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. However, his appointment was interrupted by the Battle of Hong Kong. He became a prisoner of war when then Governor Sir Mark Young surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army on Christmas Day 1941. After spending more than three years in Stanley Internment Camp as an internee, Gimson was freed in August 1945, upon the Liberation of Hong Kong. He formed a short-lived provisional government and briefly declared himself "acting governor", but this administration was soon replaced when Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt established the military government following in September.

Gimson was the first Governor of Singapore from 1946 to 1952 and reinstalled the civil administration in Singapore. During his governorship, he witnessed the establishment of the legislative council and the Executive Council (Commonwealth countries), executive council in 1947. His governorship was also marked by the increasingly unstable political situation which was provoked by the Malayan Emergency, and the controversial legislation of the Internal Security Act (Singapore), Internal Security Act.

Biography

Early life

Gimson was born on 10 September 1890 in Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, England, to the Rev. Charles Keightley Gimson. He was educated at Pate's Grammar School, Cheltenham Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts, BA.

Early colonial service

Gimson entered the British Ceylon Ceylon Civil Service, Civil Service as a cadet in November 1914. In the beginning he was attached to the Office of the Naval Intelligence Officer in addition to his own duties. Later on he became an additional Magistrate, police magistrate in Colombo. In 1918 he was sent on military service during the World War I, First World War and returned to the colonial administration as an additional assistant Chief secretary (British Empire), colonial chief secretary in July 1919. Two months later he was transferred to North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province as Government Agent (Sri Lanka), assistant government agent.

Gimson was appointed Chief Secretary (British Empire), additional assistant colonial secretary for the second time in March 1920 and was promoted to the post of 4th assistant colonial secretary in September 1920. Subsequently, he was sent to Mannar, Sri Lanka, Mannar as acting assistant government agent in February 1922. In February 1924, he was promoted to the Customs Department as landing surveyor and acted as acting deputy controller from March to May in 1928. Gimson left the Customs in March 1929 and was appointed as an additional assistant to the Director of Education. Later in July 1931 he became secretary to the Minister of Education.

In February 1932, Gimson was appointed assistant government agent of Trincomalee and in December 1933, appointed assistant government agent of Kegalle. In August 1935, he involved in a special duty to help organise the forthcoming general election of members of the State Council of Ceylon, state council. Afterwards, he was appointed the chairman of the Municipal Council of Kandy in June 1936 but was eventually given the post of Controller of Labour in 1937. Gimson held this office until 1941 and he gained the rank of class one officer in 1938.

Life as colonial secretary and internment in Hong Kong

Gimson was promoted to the post of Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong in 1941 and arrived at the colony on 7 December, just the day before the Imperial Japanese Army, Japanese Army initiated its unexpected and sudden large-scale invasion to Hong Kong. The defence forces of Hong Kong soon lost in the Battle of Hong Kong and the then Governor of Hong Kong, governor, Sir Mark Young, was forced to surrender on 25 December, which is now known as the ''Christmas Day, Black Christmas''. After the Japanese victory, all British officials were arrested and were under Japanese rule. Since the Governor was interned elsewhere, Gimson became the representative of the former government who was responsible for dealing with the Japanese over the issue of transfer of power. For some time he even set up a provisional liaison office in Prince's Building, Central, Hong Kong, Central.

In March 1942, Gimson was finally sent to Stanley Internment Camp, where most British colonial officials and expatriates were interned. During the internment, the British civilian internees established the "British Communal Council", which tried in a limited way to maintain the life and order in the camp. As the highest-ranking British official in the camp, Gimson became the chairman of the council and was also responsible to negotiate with the Japanese on matters relating to the camp.

After three years and eight months of Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, Japanese occupation, the Emperor of Japan finally announced an unconditional surrender to the Allies of World War II, Allies on 15 August 1945. Immediately after the unconditional surrender was made, the Japanese authority had to continue to maintain the order of Hong Kong as the Allies were still on the way to take over. However, all the prohibitions and regulations set by the Japanese were entirely lifted and abolished instantly. On the other hand, on the eve of the surrender of Japan, the List of Ambassadors from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, British Ambassador to China, Horace James Seymour, Sir Horace Seymour, had already tried to make contact with Gimson from Chongqing, urging him to exercise the sovereignty on behalf of the British government. Although Seymour's order arrived late on 23 August, Gimson had declared himself "acting governor" and had started to prepare for a "provisional government" on 16 August after knowing Japanese had surrendered. Receiving Seymour's order on 23 August, Gimson and other internees left the camp and took over the authority from Japan. Gimson was sworn as acting governor by Chief Justice Atholl MacGregor. He and other former colonial officials set up the headquarters of the provisional government in the Former French Mission Building. On 27 August, Gimson made a further announcement through radio, stating the provisional government had been established. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the provisional rule, the government had to rely on the Japanese troops to maintain the order of Hong Kong since the power of the administration was limited.

