and anglicise the British-occupiedTransvaal . He was Colonial Secretary of the Transvaal from 1903 until the colony was granted self-government in 1907, playing an important part in the repatriation of ex-prisoners of war, and in the social and financial reconstruction of the formerBoer state.Duncan practised as an attorney from 1907 to 1910, and was a legal adviser to the Transvaal delegation to the 1908-1909
National Convention that drew up the constitution for theUnion of South Africa .He was a member of the Union Parliament from 1910 to 1936, first as a member of the Unionist Party, then of the
South African Party and its successor the United Party. He was Minister of Education, the Interior, and Public Health in the SAP administration from 1921 to 1924, and Minister of Mines in the UP administration from 1933 to 1936.Duncan was appointed Governor-General in 1937, the first South African appointee to hold the post.
King George VI , whom he represented as head of state, knighted him and appointed him to thePrivy Council .Although widely respected and above party politics, he made himself controversial in 1939 by refusing to call a general election on the question of whether or not the Union should enter
World War II . The prime minister, GeneralHertzog , wanted to stay neutral, but Parliament supported his deputy, GeneralSmuts 's, proposal to declare war. Hertzog resigned, Smuts became prime minister and led the country into war, and political re-alignments followed.Sir Patrick died in office, in 1943. His ashes were interred in a monument at the new Duncan Dock in
Cape Town harbour, which was named after him. The suburb of Duncan Village in East London, and the suburb of Duncanville nearVereeniging , were also named after him.Sir Patrick married Alice Dold in 1916. They had three sons and a daughter. One son, Andrew (1920-1942), was killed on active service in
Libya . Another son, Patrick (anti-aparthied activist) (1918-1967) was a well-known anti-apartheid activist.References
* "Dictionary of South African Biography" Volume I
* "Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa" Volume 4
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