Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore

Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, 9th Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall, Chief of Clan Keith, KT, GCMG, PC, FRSE (12 August 1852 – 3 March 1930), was a British politician and colonial governor.

The Right Honourable The Earl of Kintore KT GCMG PC FRSE
12th Governor of South Australia
In office 11 April 1889 – 10 April 1895
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Premier	Thomas Playford II (1889 John Cockburn (1889-90) Thomas Playford II (1890-92) Frederick Holder (1892) Sir John Downer (1892-93) Charles Kingston (1893-95)
Preceded by	Sir William Robinson
Succeeded by	Sir Thomas Buxton
Personal details
Born	12 August 1852
Died	3 March 1930 (1930-03-04) (aged 77)
Nationality	British

Background and education

Born at Lixmount House, in Trinity, Edinburgh, Keith-Falconer was the eldest son of Francis Keith Falconer, 8th Earl of Kintore and his wife Louisa Madeleine, née Hawkins.[1] He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

Political career

In 1880, Lord Kintore was the unsuccessful Conservative candidate for Chelsea. He succeeded to his father's titles upon his father's death in 1880, was appointed First Government Whip in the House of Lords in 1885 and was a Lord-in-waiting from 1885 to 1886 and from 1895 to 1905. In 1886, he was invested as a Privy Counsellor. In 1913 he was elected a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

Governor of South Australia

Lord Kintore was Governor of South Australia between 1889 and 10 April 1895. He was made a Knight-Grand-Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) on his appointment. A freemason, he was also Grand-Master of the United Grand Lodge of South Australia during his term as Governor (1889-1895).[3]

He arrived with his family at Adelaide in South Australia on 11 April 1889 aboard the Orient and was formally welcomed by the administrator, Chief Justice Samuel Way, who later resigned as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of South Australia in his favour.

Later life

In early 1901 he was asked by King Edward to take part in a special diplomatic mission to announce the King's accession to the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Russia, Germany, and Saxony.[4]

He was also a Knight of Grand-Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy of Italy, a 1st Class of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, a Grand-Cross of the Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ of Portugal and a Grand-Cross of the Order of the Polar Star of Sweden.

In 1911, Kintore was presented with a royal gift cigarette case by Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria (1884-1958). A century later, the gift featured in the Christie's London sale, SALE 7970 —IMPORTANT JEWELS held on 8 June 2011.[5]

Death

He died on 3 March 1930 aged 77 at 10 Park Place, St James Street, London, of acute bronchitis and periurethral abscess and interred on 7 March 1930 at Keith Hall, Inverurie, Aberdeen. He was survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Family

Lord Kintore married Lady Sydney Charlotte Montagu (14 October 1851 – Keith Hall, Inverurie, Aberdeen, 21 September 1932), second daughter of George Montagu, 6th Duke of Manchester, at St George's, Hanover Square, London, on 14 August 1873.[6]

He was succeeded on the earldom by his second but only surviving son, Arthur. Kintore's daughter Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer, wife of John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven, eventually inherited the earldom.

Legacy

Localities named for Earl Kintore include:

• Mt Kintore and the Kintore Range, Northern Territory - named by William Tietkens during his expedition of 1889[7]
• The town of Kintore, Northern Territory in the Kintore Range
• Kintore, Western Australia, now a ghost town, established in 1897 near Kalgoorlie. The Kintore gold mine was discovered in 1895. The Earl Kintore visited Western Australia at the time.[8]

Kintore's egernia, Liopholis kintorei, an Australian lizard, was named in 1893 in his honour.[9]

See also

• Tietkens expedition of 1889

References

1. Lodge, Edmund (1858). The Peerage Of The British Empire. Oxford University. p. 334.
2. "Inverurie, Lord Algernon Hawkins Thomond (INVY870AH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. Henderson, Kent. "Vice-Regal Grand Masters - Who and Why?". Freemasonry. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013.
4. "The King - the special Embassies". The Times (36410). London. 23 March 1901. p. 12.
5. "AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY ROYAL PRESENTATION CIGARETTE CASE, BY CARTIER". Christie's.
6. "Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore". The Peerage. pp. Person page 22278. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
7. Long, Jeremy (1989). "Leaving the Desert: Actors and Sufferers in the Aboriginal Exodus from the Western Desert" (PDF). Aboriginal History. 13 (1): 14. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
8. "Mining and Finance". Coolgardie Miner. 26 January 1895. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
9. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michel; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Kintore", p. 141).

Party political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Lathom	Conservative Chief Whip in the Lords 1885–1889	Succeeded by The Earl of Limerick
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Dalhousie	Lord-in-waiting 1885–1886	Succeeded by The Lord Camoys
Preceded by The Lord Monson	Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard 1886–1889	Succeeded by The Earl of Limerick
Preceded by The Lord Henniker	Lord-in-waiting 1895–1905	Succeeded by The Earl of Granard
Government offices
Preceded by Sir William Robinson	Governor of South Australia 1889–1895	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Buxton
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Francis Alexander Keith-Falconer	Earl of Kintore 1880–1930	Succeeded by Arthur George Keith-Falconer