Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham,
GCMG ( zh, c=葛量洪; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Fiji
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...
.
Early life, colonial administration career
Grantham was born on 15 March 1899 and was educated at
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
, the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...
, and
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...
.
He was gazetted in the
18th Hussars in 1917 and joined the Colonial Administrative Service in Hong Kong in 1922. He was the Deputy Clerk of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...
for a short period in 1933. In 1934, he was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple and attended the
Imperial Defence College later that year.
Grantham became
Colonial Secretary of Bermuda from 1935 to 1938, and of Jamaica from 1938 to 1941. He then served as Chief Secretary of
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
from 1941 to 1944 and as
Governor of Fiji and
High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
The high commissioner for the Western Pacific was the chief executive officer of the British Western Pacific Territories, a United Kingdom, British British Empire, colonial entity, which existed from 1877 until 1976. Numerous colonial possessions ...
from 1945 to 1947.
Immediately after his tenure as High Commissioner ended, he became
Governor of Hong Kong
The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...
, until 1957. He opposed his predecessor, Sir
Mark Young's proposal of expanding social services on the grounds that the local Chinese population cared little about social welfare. Instead, he proposed the election of Unofficial members of the Legislative Council among British subjects only with the Governor holding reserved power to override LegCo decisions.
Legacy of governorship
His tenure marked the beginning of a unitary housing policy by the Hong Kong Government. In December 1953,
a fire burned down a large slum area in
Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, killing nine and leaving many homeless. It was under Grantham's administration that the government began to build settlement houses for the homeless. From that point on, the government was deeply involved in low-cost public housing programmes that allowed many Hong Kong people who could not afford to own a flat to live in government-owned housing estates at relatively low cost. The housing programme eventually evolved over time to allow people to buy low-cost housing and receive favourable loans to buy their own houses.
Honours
* Honorary
Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
,
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...
* Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree,
Hong Kong University
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
*
CMG, 1941
*
KCMG, 1945
*
GCMG, 1951
Personal life
Grantham grew up partly in
Tianjin
Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
, where his father practised law. Both his father and brother were killed in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. His mother then remarried, to
Johan Wilhelm Normann Munthe, and the family moved to
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
.
Grantham was married twice. His first marriage, in 1925, was to the well-travelled Maurine Samson, daughter of the late Amos Roland Samson and Liberty "Libby" Cole (Neal) of
Champaign County, Illinois
Champaign County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, its population was 205,865, making it the 10th-most populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Urbana, Ill ...
. The Governor's official yacht, a Hong Kong health clinic, and a locomotive, were named "Lady Maurine" after her.
[The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 5 – The Post War Years (1945 to 1978)]
Tymon, IHHKG, 9 June 2016. His first wife died in 1970, and Grantham married (Mrs) M.E. Lumley in 1972. He died on 4 October 1978.
Honours
* :
**

Companion of the
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
(C.M.G.) (1941)
**

Knight Commander of the
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
(K.C.M.G.) - Sir (1945)
**

Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...
(G.C.M.G.) - Sir (1951)
Places/facilities named after him
*
Grantham Hospital in
Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Aberdeen ( ; Chinese: 香港仔; ) is an area on southwest Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District. While the name "Aberdeen" could be taken in a broad sense to encompass the areas of Aberdeen (tow ...
*
Grantham College of Education in Hong Kong
*''
Alexander Grantham'', a
fireboat
A fireboat or Fire-float Pyronaut, fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with ...
of the
Fire Services Department of the Government of Hong Kong
*''Sir Alexander'', an
EMD G12 Diesel-electric locomotive No. 51, introduced in Hong Kong in 1955 and on display at the
Hong Kong Railway Museum[
]
Bibliography
*
See also
* History of Hong Kong
The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a Walled villages of Hong Kong, farming ...
References
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grantham, Alexander William George Herder
Chief secretaries (British Empire)
Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies
Military personnel from London
High commissioners for the Western Pacific
1899 births
1978 deaths
Governors of Fiji
Governors of Hong Kong
Chief secretaries of Nigeria
Colonial secretaries of Jamaica
British Army personnel of World War I
18th Royal Hussars officers
Members of the Inner Temple
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
People from Surbiton
20th-century Hong Kong people
20th-century British politicians
Colonial secretaries of Bermuda