Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven

Carried a wounded officer to safety under enemy fire.

At Gedarif, Sudan, on 22 September 1898, Captain Alexander Hore-Ruthven repeatedly stopped to fire at pursuing enemy fighters while carrying a wounded Egyptian officer to safety. The officer lay within fifty yards of advancing Dervishes who were firing and charging. Hore-Ruthven lifted him and moved towards the 16th Egyptian Battalion, putting him down only when he needed to turn and check the pursuit. His rescue earned the Victoria Cross, making him the first officer of the Militia to receive Britain’s highest award for gallantry.

Born at Windsor on 6 July 1872, Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven was educated at Winchester and Eton. He worked in the tea trade and on a plantation in Assam before joining the 3rd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. In 1898 he travelled to Egypt, where he was attached to the Egyptian Army and commanded the Slavery Department Camel Corps.

Queen Victoria presented his Victoria Cross at Windsor Castle on 11 May 1899. Shortly afterwards, he received a regular commission in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Further service in Sudan brought a mention in despatches and the Ottoman Order of Osmanieh, Fourth Class. He subsequently served in Somaliland during the 1903–1904 campaign, including the action at Jidballi.

Military secretary appointments took Hore-Ruthven to Ireland and then Australia, where he accompanied Governor-General Lord Dudley in 1908. When the First World War began, he returned to active service in France, transferring to the Welsh Guards in April 1915. Severely wounded at Suvla during the Gallipoli campaign, he recovered and returned to duty, later holding senior staff and command appointments on the Western Front.

By 1918 he was a temporary brigadier-general commanding the Highland Brigade of the 9th Division. His leadership east of Ypres earned a Bar to his Distinguished Service Order. At St Louis on 20 October, he went forward among the attacking troops at a critical moment, helping inspire the final assault that captured important high ground. His wartime honours also included five mentions in despatches, appointment as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, and the French and Belgian Croix de Guerre. He became a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1919.

After commanding the Welsh Guards and the 1st Brigade of Guards, Hore-Ruthven retired from the regular army in 1928 and became Governor of South Australia. He later served as Governor of New South Wales. Created Baron Gowrie in 1935, he took office as Governor-General of Australia on 23 January 1936.

His tenure spanned political transitions and the Second World War, including the formation of John Curtin’s government in 1941. In 1942, his only surviving son, Major Patrick Hore-Ruthven, was killed on active service in North Africa.

Although he left Australia in September 1944, his appointment continued until 30 January 1945, completing the longest tenure of an Australian Governor-General. Created Earl of Gowrie in January 1945, he later served as Deputy Constable and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle.

He died at Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire, on 2 May 1955, aged eighty-two, and was buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist.

Official Victoria Cross citation, The London Gazette, 28 February 1899:

“On the 22nd Sep 1898, during the action of Gedarif, Captain Hore-Ruthven, seeing an Egyptian officer lying wounded within 50 yards of the advancing Dervishes, who were firing and charging, picked him up and carried him towards the 16th Egyptian Battalion. He dropped the wounded officer two or three times, and fired upon the Dervishes, who were following, to check their advance. Had the officer been left where he first dropped, he must have been killed.”