Major General Winston Joseph Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria, (3 September 1876 – 17 August 1951), known as Sir Winston Dugan between 1934 and 1949, was a British

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and a career British Army officer. He served as

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gene ...

from 1934 to 1939, then Governor of Victoria until 1949.

Background and education

Dugan was the son of Charles Winston Dugan, of Oxmantown Mall, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, an inspector of schools. His mother was born Esther Elizabeth Rogers. He attended

Lurgan College Lurgan College is a selective, non-denominational, co-educational 14-19 Grammar School, situated in the town of Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. History In lieu of the establishment of Lurgan Model primary school in 1863, the town of Lur ...

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, Ireland from 1887 to 1889, and Wimbledon College,

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, London, England. The family name was pronounced as "Duggan". They were originally from

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and were a branch of the Soghain people.

Military career

Dugan was a

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in the Royal Sussex Regiment, but transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment as a

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on 24 January 1900. He left Southampton two months later with a detachment sent to reinforce the 2nd battalion of his regiment in the Second Boer War. While in South Africa, he was appointed

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of his battalion on 28 June 1901, and promoted to lieutenant on 1 November 1901. For his service in the war, he received the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps. He later fought with distinction in the First World War, where he was wounded and

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six times. His commanded

184th (2nd South Midland) Brigade The 184th (2nd South Midland) Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army raise for service in both the First and the Second World Wars. First World War The brigade was raised as a duplicate of the 145th (1/1st South Midland) B ...

on the

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in 1916. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1915 and appointed a

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(CMG) in 1918. In 1929 he was made a

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(CB) and the following year he was promoted to major general. From June 1931 to June 1934 he commanded the

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, Territorial Army.

Governor of South Australia

In 1934, Dugan was appointed

. He was appointed a

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(KCMG), retired from the army and moved to Adelaide with his wife. They became an extremely popular and glamorous vice-regal couple. Sir Winston and Lady Dugan were both excellent public speakers, and travelled widely to bring problems to the attention of the ministers of the day. He gave moral and financial support to numerous good causes and needy individuals. Upon the expiration of his term, there was bipartisan parliamentary support for him to serve a second term, but he had already accepted an appointment to be Governor of Victoria.

Governor of Victoria

Sir Winston and Lady Dugan arrived in Melbourne on 17 July 1939. They continued their active role in community affairs, promoting unemployment reduction and making the ballroom of

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available for the Australian Red Cross. Dugan had an active role stabilising state politics during the tumultuous 1940s. Upon the disintegration of

Albert Dunstan Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG (26 July 1882 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party (now National Party), Dunstan was the 33rd premier of Victoria. His term as premier was the second-longest in th ...

's Country Party government in 1943, he installed the Labor leader

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as premier. Four days later, Dunstan formed a coalition with the United Australia Party. Following the collapse of that ministry in 1945, Dugan dissolved parliament and called a general election for November, which resulted in the balance of power being held by independents. Dugan commissioned Cain to form the ministry of a

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. Dugan's term as governor was extended five times. He was also the Administrator of the Commonwealth on two occasions: from 5 September 1944 to 30 January 1945, between the departure of the

governor-general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

, Lord Gowrie, and the arrival of his successor, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and from 19 January to 11 March 1947, between the departure of the Duke of Gloucester and the appointment of his successor, William McKell. He returned to England in February 1949. On 7 July 1949 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Dugan of Victoria, of Lurgan in the County of Armagh.

Personal life

Dugan married Ruby Lilian, daughter of Charles Abbott of Kilcaskan, County Cork, in 1912. There were no children from the marriage. He died at Marylebone, London, on 17 August 1951, aged 74.

References

External links

Craigavon Historical Society – Lurgan College Register (includes brief biography)
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dugan, Winston Joseph 1876 births 1951 deaths Military personnel from County Offaly Royal Sussex Regiment soldiers Politicians from County Offaly British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army generals of World War I Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers British Army major generals Governors of South Australia Governors of Victoria (Australia) Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Distinguished Service Order People educated at Lurgan College Barons created by George VI