Percy Wyn-Harris
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Sir Percy Wyn-Harris (born 1903, died 1979) was an English mountaineer and yachtsman and was Colonial governor of The Gambia between 1949 and 1958. He was knighted in 1952.
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[edit] Education
Wyn-Harris was educated at Gresham's School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
[edit] Mountaineer
As an undergraduate at Cambridge, he was a member of the University Mountaineering Club. In 1925 he made the first guideless ascent of the Brouillard Ridge on Mont Blanc. He met Eric Shipton in 1929, while serving in Kenya with the Colonial Service. Together they climbed the twin peaks of Mount Kenya. In 1933 he attempted Everest and equalled Norton’s record height of 28,126 feet (8573 m) and at around 27,500 feet (8380 m), discovered Irvine's ice-axe, left over from Mallory and Irvine's attempt in 1924. In 1936 he returned to Everest with Hugh Ruttledge.
[edit] Colonial Service
Wyn-Harris served for over thirty years in Africa and was Governor of The Gambia from 1949 to 1958.
[edit] Yachtsman
Between 1962 and 1969, Wyn-Harris circumnavigated the globe in his sloop Gunning Grundel.
