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Sir Arthur Porritt, the Olympic athlete, New Zealand’s first Rhodes scholar, decorated war hero, respected medical author, surgeon to the Royal family and New Zealand’s 11th Governor General began his extraordinary life at Wanganui on 10 August 1900.

Prefect, athletics champion and member of the first XV at Wanganui Collegiate School, Arthur Porritt then moved on to study Medicine at the University of Otago.

In 1923 he became the first New Zealander to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship to continue his study in medicine at the University of Oxford, where in his own words he had the ‘time to be a bit athletic . . . and play a bit of rugby’(Te Ara). Whilst at Oxford, Porritt represented New Zealand at the Olympics in Paris, winning a bronze medal in the 100 metres, a race immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire (Porritt’s modestly leading him to turn down the opportunity to be memorialised in the film). From this point onwards Porritt held a leading role in New Zealand’s involvement in both the Olympic and Commonwealth games. After his time at Oxford Porritt began work as a surgeon coming to be known as an ‘ever kind and considerate doctor much loved by his patients’ whilst also becoming a well respected author in the medical field.

With the outbreak of World War II Porritt became a brigadier in the Royal Army Medical Corps, spending time in France, Egypt and landing in Normandy on D-Day. He made an OBE in 1943, a CBE in 1945 and was appointed an officer in the US Legion of Merit. On returning to London Porritt then became a surgeon to the royal family, a post he held for three decades. At the same time he was President of the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons of England simultaneously. Porritt was appointed a KCMG in 1950 a KCVO in 1957 and a baronet in 1963. It was not until 1967 that Porritt returned to New Zealand when he became the country’s 11th Governor General and the first of which to be born in New Zealand. Throughout his time as Governor General Porritt was known as a quiet and formal man who nonetheless carried out his duties conscientiously and without controversy. At the end of his term as Governor General Porritt returned to England to sit on the House of Lords as an independent member. While his time in New Zealand was relatively short Porritt saw himself as a ‘complete Pommy’ whom ‘never ceased to be a New Zealander’ (Te Ara). Furthermore with an Athletic stadium in Hamilton, streets in Wanganui and Wellington and a house at his old school named after him, it is clear he is a treasured expatriate.

This image shows a slide of Arthur Porritt and his team mates in the Otago University Athletic Team 1922. The slide was sent to Porritt along with the letter welcoming him back to New Zealand and congratulating him on his appointment as Governor General by Millie Kirkland. Millie (along with her teddy bear) accompanied her father to athletic training with Porritt back in 1922. This letter is part of a larger record of messages of welcome to Sir Arthur Porritt on his appointment as Governor General in 1967 and one of many records created by the Governor General’s Department held by Archives New Zealand. This series includes detailed records of Porritt and his family’s life while he was Governor General, for example Archives New Zealand holds the Daily Engagements of Sir Arthur and Lady Porritt as well as a record of the marriage of their daughter titled ‘Joanne's Wedding File’.