General Sir Edmund Francis (Ned) Herring (2 September 1892-5 January 1982) was a renowned Australian senior officer in World War II. In September 1942 he became commander of New Guinea Force.

Herring also served in the British Army during World War I, earning the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross, as well as being Mentioned in Dispatches. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery in December 1914, and was posted to the 99th Field Artillery Brigade, serving in France and Macedonia. By the end of World War I he held the rank of captain and temporary rank of major.

After the war Herring trained in law, and later served for 20 years as Victoria's Chief Justice. He was also Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria for a record 27 years, retiring at the age of 80 in 1972, Chancellor of the Diocese of Melbourne, President of the Boy Scouts' Association of Victoria for 23 years and, from 1958, President of the Australian Boy Scouts' Association. His remarkable range of roles also included chairman of the trustees of the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance (1945-79) and the Australian War Memorial (1959-74).

Late in Herring's life his wife Dame Mary Herring contacted the Museum of Victoria with a view to donating his military collection to the Museum. Although he had a deep association with the Australian War Memorial, she felt that her husband had 'far closer links with Victoria than with a Canberra based institution such as the Australian War Memorial or the National Library of Australia, both of which will make strong claims for ownership.' (12/8/1980, Director F.J. Kendall to Premier Hamer). It was hoped that the collection would eventually become part of a war memorabilia museum in Melbourne. The collection, comprising 141 items (including parts), was received by the Museum in 1980, and the donation formalized in 1988.

References

Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/herring-sir-edmund-francis-ned-12626/text22747, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 11 July 2017.

Australian War Memorial web site https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10676793, accessed 11 July 2017.

Museums Victoria file RF 525: Research - General Herring Collection.

Geoff Browne, 'Herring, Sir Edmund Francis (Ned) (1892-1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/herring-sir-edmund-francis-ned-12626/text22747, published first in hardcopy 2007, accessed online 13 November 2018.

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