Percy Wyn-Harris

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Sir Percy Wyn-Harris KCMG MBE KStJ (born August 24, 1903 in London , † February 25, 1979 in Petersfield , United Kingdom ) was a British climber and sailor. Between 1949 and 1958 he was governor in Gambia and initially represented George VI. and then Queen Elizabeth II in the British colony of Gambia .

Life

Born in 1903 to an entrepreneur, Wyn-Harris was educated at Gresham's School and Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge .

As a student he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club. In 1925 he completed the first unmanned climb over the Brouillard Ridge on Mont Blanc . In 1929 he met Eric Shipton when he was working in colonial service in Kenya from that year. Together they climbed the twin peaks of the Mount Kenya massif . In 1933 he tried to conquer Mount Everest and came to Norton's record height of 8573 m; at about 8,380 m he discovered the Irvine ice ax , which had remained behind in Mallory and Irvine's attempt in 1924. In 1936 he returned to Mount Everest with Hugh Ruttledge .

As governor in Gambia, he served from December 1949 to June 19, 1958. During this tenure he was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1952 .

Between 1962 and 1969, Wyn-Harris circumnavigated the globe in his sailing ship , the Gunning Goby .

literature

  • Arnold Hughes, Harry A. Gailey: Historical dictionary of the Gambia Lanham. Scarecrow Press, Lanham / London 1999, ISBN 0-8108-3660-2 .

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Sir Andrew Barkworth Wright Governor of Gambia
1949–1958
Sir Edward Henry Windley