Sir
Henry Lovell Goldsworthy Gurney was born on 27th June 1898, in London.
He was the son of G.G.H. Gurney and Florence Gurney. Gurney was educated
at Wincester College and University College Oxford.
He served 60th Rifles (1917 - 1921) and posted as the Colonial servant
in Kenya (1921). He was the Assistant Colonial Secretary in Jamaica
(1935), Chief Secretary to the Conference of East Africa Governors (1938
- 1944), Colonial Secretary in Gold Coast (1944 - 1946), Chief Secretary
to the Palestine Mandate Government (1946 - 1948) and British High Commissioner
in Malaya (1948 - 1951), officially taking office on 13th September
1948. Gurney married to Lady Isabel Lowther Weir in 1924 and they have
two sons. On 1948, he received the Knight Commander of St. Michael and
St. George (KCMG), which is the second highest rank in the British Knighthood.
On 6th October 1951, he was shot death on his the way back to Fraser's
Hill; the guerrillas of the Malayan Communist Party ambushed his Roll
Royce, one of many indicdents during the Malayan Emergency period. Although
he had only served a short time in Malaya, his contributions to the
Malayans will always be remembered. He establsihed the Advanced Approved
School and Henry Gurney School in Malacca.
The
garden dedicated to Sir Henry Gurney is a short walk from the Commonwealth
War Graves Cemetery. It has its own fenced in garden with the dedication
stone as the centre piece.
