The New Student's Reference Work/Minto, Gilbert John, fourth earl of
Min′to, Gilbert John, G.C.M.G., fourth earl of, governor-general of India since 1905 and previously known in the Canadian Dominion under his junior title of Viscount Melgund, was born in 1845. Early in his career he entered the Scots Guards, was attached to the Turkish army on the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, served in Afghanistan in 1879, and two years later accompanied Sir Frederick Roberts to South Africa as military secretary. During 1883-6 he was military secretary to Lord Landsdowne, then governor-general of Canada, and chief of staff in a short campaign against the insurgent Riel in the northwestern territories of the Dominion. He succeeded to the earldom in 1891, and in 1898 was appointed governor-general of Canada.