"Monday/ Sept 13 1875
Dear General Ponsonby,
Mr MacPherson of the Argyll Arms has made all arrangements for the 22nd.
If the Queens horses arrive the evening before, I think it is as well they should bring H.M. the last five miles.
I will show them where to wait, and this last little change matters no difference to MacPhersons arrangements.
We shall take the Queen through the Private grounds, and a pair of the Queen's own Grey's will be better for the end of the journey than the Post hacks.
Many thanks for your kind letter, received this morning.
I wish your visit could have taken place this week as the weather has been glorious for some time past, and I fear a break up at the end of the Month.
believe Me.
Yours truly
Lorne"
John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC (6 August 1845 – 2 May 1914), usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne,
by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman who was Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. he was the husband of Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. He was the first president of "The Rangers Football Club", thanks to his Argyll ties to the original founders of the football club.
Background and career
Campbell was born in London, the eldest son of George, Marquess of Lorne and the former Lady Elizabeth Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, and was styled Earl of Campbell from birth. In 1847, when he was 21 months old, his father succeeded as 8th Duke of Argyll and he assumed the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, which he bore until he was 54. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Eton College, St Andrews and at Trinity College, Cambridge,[1] as well as at the National Art Training School.
For ten years before coming to Canada, Lorne travelled throughout North and Central America, writing travel literature and poetry.[2] In the UK, he represented, from 1868, the constituency of Argyllshire as a Liberal Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. He made little impression there, however; the London World referred to Lorne as "a non-entity in the House of Commons, and a non-entity without."[2] A.C. Benson, who edited Queen Victoria's letters and spent time in the company of the royals, gave him the same epithet.
He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the part-time 1st Argyll and Bute Artillery Volunteers on 13 July 1866. He gave up the position in the 1880s, but was appointed the unit's Honorary Colonel on 18 July 1900.
Lord Lorne married Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise, on 21 March 1871. This was the first time a legitimate daughter of the sovereign had married a subject of the Crown since 1515, when Charles Brandon, the first Duke of Suffolk, married Mary Tudor.[6] The pair shared a common love of the arts, but the marriage was childless and unhappy, and they spent much time apart. Lorne formed close friendships with men, including Lord Ronald Gower, Morton Fullerton and the Count de Mauny, who were known to be homosexual or bisexual, which fuelled rumours in London society that he shared their predisposition. No conclusive evidence has been found to settle this issue either way.
Governor General of Canada
Arms of the Duke of Argyll, as displayed on his Garter stall plate in St George's Chapel When Lord Lorne's appointment was announced, there was great excitement throughout Canada. For the first time, Rideau Hall would have a royal resident. The Canadian Prime Minister relaxed his busy campaign schedule to prepare for her arrival and to organise a special carriage and corps of guards to protect the Princess. An author wrote in 1880 that "the appointment was hailed with satisfaction in all parts of the Dominion, and the new Governor General entered upon his term of office with the hearts of the people strongly prepossessed [sic] in his favour."
However, Campbell and his wife were initially not received well by the Canadian press, which complained about the imposition of royalty on the country's hitherto un-regal society, a position that was only exasperated by mishaps and misunderstandings. The worries of a rigid court at the Queen's Canadian residence turned out to be unfounded;[10] the couple were more relaxed than their predecessors, as demonstrated at the many ice skating and tobogganing parties, balls, dinners, and other state occasions hosted by the Marquess and Marchioness.
At age 33, Lord Lorne was Canada's youngest governor general and he became the first representative of Queen Victoria to have been born during the latter's reign but he was not too young to handle the marginal demands of his post. He and Princess Louise made many lasting contributions to Canadian society, especially in the arts and sciences. They encouraged the establishment of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and the National Gallery of Canada, even selecting some of its first paintings. Campbell was involved in the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway and other projects, such as a hospital for British Columbia.
Mi'kmaq Grand Chief Jacques-Pierre Peminuit Paul (3rd from left with beard) meets Governor General of Canada, Lord Lorne, Red Chamber, Province House, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1879 Throughout his term of office, Lorne was intensely interested in Canada and Canadians. He travelled throughout the country encouraging the establishment of numerous institutions, and met with members of Canada's First Nations and with other Canadians from all walks of life. At Rideau Hall, he and Princess Louise hosted many social functions, including numerous ice skating and tobogganing parties as well as balls, dinners and state occasions. His small collection of First Nations artefacts was purchased by the British Museum in 1887.
After Canada
Princess Louise returned to England in 1881 and Lord Lorne followed two years later in 1883, when his book, Memories of Canada and Scotland, was published.
In 1907, strenuous efforts were taken by officials to ensure that Lorne's name was not dragged into the investigation of the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels. This was due to the fact that his closest friend was Lord Ronald Gower, who while innocent, was associated with several of the homosexual circle who were involved in it.
Lorne was Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle from 1892 to 1914 and he sat as MP for Manchester South from 1895 until the death of his father on 24 April 1900, when he succeeded as 9th and 2nd Duke of Argyll. He and Princess Louise lived at Kensington Palace until his death from pneumonia in 1914. He is buried at Kilmun Parish Church.
