The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Strahan, Major Sir George Cumine
Strahan, Major Sir George Cumine, R.A., G.C.M.G., formerly Governor of Tasmania, was the son of the late Rev. W. D. Strahan, and was born in 1838. He was educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and entered the Royal Artillery as lieutenant in Oct. 1857, becoming captain in 1871 and major on the retired list in 1874. Sir George was appointed in Jan. 1859 aide-de-camp to Mr. Gladstone, when Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and continued in the same post under Sir Henry Storks. He was Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta for some time in 1868 to 1869, Colonial Secretary and acting Governor in the Bahamas from 1868 to 1873, Administrator of the Government of Lagos in 1873, Governor of the Gold Coast from 1874 to 1876, and of the Windward Islands from 1876 to 1880, when he was appointed Governor of Tasmania, a post which he held from Dec. 7th, 1881, to Oct. 28th, 1886. He married, in 1877, Catherine, eldest daughter of R. Reade, of New York (who died in 1878), and was created C.M.G. in 1875, K.C.M.G. in 1880. He died at Bournemouth on Feb. 17th, 1887.