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John Pope Hennessy
Sir John Pope Hennessy KCMG (Chinese: 軒尼詩; 8 August 1834 – 7 October 1891), was an Irish politician and colonial administrator who served as the eighth Governor of Hong Kong and the fifteenth Governor of Mauritius.
John Pope Hennessy was born in County Cork in 1834, the son of John Hennessy of Ballyhennessy and his wife Elizabeth Casey. He was one of eight children. The family were middle class Roman Catholics, with his father working as a hide merchant. He suffered from bronchitis as a child and was therefore initially privately tutored. In 1850 he entered Queen's College, Cork, initially studying in the science division of the faculty of arts. During his first year he was awarded a scholarship as he was one of the top three students, and this allowed him to transfer to medicine. He proved to be a gifted student scoring honours in five out of six subjects in his finals, came first in surgery and second in medicine.
In May 1855 he went to London to further his studies at Charing Cross Hospital. He then entered 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. Whilst an MP he studied law at the Inner Temple, being called to the bar in 1861. In 1890, as MP for North Kilkenny he joined the Irish National Federation. He died the following year.
Hennessy eventually joined the Colonial Office and became colonial Governor of Labuan in 1867 where he put the Crown Colony into solvency by introducing convict labour from the Straits Settlements. He went on to become the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1872 to 1873, when he moved to the governorship of the Bahamas. 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.
Although Hennessy was born into the Anglo-Irish landowning gentry, his 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 1860 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 1860 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".
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 realised 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 immigrants in Hong Kong to naturalise as British subjects. He appointed the first Chinese member (Ng Choy, who would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China) to the Legislative Council.
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John Pope Hennessy
Sir John Pope Hennessy KCMG (Chinese: 軒尼詩; 8 August 1834 – 7 October 1891), was an Irish politician and colonial administrator who served as the eighth Governor of Hong Kong and the fifteenth Governor of Mauritius.
John Pope Hennessy was born in County Cork in 1834, the son of John Hennessy of Ballyhennessy and his wife Elizabeth Casey. He was one of eight children. The family were middle class Roman Catholics, with his father working as a hide merchant. He suffered from bronchitis as a child and was therefore initially privately tutored. In 1850 he entered Queen's College, Cork, initially studying in the science division of the faculty of arts. During his first year he was awarded a scholarship as he was one of the top three students, and this allowed him to transfer to medicine. He proved to be a gifted student scoring honours in five out of six subjects in his finals, came first in surgery and second in medicine.
In May 1855 he went to London to further his studies at Charing Cross Hospital. He then entered 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. Whilst an MP he studied law at the Inner Temple, being called to the bar in 1861. In 1890, as MP for North Kilkenny he joined the Irish National Federation. He died the following year.
Hennessy eventually joined the Colonial Office and became colonial Governor of Labuan in 1867 where he put the Crown Colony into solvency by introducing convict labour from the Straits Settlements. He went on to become the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1872 to 1873, when he moved to the governorship of the Bahamas. 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.
Although Hennessy was born into the Anglo-Irish landowning gentry, his 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 1860 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 1860 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".
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 realised 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 immigrants in Hong Kong to naturalise as British subjects. He appointed the first Chinese member (Ng Choy, who would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China) to the Legislative Council.