Introduction
Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG (葛量洪 1899–1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji.
Early life, colonial administration career
Grantham was born on 15 March 1899 and was educated at Wellington, the 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 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 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. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, she had lived in Boise, Seattle, San Francisco and Honolulu before their marriage. The Governor's official yacht, a Hong Kong health clinic and a locomotive were all named "Lady Maurine" after her. After she died in 1970, Grantham married Mrs M. E. Lumley in 1972. Grantham died on 4 October 1978.
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, a EMD G12 Diesel-electric locomotive #51, introduced in Hong Kong in 1955 and on display at the Hong Kong Railway Museum
References and bibliography
- Alexander Grantham (1965). Via ports, from Hong Kong to Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Philip Euen Mitchell | Governor of Fiji 1946–1947 | Succeeded by Sir Brian Freeston |
| Vacant Title last held by Sir Harry Luke | High Commissioner for the Western Pacific 1946–1947 | |
| Preceded by Sir Mark Aitchison Young | Governor of Hong Kong 1947–1957 | Succeeded by Sir Robert Brown Black |