NORMANBY, GEORGE AUGUSTUS CONSTANTINE PHIPPS (1819-90) 2nd marquis of, was the son of the 1st marquis. At the age of 19 he entered the Scots Fusilier Guards, with which he served in Canada. He resigned his commission in 1847 and was elected Liberal member for Scarborough, a seat which he held for 11 years. He was a whip during three administrations, and was Controller of the Household (1851), treasurer of the Royal Household (1853-58) and a member of the Privy Council. In 1858 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, a position he filled until 1863, when on succeeding to his father's title he returned to England.

In 1871 Normanby was appointed Governor of Queensland. Three years later, having been created a K.C.M.G., he was appointed Governor of New Zealand. He assumed the administration on 3 Dec 1874. He was a man of considerable experience, who appeared to be indolent and good-natured, with little ability and an indisposition for trouble and responsibility. A series of constitutional disputes demonstrated, on the contrary, that he had clear perception, good political knowledge and a strict sense of public duty. He saw the provinces abolished, the counties established and the education act passed—a very revolutionary programme for those days. He had no disputes at all with Vogel, Pollen and Atkinson; but when Grey came into office it was soon clear that there would be constant friction between these two strong personalities. Every step in the conquest of ministerial supremacy over the governor was watched with interest both in New Zealand and other self-governing colonies. Knowing thoroughly the rules by which governors were then guided, Normanby was not disposed to seek the line of least resistance. Grey at an early stage asked for a dissolution, on the ground that the House had been elected (two years earlier) under the auspices of the Atkinson Government, and was not likely to enable him to carry out his policy. Normanby contended that an election would not produce any considerable change in the House. A vote of censure was passed on the Governor by the House for refusing to make an appointment to the Legislative Council when a vote of no-confidence was pending. Grey and his colleagues held that the Governor had no right to take cognisance of a matter which was being agitated in the lower house as a reason for declining to act on the advice of his ministers. When Normanby asked what reply he should make to this resolution, the ministry declined to give any advice or to accept his suggestion that, failing such advice, they should resign. In both these cases the Secretary of State upheld the Governor, but he was advised to consider carefully the views of his ministers. In Dec 1877 Grey advised the Governor not to assent to the land bill which had originated with the previous Government but had been passed in the session just concluded (after Grey took office). Normanby refused on the reasonable ground that Grey should have taken the responsibility of defeating the bill in Parliament. Grey and Normanby were in conflict during the whole time they were working together. Grey accused the Governor of treating his ministers not as advisers but as servants.

Normanby was created G.C.M.G. in 1877. He left New Zealand on 21 Feb 1879, having been appointed to the governorship of Victoria. There again he was involved in somewhat similar disputes with ministers—a phenomenon of the times. It was proposed to appoint him thereafter to South Australia, but a protest was made in that colony. Consequently he returned to England (1884) and retired from public life, being rewarded with the G.C.B. He died on 3 Apr 1890. Normanby married (1844) Laura, daughter of Captain Robert Russell, R.N.

App. H.R., 1877 A7; 1878 A1, A2, A4; N.Z. Gaz., 1878, pass.; Gisborne (p); Saunders; Rusden; Dilke; Des Voeux, i, 145-6; Keith; Hight and Bamford; The Times, 4 Apr 1890.

Portrait: Parliament House; Government House, Wellington.

Reference: Volume 2, page 67

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