William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket (19 December 1864 – 24 January 1920) was a British diplomat and administrator. He was Governor of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910.

Early life

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, he was educated at Harrow and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

. His parents were William, 4th Lord Plunket, the archbishop of Dublin in 1884–97, and his wife

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

, the daughter of Sir Benjamin Guinness. He entered the Diplomatic Service and was sent to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1889 as an attaché to the British Embassy there. In 1892, he was appointed in the same position to the embassy in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, and finally retired two years later.

Career

Having succeeded his father as fifth Baron Plunket in 1897, Plunket three years later became private secretary to Lord Cadogan,

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the K ...

at the time, and fulfilled the same role for his successor Lord Dudley, when he was appointed to the position in August 1902. He was appointed CVO and KCVO in 1900 and 1903 respectively, and in 1904 he became

Governor of New Zealand A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

as well as a KCMG the following year. By chance, the

Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives In New Zealand, the speaker of the House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House (), is the presiding officer and highest authority of the New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives () is the ...

at the time was his second cousin

Arthur Guinness Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Guinness was born in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Ki ...

. He held this post until 1910, when he was advanced to GCMG. In 1907 he presented the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

, which is still contested each year by the major cricket teams in New Zealand. He was later appointed

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

in 1918.

Freemasonry

He was a Freemason. During his term as Governor of New Zealand (1906–1909), he was also Grand Master of New Zealand's Grand Lodge.

Death

Lord Plunket died on 24 January 1920 aged 55 at 40 Elvaston Place, London, and was buried in the city's

Putney Vale Cemetery Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 193 ...

Family

Plunket married, in 1894, Lady Victoria Alexandrina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, youngest daughter of the 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, by whom he was to have eight children. Victoria gave her name to the

Plunket Society The Royal New Zealand Plunket Trust provides a range of free services aimed at improving the development, health and wellbeing of children under the age of five within New Zealand, where it is commonly known simply as Plunket. Its mission is ...

, a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

society promoting the health and well-being of mothers and children and was a patron of the Mothercraft Training Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket, William Plunket, 5th Baron Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Plunket, William Lee 5 Plunket, William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron People educated at Harrow School

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

New Zealand Freemasons Plunket, William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, William Lee Plunket, 5th Baron