David Murray Anderson

Anderson was born on 11 April 1874, the second son of General David Anderson, Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment, and his wife Charlotte Christina, née Anderson in Newton-by-Chester in Cheshire, England. His elder brother was Lieutenant General Sir Warren Hastings Anderson. In 1887, as a 13-year-old, he became a naval cadet in the training ship Britannia at Dartmouth. Seeing action against King Koko slave traders on the Niger River, he became a lieutenant on 23 February 1895 at age 20.{{London Gazette|issue=26647|page=4233|date=23 February 1895}} Anderson saw further action against West-African rebels and in the Ashanti Campaign. In May 1902, he was posted as first and gunnery lieutenant to the cruiser {{HMS|Brilliant|1891|6}} on the Channel Squadron.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=24 May 1902 |page=8 |issue=36776}}

In 1905 Anderson was promoted to commander and was posted to the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert in 1908. That year, he married a New Zealander, Edith Muriel Teschemaker, the daughter of one of the pioneers of the Otago region.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230908206 |title=Lady Anderson's Link With Old New Zealand |newspaper=The Sun |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=15 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}} On 29 July 1910 Anderson was appointed a Member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order.{{London Gazette|issue=28403|page=5581|date=29 July 1910}} On 11 August 1911, he was promoted to captain{{London Gazette|issue=28521|page=5987|date=11 August 1911}} and posted as Flag Captain on {{HMS|Hyacinth|1898|6}} from 1913 to 1917.{{cite dictionary| title = Davidson, Sir Walter Edward (1859–1923) | publisher = National Centre of Biography, Australian National University| dictionary = Australian Dictionary of Biography| url =http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080252b.htm | access-date =12 July 2010}}

When the First World War broke out Anderson took part in the operations that resulted in the destruction of the {{SMS|Königsberg|1905|6}} in German East Africa, and was mentioned in despatches in 1915. For his actions leading to the capture of Dar es Salaam he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 1 January 1918.{{London Gazette |issue=30451|page=82 |supp=y|date=1 January 1918}} He was also invested by the Sultan of Zanzibar with the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar, Second Class.{{cite web|url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11851364?searchTerm=1918+Naval+appointments|title= New Governor of NSW – Distinguished Admiral|work=Melbourne Argus 4 November 1935 pg 9 |date= 4 November 1935|publisher=Australian National Library|access-date=25 July 2010}} From 1918 to 1919 Anderson was posted to command the battleship {{HMS|Ajax|1912|6}} in the Grand Fleet. In May 1921 he was appointed as an aide-de-camp (ADC) to King George V, which he held until April 1922. After a posting in England, he was promoted to rear admiral in 1922. On 2 June 1923 he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath.{{London Gazette|issue=32830|page=3944 |supp=y|date=2 July 1923}} He was later posted from August 1923 to October 1925 as the Senior Naval Officer, Yangtze, and briefly served as temporary Commander-in-Chief China Station in 1925. While in China, he was called upon on three separate occasions to command a multi-national force of Japanese, British, American, Portuguese and Italian sailors to help protect the Shanghai International Settlement. For his efforts in China, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class, by Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

Further promoted to vice admiral in 1927, Anderson was appointed to command the Africa Station. From June to September 1928 he served as High Commissioner to the Union of South Africa. Being fluent in French, he was further appointed to Geneva as the Admiralty representative to the League of Nations permanent advisory commission from 1929 to 1931. On 3 June 1930 he was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath,{{London Gazette|issue=33611|page=3475 |supp=y|date=3 June 1930}} and was promoted to admiral in 1931. He retired at his own request on 5 July 1932.{{London Gazette|issue=33843|page=4382|date=5 July 1932}}

File:Admiral Anderson.jpg (seated, left), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at Government House in August 1934]]

