Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Rowallan
KT KBE MC TD
19th Governor of Tasmania
In office
21 October 1959 – 25 March 1963
MonarchElizabeth II
PremierEric Reece (1959–63)
Preceded bySir Ronald Cross
Succeeded bySir Charles Gairdner
Member of the House of Lords
In office
19 March 1933 – 30 November 1977
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byArchibald Corbett
Succeeded byArthur Corbett
Personal details
Born(1895-12-19)19 December 1895
Chelsea, London
Died30 November 1977(1977-11-30) (aged 81)
Rowallan Castle, Kilmarnock
NationalityBritish
SpouseGwyn Mervyn Grimond
Civilian awardsKnight of the Order of the Thistle
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army
Years of service1914–1918
1939–1944
RankLieutenant Colonel
Battles/warsFirst World War

Second World War

Military awardsMilitary Cross
Territorial Decoration

Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan, KT, KBE, MC, TD (19 December 1895 – 30 November 1977), had a distinguished military career in the British Army and was Governor of Tasmania from 1959 to 1963. The Boy Scouts Association appointed him as its Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire from 1945 to 1959.

Family life & death[edit]

The first son of Archibald Corbett, the Liberal politician and property developer, and Alice Mary, the daughter of John Polson, a corn merchant, Thomas Corbett was born in Chelsea, London, on 19 December 1895 and was brought up in London and on the family's Scottish estates. Known as "Billy" to the family, he was educated at Gibbs School in Sloane Street, London, Wellington House Preparatory School in Westgate-on-Sea and Eton College.[1] His mother died of sepsis, in 1902.[2] His elder sister, Elsie Cameron Corbett, became a volunteer ambulance driver in Serbia during the First World War and was awarded British and Serbian medals. His younger brother, Arthur Cameron Corbett, died in military service.[2]

Corbett married Gwyn Mervyn Grimond on 14 August 1918. She was the daughter of Joseph Bowman Grimond of St Andrews, Fife, and sister of Jo Grimond, later Baron Grimond, leader of the Liberal Party 1956–67. He had met her while on leave from war service; they had five sons and a daughter. On leaving the British Army, he became a successful breeder of pedigree dairy cattle on the family estate in Ayrshire and campaigned for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis. He succeeded as The 2nd Baron Rowallan on 19 March 1933.[3]

In 1961, Lord Rowallan was diagnosed as suffering from cancer of the palate, for which he took leave as Governor of Tasmania and was treated in London. He retired in 1963 to his family estate in Scotland. He completed his autobiography, "Rowallan", in his eightieth year. Lord Rowallan died at Rowallan Castle, near Kilmarnock, on 30 November 1977. He was survived by his daughter and four of his five sons; his other son, John, had been killed in action in 1944.[4]

Military career[edit]

First World War[edit]

Corbett was 18 when the First World War broke out; he secured a Commission in the Ayrshire Yeomanry and went with them to Gallipoli in October 1915. The Ayrshires were amongst the last troops to be evacuated and went from there to Egypt, forming part of the cavalry reserve in the Second Battle of Gaza. He then transferred to the Grenadier Guards; after re-training he was sent to the Western Front in March 1918, joining the 1st Battalion at Mercatel as a lieutenant. This coincided with the German Spring Offensive (Operation Michael), and the battalion was soon in action. At Boyelles on 30 March 1918, Corbett attempted to dig out some wounded soldiers who had been buried by artillery, while "under heavy fire and in full view of the enemy" and was awarded the Military Cross but received a leg wound which left him with a permanent disability.[5]

Second World War[edit]

Between the wars, Corbett served as Adjutant of the Ayrshire Yeomanry. In 1939, Corbett raised a new Territorial Army battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers whom he accompanied to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. Evacuated from Cherbourg during Operation Aerial, he was then given command of a Young Soldiers’ Battalion in the Scottish Highlands; the adventurous training he initiated was based in part on his long association with the Scout Movement.[6] His success earned him the position of Commandant at the new Highland Fieldcraft Training Centre in Glenfeshie and Poolewe, which had been established to provide leadership experience to junior officers. A measure of his influence is that a "Rowallan Company" was formed at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1977 using his methods to improve the performance of Officer Cadets.[7]

