BrigadierBernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae, KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE (6 May 1911 – 28 November 1980)[1] was a British Army officer and military historian who served as the tenth governor-general of New Zealand from 1962 to 1967. He was the last British-born person to hold the position.
On 22 November 1950 Fergusson married Laura Margaret Grenfell (1920−1979), daughter of Arthur Morton Grenfell and sister of Dame Frances Campbell-Preston. Laura was killed in an accident in 1979 when gales blew a tree onto the car in which she was travelling. She and Bernard had one child, George (Geordie), who served as the British high commissioner to New Zealand from 2006 to 2010 and governor of Bermuda from 2012.
In 1940, Fergusson was serving as a brigade major for the 46th Infantry Brigade before becoming a general staff officer in the Middle East, where he also saw active service with Free French forces in Syria and with the Black Watch in Tobruk. In 1942 he served briefly in the Joint Planning Staff in Delhi, before transferring to Orde Wingate's embryonic Chindit force experimenting with Long Range Penetration campaigns.[5] He commanded No. 5 Column in Wingate's 1943 campaign (Operation Longcloth) in Japanese-occupied Burma, for which he was awarded the DSO. In October 1943 he was promoted to acting brigadier and given command of the 16th Infantry Brigade, which was converted into a Chindit formation for operations in the deep jungles of Burma miles behind Japanese lines. He commanded this brigade throughout the Chindit operations of 1944 (Operation Thursday). 16 Brigade, alone of the Chindit brigades, went into Burma on foot in a five week march through very difficult terrain. He established a stronghold, "Aberdeen", in keeping with Wingate's strategic vision and led an unsuccessful assault on the airfields at Indaw before his Brigade was flown out. He was Director of Combined Operations from 1945 to 1946.[1]
He wrote about both Burma campaigns in "Beyond the Chindwin" and "The Wild Green Earth" and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in the 1945 election.
He proposed that special units be formed to fight against Zionist paramilitaries, to include serving Palestine police officers and soldiers who had served in the British special forces during the war. This was accepted and one of the resulting units was commanded by Roy Farran, a much-decorated former SAS officer.[1]
In May 1947, Farran's unit arrested 17-year-old Alexander Rubowitz, who was putting up posters in Jerusalem for a Zionist paramilitary organisation, Lehi. Rubowitz was killed under brutal interrogation and his body never found. Farran came under suspicion and in 2004 British secret documents were revealed that included a statement by Fergusson, from the time of the event, to the effect that Farran confessed to Fergusson of the murder. Fergusson had then reported the incident to the head of CID (Criminal Investigation Department) and to the Palestine Police Inspector-General.[6][7]
At Farran's subsequent trial, Fergusson refused to testify on grounds that he might incriminate himself. The Palestine government announced that no action would be taken against Fergusson. Following Farran's acquittal, Fergusson was relieved of his duties in Palestine and returned to Britain.[8][9]
Military career, 1947–1958
Fergusson commanded 1st Battalion, the Black Watch in Germany from 1948 to 1951, was Colonel (Intelligence) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), at Versailles. He later commanded the 153rd (Highland) Brigade in Perth..[10]
He was appointed Director of Psychological Warfare operations during the Suez Crisis, a joint invasion of Egypt by the British, French and Israelis to take control of the Suez Canal. Despite drafting an extensive campaign of psychological warfare for use during the crisis, the actual operations when the Royal Air Force (RAF) commenced aerial campaigns against Egyptian targets were very different and ultimately made little impact on Egyptian morale or public opinion. Psychological warfare radio broadcasts made under Fergusson's direction and directed at Egypt stated that President Gamal Abdel Nasser was under the influence of Zionism and urged Egyptians to attack Israel, which elicited diplomatic protests from future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.[11]
Fergusson's final military appointment was as Commander of 29 Brigade, based in Dover (1957-58).
Governor-General of New Zealand
Fergusson as Governor-General (left) with the Mayor of Shannon, Mr P. K. Robinson.
Fergusson worked as a writer, based in Ayrshire, Scotland between 1958 and 1962, writing the official history of Combined Operations (The Watery Maze), and serving as a correspondent for the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. In 1962 he was appointed governor-general of New Zealand, serving until 1967. Although he had the physical appearance of a very traditional British officer, he became a popular governor-general. He was an early and strong advocate for greater knowledge and respect on the part of pākehā (European) New Zealanders for Māorilanguage and tikanga. He was the first governor or governor-general to speak Māori since Governor George Grey (governor 1845-53).[12]
The Bernard Fergusson Memorial Scholarship was established in 1982 by the late Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, from a fund raised on her behalf in memory of Fergusson, as he was a particular friend of the Tainui people.
The purpose of the award is to assist a member of the Tainui Tribal Confederation resident in the Tainui Maori Trust Board area to enrol as an undergraduate student in the University of Waikato, who but for the award, might otherwise not be able to attend the university.[14]
Due to his relationship with Tainui, a Ngāruawāhia primary school, Te Kura Kaupapa o Bernard Fergusson, was named after him in 1966.[15] Over the years, many students from the school would go on to receive the memorial scholarship.
Issuing out of a mullet Argent a bee on a thistle Proper.
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st grandquarter Azure, a buckle Argent between three boars' heads couped Or armed and langued gules (Fergusson of Kilkerran) 2nd grandquarter, counterquartered; 1st and 4th Argent, an eagle displayed Sable beaked and membered Gules (Ramsay); 2nd and 3rd Gules, a chevron between three fleurs de lis Or (Broun of Colston): 3rd grandquarter, counterquartered; 1st and 4th Or, a lion rampant couped at all joints Gules within a double tressure flory counter flory Azure (Maitland); 2nd and 3rd Argent, a shakefork Sable (Cunningham of Glencairn): 4th grandquarter Or, on a saltire Azure nine lozenges of the first, on a bordure of the second eight mullets and as many boars' heads erased alternately Argent (Dalrymple of New Hailes): the whole within a bordure Argent for difference.
Supporters
Dexter, a soldier of the 42nd Highlanders, the Black Watch (The Royal Highland Regiment), attired in the full dress uniform of that regiment, including sporran and the feature bonnet as worn in the early 20th century; sinister, a Maori chieftain attired about the waist in a korowai (or mat) Argent, embellished with strings Sable, and over his left shoulder another korowai Or, also embellished with strings Sable, and embroidered Sable and Gules, two huia feathers in his hair, his face tattooed, a kuru (greenstone pendant) suspended from his dexter ear, his sinister hand grasping the shaft, and his dexter hand the tuft, of a taiaha (spear) held in bend sinister, point downwards Proper.
^Cesarani, David (2009). Major Farran's hat: murder, scandal and Britain's war against Jewish terrorism, 1945 - 1948. London: William Heinemann. ISBN978-0-434-01844-4.
^ abc"Bernard Edward Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae (6 May 1911 – 28 Nov. 1980)". Who's Who & Who Was Who. A & C Black. 1 December 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
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