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John Pope Hennessy
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Sir John Pope Hennessy, KCMG (Chinese Translated Name: ???) (5 April 1834 - 3 June 1891) was a British politician and Colonial Administrator, who became the 8th Governor of Hong Kong.
John Pope Hennessy was born in 1834 in Ireland. He was a Catholic who strongly believed in Liberalism. Hennessy completed his medical training at Queen's University of Ireland. Afterwards, he joined the British Army Medical Department and later studied law and became a legal professional.
tarted his Public Service career as the Supplemental Clerk at the Privy Council, and eventually became a minor Conservative member of the British Parliament, representing King's County from 1859 to 1865, and North Kilkenny from 1890 until his death the following year.
essy eventually joined the Colonial Office and became the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1872 to 1873.
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Sir John Pope Hennessy, KCMG (Chinese Translated Name: ???) (5 April 1834 - 3 June 1891) was a British politician and Colonial Administrator, who became the 8th Governor of Hong Kong.
Early life
Sir John Pope Hennessy was born in 1834 in Ireland. He was a Catholic who strongly believed in Liberalism. Hennessy completed his medical training at Queen's University of Ireland. Afterwards, he joined the British Army Medical Department and later studied law and became a legal professional.
Public Service
He started his Public Service career as the Supplemental Clerk at the Privy Council, and eventually became a minor Conservative member of the British Parliament, representing King's County from 1859 to 1865, and North Kilkenny from 1890 until his death the following year.
Early Colonial Service
Hennessy eventually joined the Colonial Office and became the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1872 to 1873. He became Governor-in-Chief of the Windward Islands, from 1873 until 1877, with primary authority over Barbados, and executive oversight over the various British Lt. Governors and Administrators charged with running day-to-day affairs on the various islands. Sources from 1869 identify him as colonial governor of Labuan, in Malaysia, where he put the Crown Colony into solvency by introducing convict labor from the Straits Settlement. Sources from 1871 indicate that he was headed from Labuan to the governorship of the Bahamas [Hansard 18O3-2OO5, http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons].
Although born into the Anglo-Irish landowning aristocracy, Pope Hennessy's status as a Roman Catholic made him something of an outsider, particularly in his dealings with Protestant British colonial elites, whether in Barbados, Hong Kong, or Mauritius. Indeed, his earliest contributions as a Member of Parliament in 186O pertained to the temporal power of the Pope, and unfolding events in Italy . Coming into colonial administration, he was among a cohort of "new thinkers" whose ideas gained ground following the Sepoy Mutiny in India in 1857. Speaking at length in the House of Commons on 26 July 186O about British civil and military forces in India, Hennessy urged a shift in policies so that "the military administration of India would be conducted with greater skill, with more economy, and, as a natural result of a higher educational standard, with a greater regard for the feelings and interests of the Native population. Indeed, recent events furnished us with the most conclusive evidence that many of the British officers, entrusted with grave authority in India, had, from an ignorance of popular customs and a disregard of national habits and traditions, given great cause of complaint and encouragement to disaffection. As long as we send out officers to India who seem inclined to treat the Natives as slaves, who seem unable or unwilling to appreciate the noble qualities, of that unfortunate people, and who add the grossest military outrages and insults to the civil misgovernment and financial burdens we have imposed upon them, so long will our rule in India be a blot upon civilization" [House of Commons debate, 26 July 186O, Hansards, Vol. 16O, cc. 231-59, 235].
Governor of Hong Kong
Immediately after his tenure in Barbados, Hennessy was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, a position from which he served until 1882.
During his tenure, Hennessy realized that the Chinese people, who were treated as second-class citizens up to that time, had developed an increasingly important influence on the Hong Kong economy. With that in mind, he lifted the ban that forbade Chinese people from buying lands, constructing buildings, and operate businesses in the Central District. This caused a development boom in the Central District. Also, he allowed Chinese people in Hong Kong to become Naturalised UK Citizens. He appointed the first Chinese member to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Wu Tingfang, who would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China.
Also, during his rule, he established the first Grant-in-Aid system in education area. This is a very important point for the educational history of Hong Kong.
Soon after arriving in Hong Kong, in April of 1877, Hennessy set out to implement the "separate system" in Victoria Gaol, meaning separate cells for prisoners, during the night if not also during the day. This plan hinged upon sending long-term prisoners to Labuan, for convict labor [Hong Kong Government Gazette, 23 February 1878].
Governor of Mauritius
After his tenure as Governor of Hong Kong was over, Hennessy went on to become the Governor of Mauritius, a position in which he served until 1889. This was his last post in the Colonial Service.
Personal life
His personal motto is "Three Grand Qualifications to Success", in which he described as "The first is audacity, the second is audacity, and the third is audacity".
Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913 - 1994), who was a British art historian and the director of the British Museum from 1974 until 1976, was Hennessy's grandson.
Hennessy died in 1891.
Honours
Places Named After Him
As he is not popular among the European community of Hong Kong, there was no construction named after him until much later. On 14 June 1929, Hennessy Road, which is a main road located on the new reclamation, present-day a crowded commercial and shopping area at Wan Chai and Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island was named after him.
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