Alexander Grantham

This article is about Governor of Hong Kong. For the fireboat, see Alexander Grantham (fireboat).

Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG (Chinese: 葛量洪; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji.

Sir Alexander Grantham GCMG
22nd Governor of Hong Kong
In office 25 July 1947 – 31 December 1957
Monarchs	George VI Elizabeth II
Colonial Secretary	David Mercer MacDougall John Fearns Nicoll Sir Robin Black Edgeworth Beresford David
Preceded by	Sir Mark Aitchison Young
Succeeded by	Sir Robin Black
17th Governor of Fiji
In office 1 January 1945 – 1947
Monarch	George VI
Preceded by	Sir Philip Mitchell
Succeeded by	Sir Brian Freeston
15th High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
In office 1 January 1945 – 1947
Monarch	George VI
Preceded by	(vacant)
Succeeded by	Sir Brian Freeston
Personal details
Born	Alexander William George Herder Grantham (1899-03-15)15 March 1899 London, England
Died	4 October 1978(1978-10-04) (aged 79) London, England
Spouses	Maurine Samson, Lady Grantham ​ ​ (m. 1925; died 1970)​ M. E. Lumley, Lady Grantham ​ ​ (m. 1972)​
Relations	Warren de la Rue Thomas de la Rue Sir William Grantham
Alma mater	Royal Military College, Sandhurst Pembroke College, Cambridge Imperial Defence College
Occupation	Soldier, Colonial administrator
Chinese name
Chinese	葛量洪
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Gě Liànghóng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping got3 loeng4 hung4

Early life, colonial administration career

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

He was granted a regular army commission and gazetted a second lieutenant in the 18th Hussars as of 12 September 1917 ^[1] but was attached to the 5th Reserve Regiment of Cavalry stationed at Tidworth,^[2] where it trained men for nine different cavalry regiments, including the 18th Hussars. He was promoted a Lieutenant in the 18th Hussars 13 March 1919 ^[3] but resigned his commission on 30 May 1919^[4].

After resigning his commission and leaving the army he went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge later in 1919 and after graduating in 1922 he joined the Colonial Office as an Eastern Cadet ^[5] in Hong Kong. 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. He opposed his predecessor, Sir Mark Young's proposal of expanding social services on the grounds that the local Chinese population cared little about social welfare.^[6] Instead, he proposed the election of Unofficial members of the Legislative Council among British subjects only with the Governor holding reserved power to override LegCo decisions.^[7]

Legacy of governorship

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 nine 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 Doctorate of Laws degree, Hong Kong University
• CMG, 1941
• KCMG, 1945
• GCMG, 1951

Personal life

Grantham grew up partly in Tianjin, where his father practised law. Both his father and brother were killed in World War I. His mother then remarried, to Johan Wilhelm Normann Munthe, and the family moved to Beijing.

Grantham was married twice. His first marriage, in 1925, was to the well-travelled Maurine Samson, daughter of the late Amos Roland Samson and Liberty "Libby" Cole (Neal) of Champaign County, Illinois. The Governor's official yacht, a Hong Kong health clinic, and a locomotive, were named "Lady Maurine" after her.^[8] His first wife died in 1970, and Grantham married (Mrs) M.E. Lumley in 1972. He died on 4 October 1978.

Honours

• United Kingdom :
  • Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (C.M.G.) (1941)^[9]
  • Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (K.C.M.G.) - Sir (1945)^[10]
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (G.C.M.G.) - Sir (1951)^[11]

Places/facilities named after him

• Grantham Hospital in Aberdeen, Hong Kong
• Grantham College of Education in Hong Kong
• Alexander Grantham, a fireboat of the Fire Services Department of the Government of Hong Kong
• Sir Alexander, an EMD G12 Diesel-electric locomotive No. 51, introduced in Hong Kong in 1955 and on display at the Hong Kong Railway Museum^[8]

Bibliography

• Alexander Grantham (1965). Via ports, from Hong Kong to Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press.

See also

• History of Hong Kong