Sir Franklin Charles Gimson KCMG KStJ (10 September 1890 – 13 February 1975) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Singapore from 1946 to 1952.

He became a prisoner of war when then Governor Sir Mark Young surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army on Christmas Day 1941.

After spending more than three years in Stanley Internment Camp as an internee, Gimson was freed in August 1945, upon the Liberation of Hong Kong.

His governorship was also marked by the increasingly unstable political situation which was provoked by the Malayan Emergency, and the controversial legislation of the Internal Security Act.

In August 1935, he involved in a special duty to help organise the forthcoming general election of members of the state council.

Since the Governor was interned elsewhere, Gimson became the representative of the former government who was responsible for dealing with the Japanese over the issue of transfer of power.

After three years and eight months of Japanese occupation, the Emperor of Japan finally announced an unconditional surrender to the Allies on 15 August 1945.

Immediately after the unconditional surrender was made, the Japanese authority had to continue to maintain the order of Hong Kong as the Allies were still on the way to take over.

Nevertheless, at the beginning of the provisional rule, the government had to rely on the Japanese troops to maintain the order of Hong Kong since the power of the administration was limited.

After spending some time recovering in the United Kingdom, Gimson became governor and commander-in-chief of Singapore when the Straits Settlements colony came to an end on 1 April 1946.

He abolished the military government which had been set up by Lord Louis Mountbatten (as he then was) in 1945, and reinstalled a colonial civil administration.

[citation needed] In June 1948, an armed insurgency by communist groups in Malaya broke out, and the British imposed harsh measures to control left-wing groups in both Singapore and Malaya; the controversial Internal Security Act, which allowed indefinite detention without trial for persons suspected of being "threats to security", was enacted in Singapore at this time.

The colonial government also tried to prevent contact between Singaporean Chinese and the People's Republic of China, which was proclaimed by Mao Zedong in October 1949.

[citation needed] In April 1950, Gimson was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Singapore: as he left a boxing event at which he had been presenting prizes, a grenade was thrown at him which bounced off his leg and exploded harmlessly some distance away.