National Bank of Scotland[edit]

Rowallan was a Governor of the National Bank of Scotland from 1947 until 1953.[4]

Governor of Tasmania[edit]

Lord Rowallan became Governor of Tasmania on 21 October 1959, despite the Labor Party having resolved that the next Governor of Tasmania should be an Australian. He did much to promote Tasmania and to protect its interests and sovereignty.[4] Rowallan Power Station and its associated dam and lake are named after him.[8] In his spare time, he built up a herd of Jersey cattle at Government House and sailed a yacht which he later gave to the local Sea Scouts. Following his illness and leave in 1961, his term of office ended on 25 March 1963.[4]

Boy Scouts Association[edit]

Norwegian Scouts from Bergen meet Lord Rowallan (centre) at Gilwell Park in 1950.

Rowallan had become the Boy Scouts Association district commissioner for north-west Ayrshire in 1922. In 1944, the Boy Scouts Association appointed him Scottish headquarters commissioner for leader training. In 1945, the Boy Scouts Association appointed him as its Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Dependant Territories in February and Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire in April, appointments he retained until 1959.[9] Rowallan also served on the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement's committee from 1947 until 1953.

As the Boy Scouts Association's Chief Scout, Rowallan travelled widely, encouraging the post-war growth of Scouting; his tours included:

In 1957, the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement's committee awarded Rowallan its only distinction, the Bronze Wolf, for exceptional services to world Scouting. The Boy Scouts of America awarded Rowallan its highest award, the Silver Buffalo Award in 1948.[11] Scout camp sites in Riddells Creek[12] in Victoria, and Wrexham[13] in Wales are named after him; as is the Kenya Scouts Association Headquarters Campsite in Nairobi.[14]

Other awards and recognition[edit]

Arms[edit]

Coat of arms of Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan
Crest
A branch of oak thereon a raven Sable.
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st & 4th Argent a key fesseways wards downwards between two ravens Sable (Corbett) 2nd & 3rd Azure a chevron Or between two bears’ heads couped Argent muzzled Gules in chief and in base a cross moline of the third (Polson).
Supporters
Dexter a salmon Proper holding in its mouth a jewelled ring Or sinister a seal Proper.
Motto
Deus Pascit Corvos[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rowallan K.T., Lord (1976). Rowallan: The Autobiography of Lord Rowallan K.T. Edinburgh: Paul Harris Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 9781554882823. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b "A Profile of Archibald Cameron Corbett - Family Man". The Archibald Corbett Society. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Exhibit".
  4. ^ a b c d "Rowallan, second Baron (1895–1977)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  5. ^ Rowallan K.T., Lord (1976). Rowallan: The Autobiography of Lord Rowallan K.T. Edinburgh: Paul Harris Publishing. pp. 46–50. ISBN 9781554882823. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  6. ^ Rowallan: the autobiography of Lord Rowallan, Paul Harris Publishing Ltd, 1976, ISBN 0-919670-12-1 Foreword, page x
  7. ^ "THE HIGHLAND FIELDCRAFT TRAINING CENTRE ASSOCIATION". hftca.org. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  8. ^ "2006 Legislative Council elections—dates announced" (PDF) (Press release). Tasmanian Electoral Commission. 23 March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Meet the Chiefs" (PDF). The Scout Information Centre. October 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2007.
  10. ^ The Scout Association (2006), An Official History of Scouting, Hamlyn ISBN 978-0-600-61398-5 (pp. 176–180)
  11. ^ "2007 Silver Buffalo Awards for Distinguished Service to Youth on a National Level". Scouting. Boy Scouts of America National Council. 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
  12. ^ "About the Camp".
  13. ^ "Rowallan – Clwyd Scouts".
  14. ^ "Kenya Scouts Association". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  15. ^ a b The Scout Association 2006 (p. 179)
  16. ^ "The Scouting Pages". Archived from the original on 26 March 2010.
  17. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1959.
Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Tasmania
1959–1963 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Rowallan
1933–1977 		Succeeded by
The Boy Scouts Association
Preceded by The Boy Scouts Association's Chief Scout
of the British Commonwealth and Empire
1945–1959 		Succeeded by
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