Anderson was then appointed on 20 October 1932 as the Governor of Newfoundland.{{London Gazette| issue=33876|page=6702| date=20 October 1932}} He became His Majesty's Representative at a time of great instability in the Dominion of Newfoundland. Newfoundland had been hit badly by the Great Depression, leaving most of the banks on the verge of insolvency, saved only by emergency loans from Britain, the state Treasury was empty and the political process was discredited by corruption and incompetence.Noel, SJR, Politics in Newfoundland, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1971, p. 220

The Government, led by Prime Minister Frederick C. Alderdice, called upon the British government to take direct control until Newfoundland could become self-sustaining. The United Kingdom, concerned over Newfoundland's likelihood of defaulting on its loans, asked the government to establish the Newfoundland Royal Commission, headed by a Scottish peer, Lord Amulree. Its report, released in 1933, assessed Newfoundland's political system as institutionally corrupt and its economic future as bleak, recommending the abolition of responsible government, and its replacement by a Commission of the British Government. Acting on the report's recommendations, Alderdice's government voted itself out of existence in December 1933. Appointed as chair of the Commission of Government in 1934, Anderson found his role as Governor with significantly expanded powers and proved himself up to the job, constantly sending reports back to the Dominions Office and giving advice to the Dominions Secretary on how to deal with the Commission members.

Despite his new-found powers, Anderson took the position of neutral mediator, intervening only when there was a dispute in the commission.Noel, p. 227 He was nevertheless involved with restructuring the administration of the state, including government departments, social services, the health system and the postal system.{{cite web| title =Anderson, Sir David Murray (1874–1936)| publisher =The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador| url =http://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/governors/g66.html| access-date =25 July 2010 }} His approach proved to be not enough to bring the Commission out of petty arguments and disputes and in October 1935 it was announced that he would be replaced by another Naval officer, Sir Humphrey Walwyn. Anderson and his wife departed from Newfoundland the following January.

File:SLNSW 15302 Arrival of the Governor Admiral Sir Murray and Lady Anderson.jpg

In November 1935 it was announced that Anderson was to become the Governor of New South Wales,{{London Gazette |issue=34281|page=2893| date=24 April 1936}} a relatively quieter post. He was invested by King Edward VIII as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George on 5 May 1936,{{London Gazette|issue=34282|page=2974|date=5 May 1936}} and as a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem on 23 June 1936.{{London Gazette| issue=34297|page=4013|date=23 June 1936}}

En route to Australia Anderson was taken ill, and had to spend six weeks in hospital in Perth, Western Australia. He was sworn in at Sydney on 6 August 1936. Because of his recurring illness, Lady Anderson undertook many official duties on his behalf, while the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, Sir Philip Street, carried out his legislative and ceremonial duties. On 29 October he collapsed and died of a cerebral haemorrhage early in the morning the next day at Government House.

His body was laid in state in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney by way of a gun carriage pulled by the sailors and officers of HMAS Canberra on 2 November 1936.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17288915 |title=MOURNING FOR GOVERNOR. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17288774 |title=FUNERAL SERVICE AT ST. ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL FOR LATE SIR MURRAY ANDERSON, GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17282058 |title=CITIZENS PAID TRIBUTE AS FUNERAL CORTEGE OF LATE GOVERNOR PROCEEDED TO ST. ANDREW'S CATHEDRAL. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}} The funeral was attended by the Governor-General, The Lord Gowrie, and the Premier, Bertram Stevens, who gave an address: {{blockquote|"To those who knew him, the State seems a poorer place for the passing of a gallant and high-hearted gentleman. To those who did not have the privilege of personal acquaintance there comes the regret appropriate to the death of the man who, under his Majesty, was the titular head of our State; a proven servant of the Empire, a man whose honours were deserved, and who carried his distinctions with grace, has gone to his rest. The tragic shortness of the tenure of his last high office has brought no small loss to our State. Only those who knew him, who had the benefit of his kindliness and experience, know how great that loss actually is. Time gave him no chance to prove himself to the mass of the people; but all those who came into contact with him knew the sterling qualities which were in his character. He was a man upon whom authority sat quietly and easily."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17284285 |title="GREAT LOSS." |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=31 October 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}}}

