monarch death_date nationality birth_date term_end alma_mater death_place order term_start spouse image name predecessor birth_place party office successor primeminister article_title
george vi 17 july 1943 anglo-south african 1870 17 july 1943 30 june 1924 university of edinburgh balliol college , oxford pretoria , transvaal south africa 6th minister for the interior 5 april 1937 1921 alice dold patrick duncan.jpg sir patrick duncan the earl of clarendon thomas watt fortrie , banffshire united kingdom united party governor-general of the union of south africa nicolaas daniel françois malan jacobus de wet as officer administering the government jan smuts patrick duncan -lrb- governor-general -rrb-

patrick duncan -lrb- governor-general -rrb-

sir patrick duncan , gcmg , pc -lrb- 1870 -- 1943 -rrb- was the sixth governor-general of the union of south africa , holding office from 1937 to 1943 .
born in scotland in 1870 , he took degrees in classics at the university of edinburgh and at balliol college , oxford , and studied law in the inner temple , before joining the british civil service .
in 1901 , during the anglo-boer war -lrb- 1899 -- 1902 -rrb- , he was recruited by viscount milner , to join a team of young administrators - known as `` milner 's kindergarten '' - to govern and anglicise the british-occupied transvaal .
he was colonial secretary of the transvaal from 1903 until the colony was granted self-government in 1907 , playing an important part in the repatriation of ex-prisoners of war , and in the social and financial reconstruction of the former boer state .
duncan practised as an attorney from 1907 to 1910 , and was a legal adviser to the transvaal delegation to the 1908-1909 national convention that drew up the constitution for the union of south africa .
he was a member of the union parliament from 1910 to 1936 , first as a member of the unionist party , then of the south african party and its successor the united party .
he was minister of education , the interior , and public health in the sap administration from 1921 to 1924 , and minister of mines in the up administration from 1933 to 1936 .
duncan was appointed governor-general in 1937 , the first south african appointee to hold the post .
king george vi , whom he represented as head of state , knighted him and appointed him to the privy council .
although widely respected and above party politics , he made himself controversial in 1939 by refusing to call a general election on the question of whether or not the union should enter world war ii .
the prime minister , general hertzog , wanted to stay neutral , but parliament supported his deputy , general smuts , who proposed to declare war .
hertzog resigned , smuts became prime minister and led the country into war , and political re-alignments followed .
sir patrick died in office , in 1943 .
his ashes were interred in a monument at the new duncan dock in cape town harbour , which was named after him .
the informal township of duncan village in east london , and the suburb of duncanville near vereeniging , were also named after him .
sir patrick married alice dold in 1916 .
they had three sons and a daughter .
one son , andrew -lrb- 1920 -- 1942 -rrb- , was killed on active service in libya .
another son , patrick -lrb- 1918 -- 1967 -rrb- , was a well-known anti-apartheid activist .
