Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley, Governor of Victoria 1914-1920, A… - Australian & Colonial History - Mossgreen Auctions (No longer trading)

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Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley, Governor of Victoria 1914-1920, A correspondence of more than 70 complete original letters sent by Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley to his father Edward Lyulph Stanley, the Lord Sheffield, between the years 1914 and 1919. Previously unknown, the letters bear out, provide strong evidence of and elaborate upon what we already know of Stanley, as is synthesised best in his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry., Contextualising excerpts from the biography of Stanley from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley (1875-1931) was born in London, the eldest son of Edward Lyulph Stanley, later 4th baron (d.1925), and his wife Mary Katharine, nee Bell. Belonging to one of England's most famous ruling families, Arthur spent his childhood at the Stanley seats in Cheshire and north Wales. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and served with the militia in the South African War. In 1902 he was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple and two years later was elected to the London County Council. In 1905 he married Margaret Evelyn Evans Gordon. Stanley was Liberal member for the Eddisbury division of Cheshire from 1906-10 and parliamentary private secretary to the postmaster-general., In 1913 Stanley was offered the governorship of Victoria. He was appointed K.C.M.G. in January 1914 and he arrived in Melbourne on 22 February and 'his youthful appearance, 'homeliness' and undisguised anxiety to please made a favourable impression'. The First World War largely determined and dominated his duties: he traversed the State encouraging donations to patriotic funds and supported recruiting drives., Sir Arthur faced a complex and unique social and political situation. Since Federation no Victorian governor had seen out his full five-year term and the governorship had been 'beset with dissatisfaction, frustration and controversy'. There had been agitation to appoint only Australians to the position and some critics on the Left argued for the abolition of the office. Stanley came to agree with these sentiments, albeit for different reasons. He found little work to do, ministers resented any interference in their affairs and as both governor and governor-general then resided in the same city, the presence of the state governor was 'awkward, confusing and superfluous'. In August 1917 Stanley offered to resign, though when requested by the Colonial Office to remain a further year, he reluctantly agreed. After suffering a duodenal haemorrhage, he left Melbourne on 30 July 1919 on a leave of absence and his appointment ended on 30 January 1920., A director of the National Bank of Australasia and of the Australian Mercantile, Land & Finance Co., Stanley briefly returned to Australia in 1923. That year he failed by 80 votes to win a seat (Knutsford) in the House of Commons. He was chairman (1925-28) of the Royal Colonial Institute and of the East Africa Joint Committee. Stanley died of actinomycosis on 22 August 1931 in London following an operation. His wife, a son and three daughters survived him., Excerpts from and observations about the letters, Stanley can certainly be seen as an intelligent and interesting chronicler of the Australia that he witnessed during the time in which he found himself here. He writes in considerable detail about the machinations of state and federal Australian politics and about the important issues besetting both arenas at the time, as well as Australian society as a whole, most notably the First World War, the matter of conscription and 1918/19's deadly outbreak of the Spanish Flu. He describes Australian Prime Minister William Hughes, for example, as 'a charlatan' (2 February 1919) and is deeply concerned by where Hughes' outspoken opinions may lead the Empire at large (2 February 1919)., So too, in his letter of 2 May 1915, he writes, We are gradually hearing of the doings of the Australians in Turkey but so far no details except that they have landed and repelled

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