Franklin Charles Gimson

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Sir Charles Gimson
Governor of Singapore
In office
1 April 1946 – 15 November 1952
Preceded by Lord Mountbatten (Military Government)
Succeeded by John Fearns Nicoll
Born 10 September 1890
Flag of England Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, England
Died 1975

Sir Franklin Charles Gimson, KCMG, KStJ (Chinese: 詹遜, 10 September 1890 - 1975）was a British colonial administrator, who breifly served as the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong before the surrender of then Governor Sir Mark Young in 25 December 1941. He established a short-lived provisional government after the liberation of Hong Kong and was later appointed Governor of Singapore in 1946.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Gimson was born on 10 September 1890 in Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, England and his father was the Rev. C. K. Gimson. He attended Balliol College, Oxford in his early years and gained a BA degree.

[edit] Colonial Services

Gimson went to the British Ceylon in 1914. He was employed by the colonial government there and became a cadet. In 1937, he was promoted to the post of the Controller of Labour. Few years later, Gimson was sent to Hong Kong and he eventually arrived at Hong Kong on 7 December 1941. Next morning, the Japanese army started the Battle of Hong Kong by an unexpected and sudden invasion and Gimson was appoined Colonial Secretary by then Governor Sir Mark Young on the same day. However, by Christmas Day on 25 December (also known as Black Christmas), the British army lost the battle and Sir Mark decided to surrender. Once the Japanese militants gained full control of Hong Kong, Sir Mark, Gimson and other British subjects were arrested and became prisoners of war. Most of them, including Gimson, were imprisoned in the Stanley Prison during the Japanese Occupation.

After 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation, the Japanese government finally declared an unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. Right after the surrender, the representatives of the Allies were on the way, so the Japaneses were still responsible for the public order of Hong Kong. But many kinds of regulations were immediately cancelled. On the other hand, the British Ambassador to China, Sir Horace James Seymour-Conway was in Chongqing on the eve of the Japanese surrender. He sent out a message to Gimson, calling him to exercise the sovereign on behalf of the British government. Gimson was chosen to complete the mission because Sir Mark was imprisoned in Shenyang at that time and therefore he was the most senior British official in Hong Kong. Gimson received the order from Sir Horace on 16 August. He then left the prison, took control of Hong Kong from the Japaneses, organized all the fromer colonial officials to foram a provisional government and made himself acting governor. On 27 August, Gimson made a furthur announcement through radio, stating the provisional government had been established.

On 30 August 1945, Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt and his warships entered Victoria Harbour. Since Harcourt was asked to form a military government by London, Gimson handed the government over to him and the military government was officially formed on 1 September. Rear Admiral Harcourt himself became the head of the military government and Gimson was briefly appointed Lieutenant governor by him. Yet, Harcourt later appointed another set of people in early September.

[edit] Governor of Singapore

Gimson was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Singapore on 1 April 1946. He abolished the military government which was set up by Lord Mountbatten and reinstalled the colonial civil government. In the first 2 years of his governorship, the recovery of economy in Singapore was slow and a large scale of riot broke out in 1947. In June 1947, Singapore became a saparate Crown Colony and both Legislative and Executive Council were established. Following in March 1948, Gimson allowed 6 of the 25 seats in the Legislative to be generated by election.

In June 1948, an armed insurgency by communist groups in Malaya — the Malayan Emergency — broke out, and the British imposed harsh measures to control left-wing groups in both Singapore and Malaya; the controversial Internal Security Act, which allowed indefinite detention without trial for persons suspected of being "threats to security", was introduced 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 contacts between Singaporean Chinese and China, which had just fallen under the rule of the Communist Party of China. Tan Kah Kee, a local businessman and philanthropist, was denied re-entry into Singapore after he made a trip to China.

A second Legislative Council election was held in 1951 with the number of elected seats increased to nine but the colonial administration was still obviously dominant. Gimson retired from colonial services on 15 November 1952 and died in 1975.

[edit] Family

Gimson married Margaret Dorothy Ward, MBE in 1922 and they had 2 daughters. Margaret was the daughter of Canon Ward.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Others

[edit] See Also

[edit] Reference

Preceded by:
Norman Lockhart Smith		 Colonial Secretary
of Hong Kong
1941		 Succeeded by:
Japanese Occupation
Preceded by:
Hisaichi Tanaka
Japanese Governor of Hong Kong		 Head of Provisional Colonial Government
in Hong Kong
1945		 Succeeded by:
Rear Admiral Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt
Preceded by:
Earl of Mountbatten
Head of Military Government		 Governor of Singapore
1946 - 1952		 Succeeded by:
John Fearns Nicoll
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