Richard Gardiner Casey KG GCMG CH (1890 - 1976)

Ancestors

Preceded by The Right Hon. William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, VC GCMG PC

16th Governor-General of Australia 7 May 1965 - 30 Apr 1969

Succeeded by Sir Paul Hasluck KG GCMG GCVO

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Honours and Awards 1.2 Legacy 2 Sources 2.1 See also

Biography

Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC PC was an Australian statesman who served as the 16th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1965 to 1969. He was also a distinguished army officer, longserving federal cabinet minister, Ambassador to the United States, member of Churchill's War Cabinet, and Governor of Bengal.

Born Richard Gavin Gardiner 'Dick' Casey on 29th August 1890 in Brisbane, Queensland (Australia), he was the older son of Richard Casey, a wealthy pastoralist and Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, and Jane Harris, daughter of George Harris, another wealthy pastoralist and Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.^[1] Richard appears to have dropped the name 'Gavin' from an early stage in life. His family moved to Melbourne, Victoria when Richard was yet young. After attending Cumloden School, St Kilda, and the Melbourne Grammar School, he studied engineering at the University of Melbourne and then went on to Trinity College, Cambridge.

On 14th September 1914, Casey was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Australian Imperial Force.^[2][3] He embarked from Melbourne with Headquarters 1st Australian Division aboard HMAT Orvieto A3 on 21st October 1914.^[4] He saw service in the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Major in the 8th Australian Infantry Brigade. In the first weeks of the Gallipoli campaign, he was aide de camp to General Bridges, and was with Bridges on 15th May 1915 when the latter was mortally wounded by a Turkish sniper. Casey's exemplary service during the war was recognised with the award of the Military Cross (MC); gazetted in London 1st January 1917 on page 44 at position 16,^[5] Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) gazetted in London 1 January 1918 on page 28 at position 2,^[6][7] and 31st December 1918 on page 15225 at position 16.^[8] Casey's father died in 1919 and he returned after the war to Melbourne to take over his father's business interests including engineering and mining firms.

Casey joined the diplomatic corps in 1924, and moved to London to work as a liaison officer.

In 1926 at St Martin, London, England, he married Maie Ryan, daughter of Sir Charles Snodgrass Ryan.^[9]

In 1931, Casey was elected to federal parliament for the United Australia Party. He served as Treasurer from 1935 to 1939 (under Joseph Lyons and Earle Page). During the Second World War, Casey was Ambassador to the United States from 1940 to 1942, and then joined Winston Churchill's War Cabinet as its representative in the Middle East. In 1944, Churchill appointed him Governor of Bengal, where he handled the recovery from the 1943 famine and civil unrest in the lead-up to independence. He re-entered parliament at the 1949 election, holding various national development portfolios and then served as Minister for External Affairs until his retirement from politics in 1960. In 1960, he was created "Baron Casey, of Berwick in the State of Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia, and of the City of Westminster", becoming the second (and last) Australian politician (after Stanley Bruce) to be elevated to the House of Lords. Lord Casey made annual trips to London and put in appearances in the House of Lords.

In 1965, Menzies named Casey to replace Lord De L'Isle as Governor-General of Australia. He served for just under four years; the only major constitutional issue during his tenure was the disappearance of Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967.

On Australia Day 1969, Casey was named Australian of the Year, an honour he cherished above all others.

Casey left office in 1969 and he and his wife retired to their farm at Berwick in Victoria. Casey never fully recovered from a car accident in 1974, and died on 17th June 1976 at St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, Victoria. He was buried in Mount Macedon Cemetery, Victoria. Survived by his wife and their daughter and son.

Honours and Awards

• named Australian of the Year, 1969^[10]
• Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG), 1969^[11]
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), 1965^[12]
• Baron Casey, of Berwick in the State of Victoria and the Commonwealth of Australia, and of the City of Westminster, 1960^[13]
• Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH), 1944^[14]
• Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)^[15]
• Military Cross (MC)^[16]
• twice Mentioned in Despatches^[17][18]

Legacy

Several places have been named in Lord Casey's honour and memory, including:

• the municipality which includes Berwick is now called the City of Casey
• the federal Electoral Division of Casey (in a different part of Melbourne)
• the Canberra suburb of Casey
• Casey Station, a base in the Australian Antarctic Territory
• the R G Casey Building in Canberra, headquarters of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

