Percy Wyn-Harris

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

Life

Wyn -Harris, born in 1903 as the son of an entrepreneur, enjoyed his education at Gresham 's School and Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge.

As a student he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club. In 1925 he completed the first unguided climb over the Brouillard Ridge on Mont Blanc. In 1929 he met Eric Shipton, as he worked in the colonial service in Kenya starting this year. Together they climbed the twin peaks of Mount Kenya massif. In 1933, he tried to conquer Mount Everest, and came to Norton's record high of 8573 m; to about 8380 m, he discovered the ice ax from Irvine who had stayed behind at Mallory and Irvine attempt in 1924. In 1936 he returned to Mount Everest with Hugh Ruttledge back.

As governor in Gambia, he worked from December 1949 until June 19, 1958. In this tenure, he was knighted in 1952.

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