On 30 August 1945, Rear Admiral Cecil H.J. Harcourt, Cecil Harcourt and his warships entered Victoria Harbour. Since Harcourt was asked to form a Stratocracy, military government by London, Gimson transferred the power to him and the military government was officially formed on 1 September. Harcourt himself became the head of the military government and Gimson was appointed lieutenant governor by him. Yet, the creation of the office of lieutenant governor was deemed unsuitable by the Colonial Office and therefore Gimson was soon replaced by a chief civil affairs officer and his team sent from London on 7 September. Gimson himself was in fact in poor health as a result of more than three years of internment. For health reasons, he left for the United Kingdom on 16 September. On the day before his departure, he commented in a radio programme that Hong Kong should undergo political reform in the future.

Governor of Singapore

After spending some time recovering in the United Kingdom, Gimson became Governor of Singapore, governor and commander-in-chief of Singapore when the Straits Settlements colony came to an end on 1 April 1946. He abolished the military government which had been set up by Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Lord Louis Mountbatten (as he then was) in 1945, and reinstalled a colonial civil administration. As Singapore was now a separate Crown colony, both legislative and executive councils of Singapore were established. In the first two years of Gimson’s governorship, the recovery of the economy in Singapore was slow, and in 1947 a large riot broke out. In March 1948, Gimson allowed six of the twenty-five seats in the legislative council to be elected.

In June 1948, an Malayan Emergency, armed insurgency by communist groups in Federation of Malaya, Malaya broke out, and the British imposed harsh measures to control left-wing groups in both Singapore and Malaya; the controversial Internal Security Act (Singapore), Internal Security Act, which allowed indefinite detention without trial for persons suspected of being "threats to security", was enacted in Singapore at this time. Since the left-wing groups were the strongest critics of the colonial system, progress on self-government stalled for several years. The colonial government also tried to prevent contact between Singaporean Chinese and the People's Republic of China, which was Proclamation of the People's Republic of China, proclaimed by the Communist Party of China in October 1949. Tan Kah Kee, a Singapore businessman and philanthropist, made a trip to China in 1949 and was denied re-entry into Singapore when he planned to return in 1950.

In April 1950, Gimson was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Singapore: as he left a boxing event at which he had been presenting prizes, a grenade was thrown at him which bounced off his leg and exploded harmlessly some distance away.

A second legislative council election was held in 1951 with the number of elected seats increased to nine, but the colonial administration was still dominant. Gimson retired from the colonial service the following year and left Singapore on the P&O Liner RMS Corfu, ''Corfu'' on 20 March 1952. He was succeeded in the post of governor by John Fearns Nicoll, John Nicoll, another former Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong.

Later years

Gimson spent his time back in the United Kingdom in retirement. He died in his house, "Applegarth", in Thornton-le-Dale, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, on 13 February 1975, aged 84.

Family

Gimson married Margaret Dorothy Ward in 1922. She was appointed in the 1936 New Year Honours for services during a malaria epidemic in Ceylon. The couple had two daughters.

Honours

* (1945)
* (1946)
* (1950)

Others

*Honorary Doctor of Law (presented by the University of Malaya in 1952)
*Member of the Royal Commonwealth Society
*wikt:Freeman, Freeman of the City of Singapore

See also

* Battle of Hong Kong
*History of Singapore

Footnotes

References

GIMSON, Sir Franklin Charles
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)
*

''Singapore'', World Statesmen.

''Singapore – Aftermath of War'', Library of Congress, 18 June 2006.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gimson, Franklin Charles
Administrators in British Singapore
Governors of Hong Kong
1890 births
British military personnel of World War I
1975 deaths
Military personnel from Leicestershire
People from Barrow upon Soar
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Chief Secretaries of Hong Kong
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan
Hong Kong people of World War II
World War II political leaders
Governors of the Straits Settlements