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Anderson, Sir David Murray (1874-1936)
Governor, 1933-1935
Anderson was born in England on April 11, 1874. A distinguished naval officer, he began his
career at the age of 13, and became a lieutenant at 20. In 1905, he was promoted to commander
and, by 1911, he was a captain. After four decades of service, with high-ranking posts in South
Africa and Britain, Anderson was made an admiral in 1931. The next year he retired from the
navy. He resumed his service to the Crown, however, in 1933, when he took office as governor of
Newfoundland.
Anderson served as the last governor of the Dominion of Newfoundland, and as the first chairman
of Newfoundland's Commission of Government. Anderson only acted as dominion governor for a
short time before Newfoundland, on the brink of bankruptcy, was forced to relinquish its
dominion status. A Commission of Government was immediately formed with Anderson as
chairman. As chairman, Anderson liked to remain neutral, and tended to act on the advice of the
group (Noel 227). He was involved with restructuring public services, including government
departments, social services, the health system, the postal system, and the tariff system. He and
the commissioners struggled to find a solution to the island's desperate economic problems,
while, at the same time, trying to maintain order among an increasingly discontented public.
Anderson ended his term in 1935, in the midst of much discontent. He was made governor of
New South Wales later that year. He died on October 30, 1936, less than a year after he took
office in Sydney, Australia.
August, 2000.
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