19 December 2006 High Commissioner's visit renews family link with Lincoln

A touch of déjà vu attended the visit to Lincoln University in September by newly appointed British High Commissioner George Fergusson.

Forty-two years earlier the High Commissioner's father, Governor-General Sir Bernard Fergusson, trod the same campus pathways during a Vice-Regal visit to the then Lincoln College.

A highlight of that 1964 occasion was Student President John Henderson inducting Sir Bernard as an honorary member of the Students' Association.

To mark the latest Fergusson visit and to recall that 1964 incident the current President of the Lincoln University Students' Association, Paul Rutherford, presented the High Commissioner with a framed photograph of John Henderson presenting Sir Bernard with the lapel badge of association membership.

To make the occasion particularly special, the picture was presented to George Fergusson as close as possible to the spot where his father had stood to receive his membership badge 42 years earlier.

When reminded of the Vice-Regal visit of 1964 ex-President John Henderson, who now lives in retirement in Dunedin, recalled that the students had initially intended to "kidnap" Sir Bernard on his way to the campus, as they had done with another VIP on an earlier occasion. The mock kidnap plan was, however, scuttled by those responsible for the Governor-General’s safety when they were informed of it.

George Fergusson’s connections with New Zealand stretch back beyond his father to his grandfather, Sir Charles Fergusson, who was a Governor-General of New Zealand from 1924-1930.

George lived in New Zealand with his parents from the age of 7 to 12 and returned for another period after leaving school in the UK. A career in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has taken him to many parts of the world. His wife Margaret works for the British Council. They have two daughters at university in the UK and a son still at school.

The High Commissioner spent three hours at Lincoln University during which time he was given a number of presentations about the University’s activities and capabilities, and he also visited Ivey Hall as his father had done.