EXTRACT FROM QUEEN VICTORIAS DIARY for THE 22nd September.
the leaders were taken off. Loch Awe runs back a good way, & we could just see Kilchurn Castle, of historic celebrity, as well as the beautiful head of the Loch, with high hills on the right & the islands of Innishail & Ardchone, besides many other smaller ones. On the first named are buried many of the ancestors of the Argylls. The Loch is 30 miles in length & as it stretches out & widens, the hills become much flatter. We drove along an arm of the Loch, past Cladich & here the ground became very broken & one saw the high hills in the background. Birch oak, bracken, &c, grow very profusely amongst the green hills & rocks. Here & there, there were small knots of people, but not many. About 5 or 6 miles from Inverary, at the commencement of Glen Aray, where the Duke of Argyll's property begins, we took four of my own horses, & here dear Louise & Lorne met us, looking pleased & well. Lorne rode, & dear
Page 249 Louise got into her pony carriage, driving after us. Soon after, we came to an arch with a Gaelic inscription of welcome & a Tenant's wife, Mrs McArthur, presented me with a nosegay, which the child in her arms gave me. On we went along Glen Aray, the road, as we approached Inverary being bounded on either side by trees. At the Gate, Halberdiers were posted at distances along the approach, dressed in Campbell tartan kilts with brown jackets turned back with red & in their bonnets black cock's tails & sprigs of bog myrtle (the Campbell badge), Pipers of the Volunteers playing. In front of the house were drawn up the Volunteers in kilts & red jackets & the Artillery Volunteers in dark blue & silver uniforms (of which Lorne is the Col:) & many spectators were assembled. The Duke of Argyle, Elizabeth & the 6 girls were at the door & she took us at once upstairs to our rooms, part of which
Page [250] are Louise's, & very comfortable & cheerful, having a beautiful view of the lake. It was 1 when we arrived & we lunched at 2, only Louise, Beatrice, Lorne & me, in a nice room, at the foot of the stairs, the Duchess's drawing room, with tapestries on the walls. After luncheon we went into the large Drawing room, next to which we had lunched in 47, when Lorne was only 2! And now I return alas! without my beloved Husband to find Lorne my son-in-law! In the Drawing room were Ld & Ly Dufferin, (staying here) as well as Sir J. & Ly Emma McNeill. She is the Duke's only sister, & he, a very fine old man of 80, who was formerly my Minister in Persia. Went upstairs to rest & I made a little sketch of the splendid Ardkinglass hills, from the small turret which forms my dressing room. Then had tea & afterwards took a drive with Louise & Beatrice, by the lodge, through part of the woods or forest, where the beeches, & spruce
Major-General Sir Henry Frederick Ponsonby GCB PC (10 December 1825 – 21 November 1895), was a British soldier and royal court official who served as Queen Victoria's Private Secretary
Born in Corfu, he was the son of Major-General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, an Anglo-Irish nobleman who was a senior commander in the British Army.
He entered the army on 27 December 1842 as an ensign in the 49th Regiment of Foot. Transferred to the Grenadier Guards, he became a lieutenant on 16 February 1844, captain on 18 July 1848, and major on 19 October 1849. From 1847 to 1858 he was aide-de-camp to Lord Clarendon and Lord St. Germans, successively lord-lieutenants of Ireland. He served through the Crimean campaigns of 1855–56, becoming lieutenant-colonel on 31 Aug. 1855; for the action before Sebastopol he received a medal with clasp, the Turkish medal, and the Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class.
After the peace he was appointed equerry to Albert, Prince Consort, who greatly valued his services. On 2 August 1860 he became colonel, and in 1862, after the death of the prince, he was sent to Canada in command of a battalion of the Grenadier Guards which was stationed in the colony during the American Civil War. On 6 March 1868 he became a major-general.
Ponsonby embellished letters to his children at Eton with a series of illustrations in which he concealed the school's address. It was a family quirk continued by his son, Arthur Ponsonby, and recently revived by descendant Harriet Russell. His letters bore addresses appearing as doodled signposts in snowstorms or as huge envelopes shouldered by tiny people.
He served as Keeper of the Privy Purse and Private Secretary to Queen Victoria. His appointment occurred on 8 April 1870, after the death of prior Private Secretary General Sir Charles Grey, who was "a son of Earl Grey, the Prime Minister" at the time and who was wife Mary Ponsonby's "Uncle Charles." Both Arthur and Mary Ponsonby contributed pseudonymously to magazines and newspapers of the day.
On 6 January 1895 he was attacked by paralysis; in May he retired from his offices, and on 21 November he died at East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. He was buried at Whippingham.
On 30 April 1861, he married Hon. Mary Elizabeth Bulteel, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria and a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel (1793–1843) MP. The couple had five children:
Alberta Victoria Ponsonby (6 May 1862 – 15 October 1945)
Magdalen Ponsonby (24 June 1864 – 1 July 1934)
John Ponsonby (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952)
Frederick Edward Grey Ponsonby (16 September 1867 – 20 October 1935)
Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby (16 February 1871 – 24 March 1946)
Lady Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby), his father's sister, had been married to Lord Melbourne, a crucial advisor to Queen Victoria during her first years on the throne
