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War Memorial
Australia

Son of Charlotte RYRIE nee FAUNCE

Husband of Mrs. Mary Gwendolyn Frances RYRIE, Michelago, NSW

Extract from London Gazette 08 February 1916
'Appointed to The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael & St. George for service rendered in connection with Military operations in the filed dated from 1st January 1916.  To be additional member of the Third Class or companion of the said Most Distinguished Order.'

AUSTRALIAN NEW HIGH COMMISSIONER
Few appointments have been as popular with the rank and file of the Commonwealth community as that of Major-General Sir Granville Ryrie to the post of High Commissioner for Australia in London, in succession to Sir Joseph Cook. It is as a soldier that Sir Granville is best known to Australians. Throughout the Boer War he served with the 6th Imperial Bushmen, and, at the outbreak of the last war, again offered himself for service. He left for Gallipoli in December 1914, as temporary Brigadier-General, in command of the Second Light Horse Brigade. His outstanding ability led to early promotion to permanent work. He was known as the most popular officer on the Peninsula, and retained that reputation tnrougout his long service. He commanded the Light Horse in the defence of the Suez - Canal, and later was associated with General Allenby in the operations in the Arabian Desert and Palestine. While at Gallipoli he was twice wounded. A pastoralist in civil life, the new High Commissioner was first elected to the Legislative Assembly for Queanbeyan in 1906. He held the seat until the expiration of the Parliament in 1909. He contested the Cootamundra seat at the elections the following year, and was defeated. Then he entered Federal politics in 1911, when he won the North Sydney seat, rendered vacant by the death of Mr. G. B. Edwards. In 1922 he was returned unopposed for the new division of Warringah. From February, 1919, to February, 1922, he was Assistant-Minister for Defence.

SIR GRANVILLE RYRIE
DEAD

Former High Commissioner 
Distinguished Soldier
SYDNEY, Saturday. — Sir Granville Ryrie, High Commissioner for Australia from 1927 to 1932, died in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital today. Born at Michelago (N.S.W. ) in July, 1865, Granville de Laune Ryrie carried the freshness of the Southern High lands with him through life. When the. South African war broke out he was given command of a squadron of the Sixth Imperial Bushmen. Distinguished service earned him promotion to the rank of major, then to lieutenant-colonel. In the Great War he commanded the Second Light Horse Brigade in Egypt, Gallipoli, Palestine, and Syria, attaining the rank of brigadier-general. He was thrice wounded and five times mentioned in dispatches. Inquiries in Canberra to-night indicated that a State funeral would probably be given Sir Granville Ryrie, but no decision can be arrived at until the matter has been referred to the Prime Minister.

SIR G. RYRIE DEAD.
SOLDIER AND POLITICIAN.
Former High Commissioner.
SYDNEY, Oct. 3.-The death occurred on Saturday of Sir Graiville Ryrie, one of the most popular and picturesque war time leaders of the Australian Imperial Forces. "Bull" Ryrie, is he was known to the Diggers, led Lighthorsemen in the Mesopotamia campaign. He served for a period after the war as Australian High Commissioner in London. In recent months he had been in failing health. He was 72 years of age.
Granville de Laune Ryrie, the Aulstralian soldier and politician, was born in New South Wales in July, 1865, and educated at King's School, Parramatta. He belonged to an old and wealthy family of squatters and, although he was well known in society and political circles in Sydney and Melbourne, he was most at home on the land. On leaving school he took up agriculture and grafing and was for three years a member of the New South Wales Parliament. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1911, and sat until 1927, being Assistant Minister for Defence for three. years. He had some lively encounters with Labour members. On one occasion, objecting to the remarks of an athletic Labour Senator, Sir. Granville Ryrie, a fine athlete and boxer, challenged him to fight, but there was a reconciliation. He began his military career as a trooper during the war in South  Africa, where he gained, rapid promotion and was severely wounded. On his return home he was made a lieut.-colonel and for seven years commanded the 3rd Light Horse Regiment of New South Wales. During the Great War he led the 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade in Egypt and Palestine, and proved an ideal commander. He went through the campaign without making a serious mistake and was very popular with his men, whose hardships he shared. By the end of the war he was a major-general and in 1919 he vas knighted (K.C.M.G.).
In March, 1927, the announcement that he had been appointed to succeed Sir J. Cook as High Commissioner in London caused great surprise in Australia. Sir Granville Ryrie himself was astonished when the Prime Minister told him of his decision and protested that he was no diplomat. He held the position until 1932.
He married a daughter of the late Judge McFarland, having one son and two daughters.

THE LATE SIR GRANVILLE
RYRIE.
STATE FUNERAL AT MICHELAGO
The late Major-General Sir Granville de Laune Ryrie, former High Commissioner, a popular war-time leader, and a member of one of the earliest families to settle in the Monaro tableland, was buried on Monday afternoon in the tiny cemetery at Michelago — the town where he was born 72 years ago.
In the peaceful Monaro township he was accorded one of the few State funerals which have been held outside a capital city. State and Federal representatives attended the funeral, which in its simplicity and sympathy was most impressive and solemn.
The casket, draped with a Union Jack, and bearing the late general's sword and cap, was followed from the quaint and tiny Church of England by members of the Canberra Light Horse, with staff cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, presenting arms. Slowly the funeral cortege, headed by the Duntroon cadets with reversed arms, wound down the dusty road, followed by more than 150 motor cars — a procession a mile long. At the junction of the Cooma road the long line of mourners struck up the main road, leaving the small village behind. In the small cemetery, athwart a grassy hillside topped with trees, the body of Sir Granville Ryrie was laid to rest.

GRAVESIDE TRIBUTES
At the graveside staff cadets from Duntroon fired a salute after short addresses by the Minister for Transport in New South Wales (Mr. Bruxner), the member for Eden-Monaro (Mr. Perkins), and Mr. J. G. Bailey, ex-M.P. for Oxley. Many old soldiers gathered for the ceremony, and cars from distant towns brought mourners. Amongst the mourners from Braidwood were Colonel W. U. Alley, Capt. R. T. Hassall, and members of the Light Horse troop, and Mr. R. L. Macdonald, representing the King's School Old Boys' Union.