Alexander Grantham

Infobox_Governor
name=Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham


width=180px
height=220px
caption=
order=22^nd
office=Governor of Hong Kong
term_start=15 March 1947
term_end=23 January 1958
lieutenant=
predecessor=Sir Mark Aitchison Young
successor=Sir Robert Brown Black
birth_date=birth date|1899|3|15
birth_place=
death_date=death date and age|1978|10|4|1899|3|15
death_place=
party=
profession=soldier, colonial administrator
alma_mater=Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Imperial Defence College
spouse= Maurine Samson
M. E. Lumley
religion=


footnotes=

Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG, (葛亮洪 1899–1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong.

Early life, colonial administration career

Grantham was born on 15 March 1899 and was educated at Wellington, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and Pembroke College, Cambridge.

He was gazetted in the 18th Hussars in 1917 and joined the Colonial Administrative Service in Hong Kong in 1922. He was the Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Council of Hong kong for a short period in 1933. In 1934, He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple and attended the Imperial Defence College later that year.

Grantham became Colonial Secretary of Bermuda from 1935 to 1938, and of Jamaica from 1938 to 1941. He then served as Chief Secretary of Nigeria from 1941 to 1944 and as Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific from 1945 to 1947.

Immediately after his tenure as High Commissioner ended, he became Governor of Hong Kong, until 1957.

Legacy as Hong Kong Governor

His tenure marked the beginning of a unitary housing policy by the Hong Kong Government. In December 1953, a fire burned down a large slum area in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, killing hundreds and leaving many homeless. It was under Grantham's administration that the government began to build settlement houses for the homeless. From that point on, the government was deeply involved in low-cost public housing programmes that allowed many Hong Kong people who could not afford to own a flat to live in government-owned housing estates at relatively low cost. The housing programme eventually evolved over time to allow people to buy low-cost housing and receive favourable loans to buy their own houses.

Honours

* Honorary Fellow, Pembroke College, Cambridge
* Honorary LL.D. degree, Hong Kong University
* C.M.G., 1941
* K.C.M.G., 1945
* G.C.M.G., 1951

Personal life

Grantham was married twice. His first marriage, in 1925, was to Maurine Samson, who died in 1970 and after whom the Gubernatorial yacht, the Lady Maurine, was named. He then married Mrs M. E. Lumley in 1972. Grantham died on 4 October 1978.

Places/Facilities named after him

*Grantham Hospital in Aberdeen, Hong Kong
*the Grantham College of Education in Hong Kong
*"Sir Alexander Grantham", a fireboat for the Fire Services Department of Hong Kong.

Bibliography

*

ee also

* History of Hong Kong