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A LONDON WEDDING. MR R. G. CASEY AND MISS MAIE RYAN. The marriage was celebrated at St. James's, Piccadilly, on Thursday, June 24, of Mr. R. G. Casey, eldest son of the late Mr. R. G. Casey, of Melbourne, and of Mrs. Casey, to Miss Maie Ryan, daughter of General Sir Charles Ryan and the late Lady Ryan, of Melbourne. The Rev. Harold F. Webb-Bowen officiated. The bride looked charming in a beautiful frock of ivory chiffon and lace, and a hat of mist blue crinoline encircled with a wreath of deeper blue leaves. She carried a bouquet of blue flowers. There were no bridesmaids, and the best man was Mr. Dermot Casey, brother of the bridegroom. A large number of English and Australian friends filled the church, which, was prettily decorated with palms and hydrangeas. After the ceremony, Sir Charles Ryan received the guests at the Jules Hotel. Among those present were Lady Charles Scott, (sister of Sir Charles Ryan), Mrs. R. G. Casey, mother of the bridegroom; Mrs. Dermot Casey, Mrs. Everard Browne, Sir Maurice and Lady Hankey, Sir Joseph and Lady Cook, Mrs. John Sanderson, Mrs. A. Urguhart, Major and Mrs. Leroy Burnham, Mr. J. M. Niall, Dame Nellie Melba, Mrs. George Armstrong, Mrs. Arthur Bullivant, Mrs. Arthur Whittingham, Mrs. Fred Cavaye, Mr. and Mrs. George Chirnside, Mrs. Pape, Mrs. Keatinge Johnson, Misses Brodrith, Miss Gwen Peyton Jones, Mrs. T. S. Hall, Mr. A. A. Hall, Major and Mrs. Harold Hall, Captain and Mrs. D'Arcy Hall, Miss Eleanor Purves, Colonel and Mrs. H. Foster MacGeagh, Sir Philip and Lady Grey-Egerton, Mr. George Fairbairn (Agent-General for Victoria), and Mrs. Fairbairn, Mrs. Fred Fairbairn, Miss Linda Byron Moore, Captain Traill (cousin of the bride), Mr. Ashley Westby, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Macdonald, General and the Hon. Mrs. Claude Rome, Mr. Alastair Rome, Mr. W. Bowie (manager of Goldsborough, Mort and Co., London), and Mrs. Bowie, Mr. Courtney Browne, Mrs. Anthony Hordern, Mrs. Allan Campbell, Mrs. Reginald Clarke, Miss Norah Power, Mrs. Hubert Power, Mrs. Alec Landale, Miss Mildred Parker, Miss Jean Turnbull, Mr. Keith Murdoch, Mr. William Clark, Rev. Harold F. Webb-Bowen, Mr. and Mrs. Whiting, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Whiting, Mrs. Buckland-Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Peyton Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Bayles, and many others. Mr. and Mrs. R. G. Casey left later on a motoring honeymoon to France, Belgium, and the Rhine, and return shortly to London. Queensland Figaro (Brisbane, Qld. : 1901 - 1936) Saturday 14 August 1926, Page 8: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/84897724

Sources

1. ↑ Queensland Birth Index #B46745/1890
2. ↑ Australian War Memorial nominal roll: Major Richard Gardiner Casey; accessed 8 Feb 2019
3. ↑ National Archives of Australia, Application for a Commission: Richard Gardiner Casey; accessed 2 Sep 2017
4. ↑ Australian War Memorial embarkation roll: Richard Gardiner Casey; accessed 8 Feb 2019
5. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey MC; accessed 27 Feb 2019
6. ↑ Mention in Despatches, gazetted in London 28th December 1917 on page 13563 at position 10
7. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey Mentioned in Despatches; accessed 27 Feb 2019
8. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey Mentioned in Despatches; accessed 27 Feb 2019
9. ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Jun qtr 1926, vol 1a, page 1148
10. ↑ Australian of the Year 1969: Richard Gardiner Casey; accessed 8 Feb 2019
11. ↑ Australian Honours; Richard Gardiner Casey KG; accessed 8 Feb 2019
12. ↑ Australian Honours; Richard Gardiner Casey GCMG; accessed 8 Feb 2019
13. ↑ London Gazette 17 May 1960 Issue: 42035 Page: 3465 Baron Casey; accessed 8 Feb 2019
14. ↑ Australian Honours; Richard Gardiner Casey CH; accessed 8 Feb 2019
15. ↑ Australian Honours: Richard Gardiner Casey DSO; accessed 8 Feb 2019
16. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey MC; accessed 8 Feb 2019
17. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey MiD; accessed 8 Feb 2019
18. ↑ Australian War Memorial Honours and Awards: Richard Gardiner Casey MiD; accessed 8 Feb 2019

See also

• Hudson, W J. 'Casey, Richard Gavin Gardiner (1890–1976)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 2 Sep 2017.
• Wikipedia profile: Richard Casey, Baron Casey; accessed 2 Sep 2017.