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Laurence Guillemard

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His Excellency Sir
Laurence Guillemard
GCMG KCB
18th Governor of the Straits Settlements
In office
17 February 1920 – 3 June 1927
MonarchGeorge V
Preceded bySir Arthur Young
Succeeded bySir Hugh Clifford
Personal details
Born7 June 1862
Dublin, United Kingdom
Died13 December 1951(1951-12-13) (aged 89)
London, England[1]
Spouse
Lady Ella Guillemard
​
​
(m. 1902; died 1940)​
[2][3]
Parent
  • Rev. William Guillemard (father)
EducationCharterhouse School
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
OccupationColonial Administrator

Sir Laurence Nunns Guillemard GCMG KCB (7 June 1862 – 13 December 1951) was a British civil servant who served as high commissioner in Malaya when it was under the British Empire.

Early life

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Guillemard was the only son of Rev. William Guillemard. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2][4]

Career

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Guillemard entered the civil service in 1886[5] and joined the Treasury in 1888[6] where he was a Private Secretary to both Chancellors of the Exchequer, Sir William Harcourt and Sir Michael Hicks Beach between 1892 and 1902.[2] In May 1902, he was appointed Deputy-Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue and Chairman of the Board of Customs in 1908.[2]

He was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements and High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States in 1920[7] and retired from the civil service in 1927.[8] In 1925 he was the target of an assassination plot by anarchist Wong Sau Ying.[9]

Awards and honours

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Guillemard was invested as a Companion of Order of the Bath (CB) in 1905,[10] Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1910,[11] and a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1923.[12] He was later awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1927 New Year Honours.[13]

Personal life

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In 1902 Guillemard married Ella Walker (1881-1940), the daughter of Thomas Spencer Walker. She predeceased him.

Legacy

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During his administration, Guillemard was criticised by opinion pieces in The Straits Times remarking on his lack of "bold initiative." Guillemard's attempts to decentralise more control over internal affairs to the Federated Malay States met with opposition, and some of his proposals were abandoned.[14] Guillemard's obituary published in The Straits Times began by stating he was "not likely to be regarded by Malayan historians as a great Colonial Governor." However it went on to call him "a sound administrator, and the right man for Malaya at the end of the first world war," praising him for his decentralisation efforts, reforms expanding the number of local seats on the Straits Settlements Legislative Council, and his financial stewardship during the Great Depression.[15]

The Guillemard Bridge in Kelantan[16] and the Guillemard Reservoir [17] in Penang are named after him. The road Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim (formerly known as Jalan Duta) and its adjoining hill Bukit Ledang in Kuala Lumpur were both initially named for Guillemard.[18] Guillemard Road in Singapore is also named after him.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Laurence Nunns Guillemard". Singapore Infopedia. 23 April 2014 – via eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  2. ^ a b c d "The New Governor". The Straits Times. 10 October 1919. p. 10.
  3. ^ "Guillemard, Lady Ella (d 1940)". Archived from the original on 20 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Laurence Nunns Guillemard". nlb.gov.sg. 23 April 2014.
  5. ^ "No. 25564". The London Gazette. 2 March 1886. p. 1034.
  6. ^ "No. 25821". The London Gazette. 29 May 1888. p. 3013.
  7. ^ "No. 31642". The London Gazette. 14 November 1919. p. 13800.
  8. ^ "Sir Laurence Guillemard". The Straits Times. 18 December 1951. p. 8.
  9. ^ Harper, Tim (2021). Underground Asia: Global Revolutionaries and the Assault on Empire. Harvard University Press. p. 513. ISBN 978-0-674-72461-7.
  10. ^ "No. 11739". The London Gazette. 4 July 1905. p. 655.
  11. ^ "No. 28388". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 June 1910. p. 4476.
  12. ^ "No. 32830". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1923. p. 3945.
  13. ^ "No. 33235". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1926. p. 4.
  14. ^ "Laurence Nunns Guillemard". www.nlb.gov.sg. National Library Board Singapore. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Sir Laurence Guillemard". The Straits Times. 18 December 1951. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Guillemard Bridge". Machang District Council. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Heritage Water Works". Penang Heritage Trust. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Historic roads among some 500 renamed in KL". Daily Express. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  19. ^ "Guillemard Road : general view [1]". www.nlb.gov.sg. National Library Board Singapore. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
[edit]
Government offices
Preceded by Chairman of HM Customs
1908–1909 		Succeeded by
himself
as Chairman, Board of Customs and Excise
Preceded by
himself
as Chairman of the HM Customs 		Chairman of Board of Customs and Excise
1909–1919 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas Chairman, Inland Revenue1
Preceded by Governor of the Straits Settlements and
British High Commissioner in Malaya
1920 – 1927 		Succeeded by
Notes and references
1. The excise functions were demerged from the Inland Revenue, but the latter otherwise remained a separate body.


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