Percy Wyn-Harris

Sir Percy Wyn-Harris KCMG KStJ MBE (born Percy Wynne Harris on 24 August 1903 in Acton, Middlesex; died 25 February 1979 in Petersfield, Hampshire) was an English mountaineer, political administrator, and yachtsman. He was Governor of The Gambia from 1949 to 1958 and was knighted in 1952.Kirk-Greene, A. H. M., [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31861 Harris, Sir Percy Wyn (1903–1979)] , in "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" online (subscription required), also published in book form by Oxford University Press, 2004]

Early life and mountaineering

Wyn-Harris was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where as an undergraduate he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club.

In 1925, he made the first ascent without guides of the Brouillard Ridge on Mont Blanc. In 1929, while serving with the Colonial Service in Kenya, Wyn-Harris met mountaineer Eric Shipton and together they climbed the twin peaks of Mount Kenya. A member of Hugh Ruttledge's 1933 Mount Everest expedition, Wyn-Harris reached Edward Norton's record height of 28,126 feet (8573 m). At around 27,500 feet (8380 m), he discovered Andrew Irvine's or quite possibly George Mallory's ice-axe, a remnant of Irvine and George Mallory's ill-fated attempt at a first ascent in 1924. Wyn-Harris returned to Everest in 1936, in an expedition again led by Hugh Ruttledge.

Colonial Service

Wyn-Harris served with the Colonial Service in Africa for over thirty years and was Governor of The Gambia from 1949 to 1958. Subsequently, from October 1960 to June 1961, he served as Administrator of the Northern Cameroons, a region of Nigeria that previously had been a League of Nations mandate but had become a United Nations Trust Territory overseen by the United Kingdom. A United Nations plebiscite on the region's future conducted during his tenure resulted in the region formally becoming part of Nigeria at the end of May 1961.

In 1953, he formally changed his name to Percy Wyn-Harris, from his birth name of Percy Wynne Harris.

Yachtsman

Between 1962 and 1969, Wyn-Harris circumnavigated the globe in his sloop "Gunning Grundel".

Honours

*1941: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
*1949: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)
*1950: Knight of the Order of St John (KStJ)
*1952: Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)

References

* [http://imagingeverest.rgs.org/Units/107.html Sir Percy Wyn-Harris] (Royal Geographical Society website).
* [http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=CV%2FPers%2FHarris%2C%20Sir%20Percy%20Wyn%20-%20(1903-1979)%20Knight%2C%20colonial%20governor Percy Wyn-Harris] on janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Gambia.html Leaders of The Gambia] (worldstatesmen.org).

succession box
before = Sir Andrew Barkworth Wright
title = Governor of The Gambia
years = 1949–1958
after = Sir Edward Henry Windley