Thomas Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan

Thomas Godfrey Polson Corbett, 2nd Baron Rowallan, (19 December 1895 – 30 November 1977), had a distinguished military career in the British Army and was Governor of Tasmania from 1959 to 1963. The Boy Scouts Association appointed him as its Chief Scout of the British Commonwealth and Empire from 1945 to 1959.

Family life and death The first son of Archibald Corbett, the Liberal politician and property developer, and Alice Mary, the daughter of John Polson, a corn merchant, Thomas Corbett was born in Chelsea, London, on 19 December 1895 and was brought up in London and on the family's Scottish estates. Known as "Billy" to the family, he was educated at Gibbs School in Sloane Street, London, Wellington House Preparatory School in Westgate-on-Sea and Eton College. His mother died of sepsis, in 1902. His elder sister, Elsie Cameron Corbett, became a volunteer ambulance driver in Serbia during the First World War and was awarded British and Serbian medals. His younger brother, Arthur Cameron Corbett, died in military service.

Second World War Between the wars, Corbett served as Adjutant of the Ayrshire Yeomanry. In 1939, Corbett raised a new Territorial Army battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers whom he accompanied to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. Evacuated from Cherbourg during Operation Aerial, he was then given command of a Young Soldiers’ Battalion in the Scottish Highlands; the adventurous training he initiated was based in part on his long association with the Scout Movement. His success earned him the position of Commandant at the new Highland Fieldcraft Training Centre in Glenfeshie and Poolewe, which had been established to provide leadership experience to junior officers. A measure of his influence is that a "Rowallan Company" was formed at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1977 using his methods to improve the performance of Officer Cadets.

National Bank of Scotland Rowallan was a Governor of the National Bank of Scotland from 1947 until 1953.

Governor of Tasmania Lord Rowallan became Governor of Tasmania on 21 October 1959, despite the Labor Party having resolved that the next Governor of Tasmania should be an Australian. He did much to promote Tasmania and to protect its interests and sovereignty. In his spare time, he built up a herd of Jersey cattle at Government House and sailed a yacht which he later gave to the local Sea Scouts. Following his illness and leave in 1961, his term of office ended on 25 March 1963. Rowallan also served on the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement's committee from 1947 until 1953.

As the Boy Scouts Association's Chief Scout, Rowallan travelled widely, encouraging the post-war growth of Scouting; his tours included: Belgium (April 1945) Canada (August – September 1946) Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast and Nigeria including the West African Jamboree (January – March 1947) United States of America (May 1948) Australia and New Zealand (1948–49) Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland (January – March 1950) Kenya, Zanzibar, Tanganyika and Uganda (October – December 1950) Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent and Trinidad (January – April 1952) Suez Canal Zone, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, Greece and Italy (May – June 1954) Scandinavia (July 1954) Borneo, Brunei, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore (September – October 1954) Australia including the Pan-Pacific Jamboree, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands (December 1955 – February 1956) Canada (September – October 1958) Southern Rhodesia including the Central African Jamboree (May 1959)

In 1957, the International Conference of the Boy Scout Movement's committee awarded Rowallan its only distinction, the Bronze Wolf, for exceptional services to world Scouting. The Boy Scouts of America awarded Rowallan its highest award, the Silver Buffalo Award in 1948. Scout camp sites in Riddells Creek in Victoria, and Wrexham in Wales are named after him, as is the Kenya Scouts Association Headquarters Campsite in Nairobi.

Other awards and recognition Knight of the Order of the Thistle in March 1957. Freedom of the City of Edinburgh, March 1957

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