Lieutenant-GeneralCharles Willoughby Moke Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie,GCMG, GCVO, CB, DSO, MC &Bar, KStJ (26 September 1893 – 25 May 1977) was a senior officer of theBritish Army who fought in bothWorld Wars, following which he served terms asGovernor of South Australia and theeighthGovernor-General of New Zealand.
Educated atEton College and at theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst, he wascommissioned as asecond lieutenant into theBritish Army's11th Hussars in 1913.[7] He served in theFirst World War, in which he was awarded theDistinguished Service Order, theMilitary Cross andBar, was twicementioned in despatches, and was wounded four times. He became, successively, a Staff Captain in the73rd Brigade;General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) inXVIII Corps;brigade major in the90th Brigade, and in the2nd Tank Brigade; and second GSO in the2nd Battalion, Tank Corps. In January 1919 he changed his name bydeed poll from Moke-Norrie to Norrie.[8]
Between the world wars Norrie had a number of regimental and staff postings, interrupted by a year at theStaff College, Camberley in 1924.[9] In 1931 he was promoted tolieutenant colonel and becameCommanding Officer (CO) of the10th Hussars,[10] after which he was placed on the half-pay (inactive) list although promoted to fullcolonel in 1935.[11] In January 1936, still on the half pay list, Norrie took part in the funeral procession forKing George V as one of the "Representative Colonels-Commandant and Colonels of His late Majesty's Regiments".[12] After attending theImperial Defence College,[13] in April 1936 he was appointed to command the1st Cavalry Brigade as a temporarybrigadier.[14] His brigade was mechanised in 1938 and re-designated 1st Light Armoured Brigade, becoming the1st Armoured Brigade in 1940.
On the outbreak of theSecond World War Norrie continued to serve as commander of the 1st Armoured Brigade. In April 1940 the brigade was part of the2nd Armoured Division, which he was given temporary command of for a month between appointments of permanent commanders. Following this he was appointedactingmajor general[15] and became Inspector of theRoyal Armoured Corps. Four months later he becameGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC) of the1st Armoured Division and was promoted to the permanent rank of major general in June 1941.[16]
In November 1941 the division was ordered to Egypt where Norrie found himself appointed actinglieutenant general[17] to commandXXX Corps in the place ofVyvyan Pope, Norrie's fellow student at the Staff College in the 1920s, who had died in an air crash shortly before Norrie's arrival in Egypt.[18] He commanded XXX Corps duringOperation Crusader with some success but his tanks suffered a heavy defeat at theBattle of Gazala in June 1942. He was criticised for his "cavalry" approach toarmoured warfare and GeneralSir Claude Auchinleck, theEighth Army commander, replaced him in July.
He returned to Britain to be appointed Commander of the Royal Armoured Corps in which role he was to give advice on armoured warfare to GeneralBernard Paget, theCommander-in-Chief, Home Forces. He continued as Paget's advisor when Paget became commander of the Anglo-Canadian21st Army Group on its formation in July 1943 but when GeneralBernard Montgomery assumed command early in 1944, he brought his own advisor.[19] In April 1944 Norrie was appointed Head of the Military Mission to theFrench Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) in Algiers, a post he held until the middle of 1944 when he was proposed by the Secretary of State for the Dominions to becomeGovernor of South Australia.[20]
Norrie retired from the British Army in September 1944 to take up his post as Governor of South Australia. Although his substantive rank at this time was still major general, he was given the honorary rank of lieutenant general in retirement.[21]
Norrie was married to Jocelyn Helen Gosling on 9 June 1922.[22] They had three children:Diana Norrie (7 May 1923 – 6 December 1932);Hon. Rosemary Norrie (born 28 March 1926), who married the3rd Viscount Daventry; andGeorge Willoughby Moke Norrie (born 27 April 1936).
Jocelyn Norrie died on 7 March 1938. Norrie then married, on 28 November that year, Patricia Merryweather Bainbridge, daughter ofEmerson Bainbridge.[22] They also had three children:Guy Bainbridge Norrie (born 3 May 1940),Sarah Norrie (born 27 June 1943), andAnnabel Mary Adelaide Norrie (born 23 December 1945).
Norrie also had award, his niece Eleanor Kerans (born 21 April 1926). She had been orphaned at an early age; when she was 16 her brother was killed in theWestern Desert campaign of theSecond World War, leaving her with no immediate family.
Norrie was appointedGovernor of South Australia in September 1944, whereupon he was knighted as aKnight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).[23][24] He, his family and 12 staff arrived inAdelaide in December. TheVice-Regal couple worked hard to keep the 'Empire Spirit' alive during wartime. Within two years, Norrie had travelled to everylocal government area within the state, and was sure to welcome servicemen returning from war. Lady Patricia, with Rosemary and Eleanor, were regular volunteers and champions of various patriotic causes. In 1945, Norrie was made a Knight of St John, an award associated with public and charitable works.
Although normally remaining neutral in regards to local politics, he was 'shocked' at the narrow rejection ofThomas Playford's bill to nationalise the Adelaide Electric Company. He privately exerted pressure on the bill's main opponents. When the bill was reintroduced in 1946,Collier Cudmore (laterSir Collier) absented himself from key divisions, allowing the bill to pass and leading to the establishment of theElectricity Trust of South Australia.[24]
Norrie's term was extended for four years in 1948. Despite his illustrious career, he would forever claim that his greatest achievement was the catching of ashark weighing 2,225 pounds (1,009 kg), withrod and reel, offPort Lincoln.[24] For part of his term as governor, his officialaide-de-camp was the youngViscount Althorp (later The 8thEarl Spencer), the father ofDiana, Princess of Wales.
Norrie's KCMG was promoted toKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) when he was appointedGovernor-General of New Zealand in 1952,[25] in which position he served until 1957. During his tenure he was awarded theQueen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal in 1953,[26] and appointed aKnight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) for personal services toThe Queen.[27] On leaving office, he was created apeer in 1957 asBaron Norrie, ofWellington in theDominion of New Zealand and ofUpton in theCounty of Gloucester.[28][29] From 1960 to 1968 he was Chancellor of theOrder of Saint Michael and Saint George.[30]
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes a bar to a military award
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| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | GOC 1st Armoured Division 1940–1941 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | GOC XXX Corps 1941–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of South Australia 1944–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Colonel of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) 1947–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor-General of New Zealand 1952–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Norrie 1957–1977 | Succeeded by |
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| AfterFederation | ||
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| People | |
| Other | |
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