Past Governor Generals

8

ARTHUR WELLESLEY TORRENS

1809 - 1855), Major General, second son of Major-General Sir Henry Torrens [q.v.] and of Sarah, daughter of Colonel Robert Patton, governor of St. Helena, was born on 18 August 1809, and was a godson of the Duke of Wellington. In 1819 he was appointed a page of honour to the prince regent. He passed through the Royal Military College of Sandhurst, and obtained a commission as ensign in the Grenadier Guards and Lieutenant on 14 April 1825. He was appointed adjutant of the second battalion with the temporary rank of Captain on 11 June 1829.

He was promoted to be Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and Captain on 12 June 1830. He continued to serve as adjutant of his battalion until 1838, when he was appointed Brigade-Major at Quebec on the staff of Major-general Sir James Macdonell, commanding a brigade in Canada, and took part in the operations against the rebels at the close of that year. He was promoted to be Captain in the Grenadier Guards and Lieutenant-Colonel on 11 September 1840, when he returned to England.

Torrens exchanged into the 23rd royal Welsh Fusiliers, and obtained the command on 15 October 1841. On the augmentation of the army in April 1842 a second battalion was given to the regiment. The depot was moved from Carlisle to Chichester, where, with two new companies, it was organised for foreign service under Torrens, who embarked with it at Portsmouth for Canada on 13 May, arriving at Montreal on 30 June.

In September 1843 he proceeded, in command of the first battalion, from Quebec to the West Indies, arriving at Barbados in October 1843. The battalion was moved from time to time from one island to another, but for two years and a half Torrens commanded the troops in Saint Lucia and administered the civil government of that island.

The sanitary measures adopted by Torrens for the preservation of the health of the troops met with unprecedented success, and were considered so admirable that correspondence on the subject was published in November 1847 by order of the Duke of Wellington, commander-in-chief, for the information and guidance of officers commanding at foreign stations. Torrens declined the offer of the Lieutenant-Governorship of Saint Lucia as a permanent appointment, preferring to continue his service in the royal Welsh fusiliers.

BARON TWINNING

(1899 - 1967) cr. 1958 (Life Peer), of Tanganyika and of Godalming; Edward Francis Twining, G.C.M.G. 1953 (K.C.M.G. 1949; C.M.G. 1943) M.B.E. 1923; born 1899; son of late Rev. W.H.G. Twining, St. Stephen's Westminister; mother Helen Mary (O.B.E. 1944, M.R.C.S., D.P.H., C.St. J.), daughter of late A.E. DuBuisson, Glynhir, Carms.

Education: Lancing College; R.M.C. Sandhurst.

Commissioned Worcestershire Regt., 1918; served 4th King's African Rifles, 1923 - 1928; retired, 1930. Joined Colonial Administrative Service in Uganda, 1929; Deputy Director of Labour, Mauritius, 1939, Director, 1939 - 1943; Administrator, St. Lucia, Windward Islands, 1944 - 1946 (Actg. Governor and Commander-in-Chief, 1946); Governor and Commander-in-Chief, North Borneo, 1946-1949; Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Tanganyika, 1949-1958. Hon. Col. To 6th King's African Rifles, 1955 - 1958. Chairman: Ross Institute of Tropical Hygiene; Business Archives Coun; Director: National and Grindlay's Bank Ltd.; Smith Mackenzie Ltd. Chairman, Victoria League. King St. John 1950. Publication: A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe, 1960.

Address: Lloyds Bank, 222 Strand, W.C. 2 Clubs: Athenaeum, United Service.

Died 21 June 1967.