Admiral Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt (translated to
Chinese as zh , t=
夏 慤 , j=haa6 kok3 , labels=no; 11 April 1892 – 19 December 1959) was a British naval officer. He was the ''de facto'' governor of
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
as commander-in-chief and head of the military administration from September 1945 to May 1946. He was called by the Chinese name "Ha Kok", a reference to the fourth-century Chinese nobleman .
[Gregory, F. E. C. (6 January 2011). "Harcourt, Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson (1892–1959)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. . Retrieved 14 May 2020.]
Military career
Harcourt was born in
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
, Kent, England, to Halliday Harcourt and Grace Lilian (née Jepson) on 11 April 1892. He was educated at Fonthill, East Grinstead, and later at the
Royal Naval College at Osborne and
Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to:
Places
* Dartmouth, Devon, England
** Dartmouth Harbour
* Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States
* Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia
Institutions
* Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...
(1904–1909).
He had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, which he entered as a midshipman on 15 September 1904, at the age of 12. He served in both world wars.
[Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-45]
/ref>
In 1939, Harcourt was appointed Director of the Admiralty's Operations Division. In 1941 he was Flag Captain of the Home Fleet, while commanding HMS ''Duke of York''. In August 1942 until January 1943 he commanded the 10th Cruiser Squadron
The 10th Cruiser Squadron, also known as Cruiser Force B was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1913 to 1917 and then again from 1940 to 1946.
First formation
The squadron was established in July 1913 and allocated to the T ...
of the Home Fleet. From 1942 to 1944 he took part in the North Africa campaign, the capture of Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
, Pantelleria
Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunisi ...
, Lampedusa
Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ''comune'' of ...
, and Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, and the landing at Salerno
Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...
. In 1944, he became Naval Secretary
The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing (and General Officers).
Their counterpart in the British Army is the Military Secretary. The Royal Air Force equiv ...
. In 1945, he was Flag Officer Commanding 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron
The British 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron also called Eleventh Aircraft Carrier Squadron was a military formation of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy from 1 March 1945 to December 1945.
History
The 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron was establis ...
,[ with his flag in HMS ''Colossus''.
Harcourt commanded Task Group 111.2 for the reoccupation of ]Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
with his carriers, three cruisers, four destroyers, a submarine, and mine-sweeping flotillas. He ordered his carriers' planes to destroy a small number of Japanese suicide motor boats near Hong Kong. The pre-war colonial secretary Franklin Gimson
Sir Franklin Charles Gimson (10 September 1890 – 13 February 1975) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Singapore from 1946 to 1952.
Gimson assumed the post of the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong in December 1941. H ...
took Harcourt to the prisoner of war camps and hospitals. Their first stop was the Stanley Internment Camp
Stanley Internment Camp () was a civilian internment camp in Hong Kong during the Second World War. Located in Stanley, on the southern end of Hong Kong Island, it was used by the Japanese imperial forces to hold non- Chinese enemy nationals ...
, which Harcourt reported:
On arriving we found everyone awaiting us and we had a most unforgettable welcome. The Union Flag had been produced by an ex-Naval rating who had hidden it in his bedding when Hong Kong was captured and had managed to hide it for the whole period so as to be ready for this occasion. The morale ... was extremely high despite the obvious effects of malnutrition which could be seen on every face. The enthusiasm and the cheering really had to be seen and heard to be believed, it was so obviously spontaneous and seemed to express the pent-up feelings of all these years. I shall never forget it.
On 16 September, Harcourt received the surrender of Japan (under Major-General Hisakazu Tanaka
was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and governor of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong in World War II. His name is occasionally transliterated "Tanaka Hisaichi".
Biography Early career
Tanaka was born in Hyōgo Prefecture to th ...
and Vice-Admiral Ruitaka Fujitain) in Government House
Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries.
Gover ...
. He was the ''de facto'' governor of Hong Kong as commander-in-chief and head of the military administration until May 1946. On 18 December 1945, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...
(KCB). In 1946, he was promoted to vice-admiral.
In 1947, Harcourt became Flag Officer (Air) and Second in Command Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
. In 1948, he became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel
The Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (formerly Second Sea Lord) is deputy to the First Sea Lord and the second highest-ranking officer to currently serve in the Royal Navy and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establish ...
as well as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, and in 1950 Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the ...
.[ He retired in 1952.][ He died en route to St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea, London, on 19 December 1959. A memorial service was held at ]St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...
in January 1960.
Commands
Ships (and station) under Harcourt's command included:
* HMS ''Wessex'' (1931)
* HMS ''Stuart'' (1935; leader of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla)
* HMS ''President'' (1939)
* HMS ''Duke of York'' (1941)
* (1942)
* HMS ''Aurora'' (1942)
* HMS ''Cleopatra'' (1943)
* (1945)
* HMS ''Tamar'' (1945, as Administrator of Hong Kong from shore station)
* HMS ''Newfoundland'' (1943)
* (1945, used to hoist flag during restoration of British command in Hong Kong from Japanese control)
Family
On 17 April 1913, he assumed the surname "Harcourt-Morris", but this lasted only a short time.[
In 1920 he became the second husband of the English pianist Evelyn Suart, a widow. They had no children of their own. One of her daughters by her first marriage was the noted ballerina Diana Gould, who later became the second wife of the violinist ]Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name:
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor
** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England
** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...
. Her sister Griselda became the second wife of the pianist Louis Kentner
Louis Philip Kentner (19 July 190523 September 1987) was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire.
Life and career
He was born Lajos Kentner in Karwin in Austrian ...
.Naxos
/ref> After Evelyn Suart's death in 1950, Harcourt married Stella, widow of Air Commodore David Waghorn, in 1953.[
]
Honours
Harcourt's honours:
*Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE), 1940
*Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
, November 1942
*Companion of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...
(CB), 1943
*Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), 18 December 1945
*Grand Cordon of the Order of the Cloud and Banner
The Order of the Cloud and Banner () also known as the Order of the Resplendent Banner is a military award of the Republic of China. It was instituted on June 15, 1935 and is awarded in nine grades for contributions to national security. The insig ...
, 1946
* Order of St. Olav, 1951
*Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...
, 1952
*Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), 1953
Namesakes
* Harcourt Road, Hong Kong
* Harcourt Garden, Hong Kong
References
External links
* British Path
EASTERN NEWS FLASHES 08/10/1945
Newsreel includes Harcourt receiving Japanese surrender.
* CNN
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, Cecil
1892 births
1959 deaths
Governors of Hong Kong
Hong Kong soldiers
Hong Kong people of World War II
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Lords of the Admiralty
People from Bromley
Royal Navy admirals
Military personnel from Kent