Following the funeral, his body, embalmed and enclosed in lead coffin with an outer wood casket by Wood Coffill Funeral Directors, was conveyed to the Chapel of Bishopscourt, Darling Point, the residence of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Howard Mowll. On 18 November 1936, Lady Anderson departed Sydney by train to Adelaide with his body to return to England aboard the RMS Orontes on 21 November.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230902158 |title=THANKS TO PUBLIC |newspaper=The Sun |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=38 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246971640 |title=Lady Murray Anderson's Departure |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} On 4 January 1937, Anderson was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, in Fittleworth, West Sussex, in a ceremony attended by Admiral Sir Edward Charlton, Rear-Admiral Edward Hilary Rymer, Vice-Admiral William Douglas Paton, Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur Bromley, Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Noble, and Vice-Admiral William Bowden-Smith.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135187668 |title=LATE GOVERNOR |newspaper=Newcastle Morning Herald And Miners' Advocate |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 January 1937 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Survived by his wife and with no children, Anderson left an estate valued at £9,654, which he gave to his wife

for life and on her death to relatives.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195283589 |title=ESTATE OF £9654. |newspaper=Tweed Daily |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 July 1937 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} On the recommendation of the NSW Government, Lady Anderson was granted the rank of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) and the King George VI Coronation Medal in the 1937 Coronation Honours for public service in New South Wales.{{Cite web|title=Lady Edith Muriel ANDERSON|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1067252|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-02|website=It's An Honour|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127162002/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1067252 |archive-date=27 November 2020 }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236447366 |title=Awards Made Of Special Coronation Medals |newspaper=The Labor Daily |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 May 1937 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

{{Infobox viceroy styles

| image = 80px

| name = Sir David Anderson

| dipstyle = His Excellency

| offstyle = Your Excellency

}}

• Mount Murray Anderson, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park (1936).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237984800 |title=MOUNT MURRAY ANDERSON |newspaper=The Labor Daily |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17289004 |title=MOUNT MURRAY ANDERSON. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 November 1936 |accessdate=24 May 2025 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite web |title=Mount Murray Anderson |url=https://hornsbyshire.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/4351 |website=Hornsby Shire Recollects |publisher=Hornsby Shire Council |access-date=24 May 2025}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite news |title=Obituary: Admiral Sir Murray Anderson |newspaper=The Times |location=London, England |date=30 October 1936 |page=21}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-mil}}

{{Succession box| title=Commander-in-Chief, China Station (Acting) | before= Sir Allan Everett | after=Sir Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair | years=1925}}

|-

{{s-bef | before=Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice}}

{{s-ttl | title=Commander-in-Chief, Africa Station | years=1926–1929}}

{{s-aft | after=Sir Rudolph Burmester}}

|-

{{s-dip}}

{{s-bef|before=Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson}}

{{s-ttl|title=British High Commissioner to South Africa|years=1928}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir Edward Evans}}

{{s-gov}}

{{s-bef|before=Sir John Middleton}}

{{s-ttl|title=Governor of Newfoundland|years=1933–1935}}

{{s-aft|rows=2|after=Sir Humphrey Walwyn}}

{{s-bef|before=Frederick C. Alderdice|as=Prime Minister of Newfoundland}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the Commission of Government of Newfoundland|years=1934–1935}}

{{succession box|title=Governor of New South Wales|before=The Lord Gowrie|after=The Lord Wakehurst|years=1936}}

{{s-end}}

{{NewSouthWales Governors}}

{{NLLG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, David Murray}}

Category:1874 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:People from Malpas, Cheshire

Category:Royal Navy admirals

Category:Members of the Royal Victorian Order

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun

Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Anna

Category:Governors of the Dominion of Newfoundland

Category:Governors of New South Wales

Category:Ambassadors and high commissioners of the United Kingdom to South Africa

Category:Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog

Category:Military personnel from Cheshire

Category:Members of the Newfoundland Commission of Government

Category:British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War

Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I

Category:19th-century Royal Navy personnel