Alexander of Tunis, Earl (1891-1969), was a British military leader and statesman and the last British-born governor general of Canada. He was one of the main Allied battle commanders during World War II (1939-1945). Alexander served as governor general of Canada from 1946 to 1952. He traveled extensively in the country and was highly popular. During his term, in 1949, Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) became Canada’s 10th province.
Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander was born on Dec. 10, 1891, in London. In 1911, he became an officer in the Irish Guards of the British Army and later commanded a battalion in France during World War I (1914-1918).
During World War II, Alexander organized the evacuation of Allied troops at Dunkerque, France, in 1940. Later, he served as British commander in Burma (now Myanmar), the Middle East, and North Africa. Alexander directed the Allied campaigns in Sicily and Italy in 1943 and 1944. In 1944, he was named supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean area. The same year, Alexander became the youngest field marshal in the British Commonwealth. He was made a viscount in 1946 and an earl in 1952. Alexander was the United Kingdom’s minister of defense from 1952 to 1954. He died on June 16, 1969.
