• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE0742

Munro Ferguson, Helen Hermione

(1865 – 1941)
  • Born 1 January, 1865
  • Died 9 April, 1941
  • Occupation Charity worker

Summary

Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, daughter of the viceroy, the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, was president and founder of the Australian Branch of the British Red Cross Society. The wife of Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson (1860-1934), Governor-General of Australia 1914-1920, she established the Australian Branch of the British Red Cross Society on 13 August 1914. During World War I the ballroom of Melbourne’s Government House was taken over by Lady Munro Ferguson’s work for the Society. In 1918 she was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for her work during World War I. Following the end of her husband’s term as Governor-General, on 6 October 1920, the Munro Fergusons returned to Scotland.

Published resources

  • Journal Article
    • The Best P.M. for the Empire'? Lady Helen Munro Ferguson and the Australian Red Cross Society, 1914-1920, Oppenheimer, Melanie, 2002
  • Resource

Archival resources

  • Australian War Memorial, Research Centre
    • Red Cross House Badge
    • Ladies of Voluntary Aid Detachments marching past Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, wife of the Governor General, in front of Government House.
  • National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
    • Papers of F. M. Pharo, [ca. 1900]-1922 [manuscript]
  • National Library of Australia
    • Papers of Sir Ronald Craufurd Munro-Ferguson
  • Australian War Memorial Research Centre
    • Friendly Union of Soldiers' Wives and Mothers, Australian Imperial Forces

Related entries


  • Presided
    • Australian Red Cross (1914 - )
  • Related Concepts
    • International Humanitarian Law, Australian Red Cross
  • Related Organisations
    • Friendly Union of Soldiers' Wives and Mothers: Australian Imperial Forces (1915 - 1946)