20 Facts About Franklin Gimson

Franklin Gimson became a prisoner of war when then Governor Sir Mark Young surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army on Christmas Day 1941.

Franklin Gimson was the first Governor of Singapore from 1946 to 1952 and reinstalled the civil administration in Singapore.

Franklin Gimson's governorship was marked by the increasingly unstable political situation which was provoked by the Malayan Emergency, and the controversial legislation of the Internal Security Act.

Franklin Gimson was born on 10 September 1890 in Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, England, to the Rev Charles Keightley Franklin Gimson.

Franklin Gimson entered the British Ceylon Civil Service as a cadet in November 1914.

Franklin Gimson was appointed additional assistant colonial secretary for the second time in March 1920 and was promoted to the post of 4th assistant colonial secretary in September 1920.

Franklin Gimson left the Customs in March 1929 and was appointed as an additional assistant to the Director of Education.

In February 1932, Franklin Gimson was appointed assistant government agent of Trincomalee and in December 1933, appointed assistant government agent of Kegalle.

Franklin Gimson held this office until 1941 and he gained the rank of class one officer in 1938.

Franklin Gimson was promoted to the post of Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong in 1941 and arrived at the colony on 7 December, just the day before the Japanese Army initiated its unexpected and sudden large-scale invasion to Hong Kong.

Since the Governor was interned elsewhere, Franklin Gimson became the representative of the former government who was responsible for dealing with the Japanese over the issue of transfer of power.

In March 1942, Franklin Gimson was finally sent to Stanley Internment Camp, where most British colonial officials and expatriates were interned.

Franklin Gimson was sworn as acting governor by Chief Justice Atholl MacGregor.

Harcourt himself became the head of the military government and Franklin Gimson was appointed lieutenant governor by him.

Franklin Gimson himself was in fact in poor health as a result of more than three years of internment.

Franklin Gimson abolished the military government which had been set up by Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1945, and reinstalled a colonial civil administration.

In March 1948, Franklin Gimson allowed six of the twenty-five seats in the legislative council to be elected.

Franklin Gimson was succeeded in the post of governor by John Nicoll, another former Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong.

Franklin Gimson was appointed in the 1936 New Year Honours for services during a malaria epidemic in Ceylon.

Franklin Gimson died in his house, "Applegarth", in Thornton-le-Dale, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, on 13 February 1975, aged 84.