Cecil Harcourt

Admiral Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt GBE KCB (Chinese Translated Name: 夏慤; 11 April 1892 – 19 December 1959) was a British naval officer. He was the de facto governor of Hong Kong as commander-in-chief and head of the military administration from September 1945 to June 1946. He was called by the Chinese name "Ha Kok", a reference to the fourth-century Chinese nobleman Chung Kok.[1]

Sir Cecil Harcourt
Born11 April 1892
Bromley, Kent, England
Died19 December 1959 (1959-12-20) (aged 67)
Chelsea, London, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1904–1952
RankAdmiral
Battles/warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsKCB (1945)
GBE (1953)
Alma materRoyal Naval College

Military career

Harcourt was born in Bromley, Kent, England, to Halliday Harcourt and Grace Lilian (née Jepson) on 11 April 1892. He was educated at Fonthill, East Grinstead, and later at the Royal Naval College at Osborne and Dartmouth (1904–1909).[1] He had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, which he entered as a midshipman on 15 September 1904, at the age of 12. He served in both world wars.[2]

In 1939, Harcourt was appointed Director of the Admiralty's Operations Division. In 1941 he was Flag Captain of the Home Fleet, while commanding HMS Duke of York. In August 1942 until January 1943 he commanded the 10th Cruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet. From 1942 to 1944 he took part in the North Africa campaign, the capture of Tunisia, Pantelleria, Lampedusa, and Sicily, and the landing at Salerno. In 1944, he became Naval Secretary.[3] In 1945, he was Flag Officer Commanding 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron,[2] with his flag in HMS Colossus.

Harcourt commanded Task Group 111.2 for the reoccupation of Hong Kong with his carriers, three cruisers, four destroyers, a submarine, and mine-sweeping flotillas. He ordered his carriers' planes to destroy a small number of Japanese suicide motor boats near Hong Kong.[1] The pre-war colonial secretary Franklin Gimson took Harcourt to the prisoner of war camps and hospitals. Their first stop was the Stanley Internment Camp, which Harcourt reported:

On arriving we found everyone awaiting us and we had a most unforgettable welcome. The Union Flag had been produced by an ex-Naval rating who had hidden it in his bedding when Hong Kong was captured and had managed to hide it for the whole period so as to be ready for this occasion. The morale ... was extremely high despite the obvious effects of malnutrition which could be seen on every face. The enthusiasm and the cheering really had to be seen and heard to be believed, it was so obviously spontaneous and seemed to express the pent-up feelings of all these years. I shall never forget it.[4]

On 16 September, Harcourt received the surrender of Japan (under Major-General Hisakazu Tanaka and Vice-Admiral Ruitaka Fujitain) in Government House. He was the de facto governor of Hong Kong as commander-in-chief and head of the military administration until June 1946. On 18 December 1945, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). In 1946, he was promoted to vice-admiral.[1]

In 1947, Harcourt became Flag Officer (Air) and Second in Command Mediterranean Fleet. In 1948, he became Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel as well as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, and in 1950 Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.[2] He retired in 1952.[2] He died en route to St Stephen's Hospital, Chelsea, London, on 19 December 1959. A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields in January 1960.[1]

Commands

Ships under Harcourt's command included:

Family

On 17 April 1913, he assumed the surname "Harcourt-Morris", but this lasted only a short time.[2]

In 1920 he became the second husband of the English pianist Evelyn Suart, a widow. They had no children of their own. One of her daughters by her first marriage was the noted ballerina Diana Gould, who later became the second wife of the violinist Yehudi Menuhin.[5] Her sister Griselda became the second wife of the pianist Louis Kentner.[6] After Evelyn Suart's death in 1950, Harcourt married Stella, widow of Air Commodore David Waghorn, in 1953.[2]

Honours

Harcourt's honours:[1]

Namesakes

References
  1. Gregory, F. E. C. (6 January 2011). "Harcourt, Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson (1892–1959)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64097. Accessed 14 May 2020.
  2. Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-45
  3. Senior Royal Navy Appointments Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Hobbs, David (2011). The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. p. 311. ISBN 978-1-84832-048-2.
  5. The Independent, Obituaries
  6. Naxos
Military offices
Preceded by
Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton		 Naval Secretary
1944–1945		 Succeeded by
Claud Barry
Political offices
Preceded by
Franklin Charles Gimson
Provisional Government
as Governor of Hong Kong		 Administrator of Hong Kong
1945–1946		 Succeeded by
Sir Mark Young
as Governor of Hong Kong
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Arthur Power		 Second Sea Lord
1948–1950		 Succeeded by
Sir Alexander Madden
Preceded by
Sir Henry Moore		 Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
1950–1952		 Succeeded by
Sir Cyril Douglas-Pennant
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