Percy Wyn-Harris
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Sir Percy Wyn-Harris KCMG MBE KStJ |
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|---|---|
| Administrator of the Northern Cameroons | |
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In office October 1960 – 1 June 1961 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Governor of the Gambia | |
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In office 1 December 1949 – 19 June 1958 |
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| Monarch |
George VI Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Andrew Barkworth Wright |
| Succeeded by | Edward Henry Windley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 August 1903 Acton, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 25 February 1979 (aged 75) Petersfield, Hampshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Sir Percy Wyn-Harris KCMG MBE KStJ (24 August 1903 – 25 February 1979) was an English mountaineer, colonial administrator, and yachtsman. He worked in the Colonial Service in Africa and served as Governor of the Gambia from 1949 to 1958.
Wyn-Harris was born in Acton, Middlesex on 24 August 1903 as Percy Wynne Harris (he formally changed his name to Percy Wyn-Harris in 1953). He was the son of a company director and was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club. In 1925, he made the first ascent without guides of the Brouillard Ridge on Mont Blanc.
Wyn-Harris joined the Colonial Service in Kenya in 1929. That same year, he met mountaineer Eric Shipton and together they climbed the twin peaks of Mount Kenya, making the first ascent of Nelion, the secondary summit. A member of Hugh Ruttledge's 1933 Mount Everest expedition, Wyn-Harris reached Edward Norton's record height of 8,573 m (28,126 feet). At around 8,460 m (27,920 ft), he discovered an ice axe, which was almost certainly a remnant of Mallory and Irvine's ill-fated attempt at the first ascent in 1924. Wyn-Harris returned to Everest in 1936, in an expedition again led by Hugh Ruttledge.
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