Papers of Sir Arthur Espie Porritt, 1900-1994

Papers of Sir Arthur Espie Porritt, 1900-1994

A page from Porritt’s little diary for 1924, in which he records his bronze medal in the 1924 Olympic 100 metres. This was the race won by Harold Abrahams, and featured in the classic film Chariots of Fire. The entry is brief, but his excitement is clear.

Sir Arthur Porritt was a man of many parts: a Rhodes Scholar; an athlete who won a bronze medal for New Zealand at the 1924 “Chariots of Fire” Paris Olympics; a sport administrator, who captained and managed New Zealand Olympic teams, mentored Jack Lovelock to his famous Olympic victory, and was for many years a member of the International Olympic Committee; a prominent surgeon and writer on surgical and medical topics, whose practice included the Royal Household; a brigadier serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in North Africa and Europe; president of both the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons; the first New Zealand-born Governor General and a member of the House of Lords. In addition, he belonged to a wide variety of social, professional and sporting organisations, in most of which he played a prominent role.

The papers include a full set of diaries, wide-ranging correspondence, photographs, autobiographical writings and other papers. They reflect all facets of his career from his earliest days in Wanganui to his tenure as Governor General. Covering most of the twentieth century, they provide a valuable historical and social insight into the multitude of activities in which he was engaged, into British and New Zealand society, in peace and war, and the world view of an Anglocentric expatriate.

The papers have been generously donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library by Sir Arthur's daughter, the Hon. Mrs Joanna Meredith-Hardy, on behalf of the Porritt family.

Image: Sir Arthur, in full Governor-General regalia, in conversation with a group of workmen who had been painting Government House, December 1967. (Photographer: James Morris, EP-NZ Obits-Porritt, Sir Arthur-01, Dominion Post photographic negatives and prints, Alexander Turnbull Library.)

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image

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