Papers of Sir William Allmond C. Goode

Reports, speeches, etc. concerning North Borneo, [1954-1963]; correspondence, official papers, etc. concerning the Federation of Malaysia, [1961-1963]; articles, tributes and lectures, 1963-1978; interview notes and transcripts, etc., 1969-1985; correspondence, 1964-1986.

Sir William Allmond Codrington Goode (1907-1986) joined the Malayan Civil Service in 1931, studying law in his spare time. He was admitted to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1936. From 1936 to 1939 he served as District Officer, Raub and was appointed Assistant Commissioner for Civil Defence, Singapore in 1940. After the colony's capitulation in 1942, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese and sent to work in Siam on the Burma railway. He remained in Malaya after the war, and in 1948 became Deputy Economic Secretary to the Federation. In 1949 he was posted to Aden as Chief Secretary, where he also acted as Governor, 1950-1951. He returned to Singapore as Chief Secretary in 1953 and became the colony's last British Governor in 1957. In 1959 he became Yang di-Pertuan Negara of the State of Singapore and UK High Commissioner. From 1960 to 1963 he was Governor and Commander-in-Chief, North Borneo. He was made GCMG on his retirement in 1963. In 1938 he married Mary Harding. She died in 1947 and three years later he married Ena McLaren.

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Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Listed as no. 687 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996). A handlist is also available in the library reading room.

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

The donation was accompanied by printed material which was subsequently removed and added to the library's own printed stock.

Transcript and tapes of an interview concerning service in Malaya, Aden, Singapore and North Borneo, 1931-1963 (ref. MSS. Ind. Ocn. s. 225); End of Empire transcripts, 1985 (ref. MSS. Brit. Emp. s. 527).