Sir Percy Wyn-Harris KCMG MBE

KStJ The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

(24 August 1903 – 25 February 1979) was an English

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

, colonial administrator, and

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sman. He worked in the

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

in Africa and served as Governor of the Gambia from 1949 to 1958.

Early life and mountaineering

Wyn-Harris was born in Acton,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

on 24 August 1903 as Percy Wynne Harris (he formally changed his name to Percy Wyn-Harris in 1953). He was the son of a company director and was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

, Holt, and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club. In 1925, he made the

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

without guides of the Brouillard Ridge on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

. In 1929, he met mountaineer

Eric Shipton Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Early years Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was e ...

and together they climbed the twin peaks of

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Meru people, Meru: ''Kĩrĩmaara,'' Kikuyu people, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba: ''Ki nyaa'', Embu language, Embu: ''Kĩ nyaga'') is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highe ...

, making the first ascent of Nelion, the secondary summit. A member of

Hugh Ruttledge Hugh Ruttledge (24 October 1884 – 7 November 1961) was an English civil servant and mountaineer who was the leader of two expeditions to Mount Everest in 1933 and 1936. Early life The son of Lt.-Colonel Edward Butler Ruttledge, of the Indian ...

's 1933 Mount Everest expedition, Wyn-Harris reached

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...

's record height of 8,573 m (28,126 feet). At around 8,460 m (27,920 ft), he discovered an ice axe, which was almost certainly a remnant of Mallory and

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier * Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia * Irvine Island * Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada * Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut Scotland *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotlan ...

's ill-fated attempt at the first ascent in 1924. Wyn-Harris returned to Everest in 1936, in an expedition again led by Hugh Ruttledge.

Colonial Service

Kenya

Wyn-Harris joined the

in Kenya in 1926. Beginning as a

district officer The District Officer (abbreviated to D.O.), was a commissioned officer of one of the colonial governments of the British Empire, from the mid-1930s also a member of the Colonial Service of the United Kingdom, who was responsible for a District of ...

, in 1939 to 1940 he served as Settlement Officer for

Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language. It may also refer to: *Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya * Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people *Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cen ...

land claims. He was the District Commissioner of Nyeri from 1941 to 1943, Labour Liaison Officer from 1943 to 1944, and Labour Commissioner from 1944 to 1945. He became Provincial Commissioner of the Central Province in 1946, serving for a year, then in 1947 Chief Native Commissioner and Minister for African Affairs, serving in this role until 1949. Lewis (2000) claims that in his time in Kenya Wyn-Harris viewed it as "overpopulated and desperately needing urbanization, birth control, and secondary industries."

The Gambia

Wyn-Harris was appointed as Governor of the Gambia in December 1949. His time in office coincided with a growth of nationalist sentiment in West Africa. It was his belief that the Gambia should not progress towards self-government; rather, it should maintain a permanent link with the United Kingdom and be administered locally: what he termed the '

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

option'. Wyn-Harris was also opposed to the development of political parties in the Gambia. His first constitution in 1951 increased the number of elected members of the Legislative Council from two to three. After the 1951 election, he also put up the number of unofficial members of the Executive Council and did so again with his 1953 constitution. Two of these members were granted specific portfolios and termed Ministers. Despite these reforms, Wyn-Harris was not popular among the people of Bathurst, particularly after he dismissed P. S. N'Jie from the Executive Council in January 1956. However, he was more popular in the Protectorate, having undertaken a determined effort to improve conditions there. Wyn-Harris left the Gambia in April 1958, having so upset the Bathurst population that he departed by slipping across the border into Senegal, rather than bowing out in a public ceremony. After his time in the Gambia, he was a member of the Devlin Commission of Enquiry into the Nyasaland disturbances of 1959 and served as the Administrator of the North Cameroons from October 1960 to June 1961. The North Cameroons was a region 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, ...

that had been a

League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I, involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing th ...

and had become a United Nations Trust Territory overseen by the United Kingdom. A United Nations

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

on the region's future conducted during his tenure resulted in the region formally becoming part of Nigeria at the end of May 1961. Kirk-Greene, A. H. M.
Harris, Sir Percy Wyn (1903–1979)
in ''

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'' online (subscription required), also published in book form by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004

Retirement and death

Between 1962 and 1969, Wyn-Harris circumnavigated the globe in his sloop ''Spurwing'', a Gunning Grundel. He died in

Petersfield, Hampshire Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth ...

, aged 75.

Honours

*1941: Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) *1949: 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 ...

(CMG) *1950: Knight of the

Order of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

(KStJ) *1952: Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyn-Harris, Percy 1903 births 1979 deaths English mountain climbers Colonial Administrative Service officers Governors of the Gambia People educated at Gresham's School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George English explorers Knights of the Order of St John British Kenya people British colonial people in Cameroon Military history of the Gambia Members of the Order of the British Empire