Henry Galway

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Lionel Galway, KCMG, DSO (25 September 1859 – 17 June 1949) was the Governor of South Australia from 18 April 1914 until 30 April 1920.

Henry Lionel Gallwey was born on 25 September 1859 at Alverstoke, Southampton, England, to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Lionel Gallwey and his second wife, Alicia Dorinda Lefanu, née MacDougall. Following his education at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, he was commissioned in 1878. He served as an aide-de-camp to the governors of Bermuda, being promoted to captain in 1887.

Gallwey was appointed deputy commissioner and vice-consul in the newly established Oil Rivers Protectorate (later the Niger Coast Protectorate) in 1891. In March 1892, he failed to convince the King of Benin, Omo n’Oba Ovonramwen, into signing a deceptive 'treaty of friendship' that would make Benin a British colony. Instead, the King issued an edict barring all British officials and traders from entering Benin territories. The 'Gallwey Treaty', although it was never signed, became the legal basis for British invasion, occupation, and looting, culminating in the savage Benin Expedition of 1897, which destroyed the Kingdom of Benin. Gallway was often mentioned in dispatches during this time, and was rewarded with the Distinguished Service Order (DSO; 1896), appointment as Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG; 1899) and promotion to major (1897).

Given the rank of lieutenant-colonel when placed on half-pay in 1901, he retired from the army in 1902 to become governor of St Helena, where he revived capital punishment. Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1910, he was transferred to Gambia in 1911. In 1911, Gallwey changed his surname to "Galway" and on 26 August 1913 in London he married Baroness Marie Carola Franciska Roselyne d'Erlanger.

Galway was appointed Governor of South Australia in 1914. Galway resented the limitations placed upon a constitutional governor, and his governorship was defined by controversy. He managed to anger a wide spectrum of the population. The general public disliked his support of compulsory military training; puritans were angered by his support for gambling and his opposition to prohibition; progressives were infuriated by his opposition to women's enfranchisement; and the political establishment were aghast at his opposition to the White Australia Policy (on the grounds that the Northern Territory needed Asian workers). For this last opinion he was forced to issue a full retraction and apology. A 1915 speech in which Galway suggested unionists should be conscripted and sent to the front was widely criticised and gave local cartoonists a field day.^[1]

It was eventually his support for conscription which saved his governorship; the legislature decided that his efforts to increase voluntary recruitment for World War I, as well as his support for conscription referenda, warranted keeping him in the role. A 1917 motion by the Labor opposition calling for the abolition of his office failed.^[1]

After the war, Premier Archibald Peake was considering a proposal to build a war memorial on the site of Government House, a new vice-regal residence to be purchased in the suburbs. Galway managed to dissuade Peake from this scheme.^[1]

Galway's appointment was not renewed upon its expiration in 1920; though he was liked by the Adelaide establishment, he had been a spectacularly controversial governor, and the Colonial Office refused him another post. He returned to England later in 1920, and died on 17 June 1949.

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