The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada before being reviewed by the Governor General Lord Bessborough before presenting medals in front of the Vancouver Court House and Vancouver Hotel, 10 April, 1935. Piper Ed Esson is speaking to the Governor General. This photo has been cropped. Captain Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough PC GCMG (27 October 1880 – 10 March 1956) was a British businessman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 14th since Canadian Confederation. Ponsonby was born and educated in England, obtaining a degree in law from the University of Cambridge, and then entered the political field wherein he served as a member of the London County Council before being in 1910 elected to the British House of Commons. Upon the death of his grandfather, ten years later, Ponsonby became the Earl of Bessborough and took his place in the House of Lords until 1931. He was in 1931 appointed as governor general by King George V, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Ramsay MacDonald, to replace the Earl of Willingdon as viceroy, and occupied that post until succeeded by the Lord Tweedsmuir in 1935. Bessborough strongly promoted the new communication technologies and offered support to the Canadian populace during the Great Depression. After the end of his viceregal tenure, he returned to the United Kingdom, where he continued to practise business and also work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before his death in March 1956.