The Hon. Alexander Hardinge Patrick Hore-Ruthven (30 August 1913 – 24 December 1942) was a British soldier and poet. He was born in

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(present-day

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

), the sole surviving child of Alexander Hore-Ruthven and Zara Eileen Pollok.

Personal life

Hore-Ruthven studied at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1931 and met society beauty Pamela Fletcher while he was temporarily rusticated from Cambridge in 1932 for having bitten a policeman's nose.Obituary: Pamela Cooper
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''; retrieved 1 August 2013. After graduating in 1933, he joined the Rifle Brigade, his grandfather's old regiment, and served in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

for three years. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Territorial Army on 2 July 1933, he received a regular commission on 1 September 1934 (seniority 31 August 1933). He was promoted to lieutenant on 31 August 1936. His father, Alexander Hore-Ruthven, was made Baron Gowrie in 1935 and 1st

Earl of Gowrie Earl of Gowrie is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, both times for members of the Ruthven family. It takes its name from Gowrie, a historical region and ancient ...

in 1945. Hore-Ruthven married Pamela Fletcher on 4 January 1939 at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, after their marriage was initially delayed due to a mutual lack of money. Her father, the Reverend Arthur Henry Fletcher officiated. Their first son,

Grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be compos ...

, was born on 26 November 1939. After Hore-Ruthven's death, his widow was styled Viscountess Ruthven of Canberra. She remarried in 1949, to Major Derek Cooper. Hore-Ruthven's father

Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, (; 6 July 1872 – 2 May 1955) was a British Army officer who served as the 10th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1936 to 1945. He was previously Governor ...

died in May 1955, whereupon his elder son

succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Gowrie.

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in 1939, Hore-Ruthven was posted to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

. Pamela left their baby with her parents in Dublin and accompanied Hore-Ruthven to Cairo. There, she became friends with

Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...

an
Jacqueline Lampson
She also worked in Intelligence with the anti-Nazi Arab Brotherhood of Freedom, while Hore-Ruthven joined the newly formed SAS. He was promoted to captain on 31 August 1941. Pamela returned to Ireland in 1942 to give birth to their second son, Malise, on 14 May 1942. Hore-Ruthven was Temporary Major when he died in Misurata Italian Hospital in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

from wounds he received in a raid on a fuel dump near

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ...

. He died on 24 December 1942, and was buried in the war cemetery in Tripoli. A memorial fountain was constructed at

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

in Canberra.

Poetry

Hore-Ruthven wrote several

war poem A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...

s that were published in Australian and English newspapers. A collection of his poems was published posthumously in Australia in 1943 under the title ''The Happy Warrior'', with a preface written by his mother

Lady Gowrie Zara Hore-Ruthven, Countess of Gowrie ( Zara Eileen Pollok; 20 January 1879 – 19 July 1965) was the Anglo-Irish wife of the 1st Earl of Gowrie, Governor of South Australia 1928–34, Governor of New South Wales 1935–36 and the longest serv ...

. It was subsequently republished in London in 1944 under the title ''Desert Warrior: Poems''. His collected letters were published in London in 1950 under the title ''Joy of Youth''.

References

Sources

Profile
ThePeerage.com

nla.gov.au; accessed 11 June 2017.

External links

Picture
of the memorial fountain from the ACT Heritage Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Hore-Ruthven, Patrick 1913 births 1942 deaths Rifle Brigade officers Special Air Service officers British Army personnel killed in World War II Heirs apparent who never acceded People from Quetta 20th-century British poets British male poets 20th-century British male writers British people in colonial India Military personnel of British India