Thomas Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly (29 May 1914 – 6 November 1988), known as Dan Ranfurly, was a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer and farmer, who served as Governor of the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. His exploits in the Second World War, along with those of his wife,
Hermione
Hermione may refer to:
People
* Hermione (given name), a female given name
* Hermione (mythology), only daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology and original bearer of the name
Arts and literature
* ''Cadmus et Hermione'', an opera by ...
Ulster-Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to:
* Ulster Scots people
The Ulster Scots ( Ulster-Scots: ''Ulstèr-Scotch''; ga, Albanaigh Ultach), also called Ulster Scots people (''Ulstèr-Scotch fowk'') or (in North America) Scotch-Irish (''Scotch-Airisch'') ...
aristocratic family and was the son of Captain Thomas Uchter Caulfield Knox, Viscount Northland, and succeeded his grandfather, The 5th Earl of Ranfurly, in the earldom in October 1933. He was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...
. He was commissioned into the
Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry
The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) was a British Yeomanry regiment. In 1967 it was amalgamated with other units to form the Royal Yeomanry (RY), a light cavalry regiment of the Army Reserve. Originally raised as the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Cav ...
Governor-General of Australia
The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Britain and were married. They later had a daughter, Caroline.
Action in World War II
On the outbreak of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Second Lieutenant Lord (Dan) Ranfurly of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) – 1st Cavalry Division was initially posted to British-controlled Palestine, thence to join with the 7th Division in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. His wife, violating multiple British Army protocols forbidding the wives of soldiers at the front, repeatedly hatched schemes to join him as he was shuffled across the Middle East and North Africa, finally succeeding to meet up with him in Cairo in 1941.
Soon after, Ranfurly, who had been appointed as ADC to Lt. Gen. Philip Neame, was captured with Neame in the Cyrenaica desert between Derna and Mechili on 6 April 1941. He was taken to Sulmona camp in the Abruzzo near Rome, but joined Neame again when they were both transferred to Castello di Vincigliata PG12 in October 1941. He was amongst many distinguished British officers, including generals Richard O'Connor and Adrian Carton de Wiart. He became friends with Carton De Wiart, and adapted to prison life, managing the officers' house-keeping and Red Cross parcels. As de Wiart wrote, 'He was our most expert gambler, did me the good turn of teaching me to play backgammon.' Boyd's ADC Flt. Lt. Leeming wrote 'Four more prisoners arrived ..including Lieutenant Lord Ranfurly, who took over the management of the household in my place. He helped with the tunnel escape. 'Air Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd and Ranfurly made a cover for our hole from the lift shaft to the chapel, and Ranfurly plastered it over and it was never detected'.
He was amongst the small party including some NCOs released by General Chiappe in September 1943 after the Italian Armistice. They were driven to
Firenze Campo di Marte railway station
Firenze Campo di Marte (or, simply, Firenze Campo Marte) is the third railway station of Florence and the eighth station of Tuscany and the biggest station in south Florence. The station is mostly used by commuters going to Florence coming from t ...
from where a special train took them to
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
. The party eventually dispersed and spent many months with the partisans in the Apennines. He, together with Rudolph Vaughan, John Combe, Ted Todhunter and
Guy Ruggles-Brise
Captain Guy Edward Ruggles-Brise (15 June 1914 – 14 November 2000) was a British World War II, Second World War officer and High Sheriff of Essex
He was born in 1914, the second son of Sir Edward Ruggles-Brise He came from a landed family who h ...
(who was an old school friend) from Vincigliata. Two young officers, American pilot Jack Reiter (who had been shot down over Italy, escaped from a military hospital to join the partisans), American diplomat
Walter Orebaugh Walter W. Orebaugh Jr. (March 19, 1910 – June 12, 2001) was an American Foreign Service Officer, intelligence officer and university director. For the Foreign Service he served posts in Wellington, Montreal, Trieste, Venice, Nice, Monte Carlo, Flo ...
, together with John Kerin, an Irish Sapper, who they had picked up along the way,To War with Whitaker, page 241 managed to reach the coast. After further delays, they put out to sea in a boat, which began to leak badly. After rowing and bailing for 24 hours they were at last picked up by an Italian vessel which landed them at Ancona, from where they were shipped to brigade HQ on 30 May 1944. Lady Ranfurly records this incident in her book of memoirs, ''To War with Whittaker''.
After World War II
Following the end of World War II, Lord Ranfurly worked briefly in insurance at Lloyd's of London, not long before being appointed
Governor of the Bahamas
This is a list of governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the lords proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to themselves. The loc ...
by
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
. While there, he and his wife began the Ranfurly Library Service in
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
.
After they returned home in 1957, Lady Ranfurly continued to ship books to parts of the world short on libraries, founding an organisation now known as
Book Aid International
Book Aid International is a UK registered charity which provides books and supports libraries in Africa and around the world. Every year the charity sends books to public and community libraries as well as libraries in prisons, refugee camps, hospi ...
. Lord Ranfurly, meanwhile, took up farming at his
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
estate.
References
Sources
*Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
*
* ''To War with Whitaker'': The wartime diaries of The Countess of Ranfurly 1939-1945'', William Heinemann Ltd, London 1994
* ''Happy Odyssey'', Lt-Gen. Sir Carton De Wiart, V.C., K.B.E., C.M.G., D.S.O., Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1950, in PAN paperback 1956, re-printed by Pen & Sword Books 2007
* ''Playing with Strife: The Autobiography of a Soldier'', Lt-Gen. Sir Philip Neame, V.C., K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1947.
* ''Farewell Campo 12'', Brigadier James Hargest, C.B.E., D.S.O. M.C., Michael Joseph Ltd, 1945.
* '' 'Always To-Morrow' '', 1951, John F Leeming, George G Harrap & Co. Ltd, London, 188p, Illustrated with photographs and maps. (tells of the authors' experiences as a prisoner of the Italians during World War II)