Robert William (Abercromby) Duff GCMG PC (1835 - 1895)

Born 8 May 1835 in Fetteresso, Kincardineshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Louisa (Scott) Duff — married 21 Feb 1871 in St George Hanover Square registration district, London, England

Descendants

Died 15 Mar 1895 at age 59 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Preceded by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Jersey GCB, GCMG, PC

18th Governor of New South Wales 29 May 1893 to 15 Mar 1895

Succeeded by The Rt Hon. The Viscount Hampden GCMG

Biography

Robert (Abercromby) Duff GCMG PC is Notable.

Sir Robert William Duff (1835-1895), governor, was born on 8 May 1835 at Fetteresso, Kincardineshire, Scotland, only son of Arthur Duff Abercromby, of Glassaugh, Banffshire, and his wife Elizabeth, née Innes. His father had assumed the surname Abercromby on inheriting his mother's estates in 1833. Robert was educated at Blackheath School, London, and in 1848 joined the Royal Navy. He was promoted sub-lieutenant in 1854 and lieutenant in 1856, retiring with the rank of commander in 1870. On succeeding to the extensive estates of his uncle, including Fetteresso Castle, he assumed the surname Duff early in 1862. He was a keen sportsman and good shot, and was a member of Brooks's, the Devonshire and the Turf clubs. On 21 February 1871 in London he married Louisa, daughter of Sir William Scott, baronet.

From May 1861 until March 1893 he sat in the House of Commons for Banffshire and, one of the 'Adullamites', followed Robert Lowe in opposing Lord Russell's 1866 reform bill. Later a Gladstonian Liberal, Duff was a junior lord of the treasury in 1882-85, and a civil lord of the Admiralty in 1886; he became a privy councillor in 1892.

On the resignation of Lord Jersey as governor of New South Wales, Gladstone, opposed to the tradition of appointing a peer, wrote to Lord Ripon, secretary of state for the colonies: 'We of the H. of C. should like to see (Rt.Hon.) R. Duff. He would we believe do it well and other considerations recommend him'. Duff was appointed in March 1893 and arrived in Sydney with his family in the Parramatta on 29 May. Before leaving England he had been appointed G.C.M.G. Duff's first year was troubled. While on a cruise in H.M.S. Orlando he was asked by the premier Sir George Dibbs to telegraph his assent to a proclamation abolishing the old electoral rolls and constituencies, and did so on 5 October. Ripon thought Dibbs's proceedings 'partook of the nature of sharp practice'.

In February 1895 Duff visited Hobart; he became ill and on 9 March his medical attendant Dr Thomas Fiaschi was summoned. The governor returned to Sydney where he died at Government House with multiple hepatic abscesses and septicaemia on 15 March. The first New South Wales governor to die in office, he was buried in Waverley cemetery with Anglican and Masonic rites, in an impressive military ceremony; his funeral hatchment is in the Church of St James, Sydney. He was survived by his wife, three sons and four daughters.

Sources

• Martha Rutledge, 'Duff, Sir Robert William (1835–1895)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
• The Wikipedia entry for Robert William (Abercromby) Duff
• Duffs - "Duffs of Fetteresso" in "The Book of the Duffs" by Henrietta and Alexander (Alister) Tayler, printed privately by T & A Constable in Edinburgh 1914, pages 309-327, here 320-321, 326
• "The Peerage", genealogy website, created and curated by Darryl Lundy.
• Transcription of *another delightful paper" on "Members of Parliament for the county" [with a strong focus on those who were members of the Duff family] delivered on 19 March 1928 to the Banffshire Field Club by Mr. Alistair Tayler of Glenbarry, reproduced in Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club