The early career of Hercules George Robert Robinson.

Robinson was born on February 1824 19 in his hometown of Rosmin, Westminster, Ireland. He is an Irish-born British, the second of six sons in his family. Robinson's father is Admiral Hercules Robinson (1789- 1864) and his mother is Frances Irina Captier Lova.

Frances Elizabeth Wood, also from Luo Shimin, is the only daughter of Henry Widman Wood. The Robinson family is a prominent family in their hometown. Their grandfather, Reverend Christopher Robinson (? -1834) is the parish priest of Luo Shimin; Uncle Sir Brian Robinson (1808- 1887) is the governor of Western Australia, while his eldest brother Henry Robinson is the supervisor of Dublin County's poor law. As for one of his younger brothers, Sir William Crever Francis Robinson (1834- 1897) later became a Canadian judge.

Robinson entered the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst on July 1840, and was sent to the 87th Corps of the Royal Irish Marine Corps as a second lieutenant on July 27th 1843. Later, he became a lieutenant in the form of donation on September 6, 844. Only in 1846, Robinson was forced to resign and retire due to the forced sale of the family mansion. 1860 Member took a group photo, and Robinson was wearing a hat.

1859 On September 9, Robinson became the fifth governor of Hong Kong. At that time, he was less than 35 years old and was the youngest governor in history. At this time, as a colony, Hong Kong has only a history of more than ten years, and all aspects of society need to be improved urgently. However, during the previous governors' terms, Hong Kong was in constant trouble and had a bad reputation. The Times left this comment in Hong Kong on March 5th, 1859:

"Hong Kong is always associated with some fatal diseases ... or some embarrassing quarrels. The name of this noisy, hectic, quarrelsome, dissatisfied and harmful island may be a good synonym for some place names. If it is published in the upper class, it will be demeaning. "

After Robinson arrived in Hong Kong, he also felt that the local "public and society also exuded a sense of embarrassment". And the first report he sent back to Britain also thought that Hong Kong was "... completely different from other British dependent territories, which made people feel a strange disharmony in many ways." In this context, Robinson carried out a large-scale rectification, which made Hong Kong walk out of the haze left by its early years. In terms of government governance, Robinson's governance is easier than that of previous governors because many officials who acted arbitrarily in their early years have left their posts (such as william king). Shortly after Robinson took over as governor, with the assistance of Assistant Secretary of State, an investigation committee on civil servants' dereliction of duty was set up to investigate Gao, a registered official suspected of illegal trading with pirate Huang. In addition, Charles May, a policeman suspected of harboring and running a brothel, was also investigated. After a series of hearings, Gao was finally found guilty and dismissed, while Charles May was allowed to stay in his original position.

At the same time, after getting rid of the old forces, Robinson began to improve the recruitment of civil servants. In the past, most of the principal officials of the Hong Kong government were temporarily recruited by soldiers, priests and businessmen, and there was no unified system. In the early days of Robinson's government, only four people knew Cantonese, and only one of them could write Chinese. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for the government to communicate with China people, and courts often misjudge cases because of lack of explanation. In view of this, 186 1 in March, Robinson proposed to the Legislative Council to implement the "official student plan", which was passed and greatly appreciated by the colonial department.

According to the plan, the Hong Kong government recruits students from major universities in Britain every year. Those who pass the exam can go to Hong Kong for three years to study Chinese, and the Hong Kong government will bear the living expenses. Those who complete the training in the future will be awarded important government positions and will receive generous salaries. The relevant scheme was later published in the Gazette as186112, and the first batch of Hong Kong government students were successfully selected in April of the following year. After the implementation of the plan, the recruitment of Hong Kong government officials was institutionalized, and at the same time, some talents were attracted to Hong Kong. The future Sir Governor and Sir King are all trained by the official school system in Hong Kong.

In order to further attract talents, Robinson also raised the salaries of civil servants. After several struggles, the governor's salary has been raised from 3,000 pounds a year to 5,000 pounds; The annual salary of important officials ranges from about 2500 pounds, and that of general department heads is about 1000 pounds. Even newly trained government students can earn 500 pounds a year.

Robinson also attaches great importance to the relationship with the Chinese community. In addition to teaching Chinese to government students, Robinson also published the first Chinese Gazette in March 1, 1862, named Hong Kong Yuanmen Newspaper, so that the Chinese community can better understand the government operation and let them know the laws of Hong Kong. In addition, Robinson abolished the Baojia system promoted by Sir Davis in 186 1 and put the Chief Registrar in charge of China affairs, thus strengthening the communication between the government and the Chinese community.

In addition, the Legislative Council was reorganized in Robinson. Apart from the Governor as Chairman, five principal government officials were appointed as official members, while one government official and three independents became unofficial members. Robinson also passed a provision prohibiting government officials from voting against the Governor's proposal (in view of the fact that the reclamation plan of former Governor Sir Pauling was aborted by the Secretary for Auxiliary Services and the Secretary for Justice at the second reading of the Legislative Council 1859), which further consolidated the power of the Governor. During Robinson's tenure, Hong Kong's postal and monetary policies have made great innovations. First of all, in terms of postal services, he reorganized the postal department in Hong Kong on May 1860, and handed over the post office to the Postmaster General, making it independent of the Royal Mail. On February 8th,1862,65438+Robinson took the lead in issuing the first set of definitive stamps. This set of stamps is printed in the UK, and its face value includes 2 stamps, 8 stamps, 12 stamps, 18 stamps, 24 stamps, 48 stamps and 96 stamps. Queen Victoria's head is on every stamp. Since then, Hong Kong no longer needs to rely on British stamps. 1863, Robinson re-launched four-hour stamps, six-hour stamps and thirty-hour stamps, making Hong Kong's stamp varieties more complete.

At the beginning of its opening, Hong Kong did not issue its own legal tender. In the early years, there were sterling, Spanish silver dollar, Mexican silver dollar (Eagle Ocean), China silver and copper coins (coins). The conversion is very confusing. In addition, in the early years, the Hong Kong government used the silver standard as its currency and the gold standard as its fiscal expenditure, which made it very inconvenient for the Hong Kong government to calculate its accounts in pounds. In view of this, Robinson announced in 1862 that he abandoned the gold standard and adopted the silver standard as the monetary unit. In order to cooperate with the New Deal, Robinson first issued Hong Kong dollars on 1863, including one Hong Kong dollar, one Hong Kong dollar and one Hong Kong dollar. They are all coins, minted in England and then shipped to Hong Kong. At that time, each Hong Kong dollar was about 4 shillings and 2 pence.

In terms of education, Robinson established the first government school in Hong Kong, the National Academy (Central Academy), on March/February/A.D./KLOC-0, with Shi as the first dean. Unlike other missionary schools, Robinson has always opposed the school preaching to students. Therefore, the National Academy of Sciences does not teach religion, and attaches more importance to Chinese than other missionary schools. The establishment of the first government school marks the beginning of the government's direct co-ordination of education affairs in Hong Kong. Soon after, in 1865, Robinson established the Education Department, and Shi, President of the National Academy of Sciences, also served as the Director of the Education Department, thus regaining the power to formulate education policies from churches and other school-running organizations. Robinson, like his predecessor, Sir Pauling, is also very concerned about the reclamation projects in Hong Kong, and has improved and improved the reclamation projects during Sir Pauling's tenure. Later, in 1864, Robinson proposed to be on a par with Macao and to reclaim the sea in the middle of Hong Kong Island. This plan was also put forward by Sir Pauling in his reclamation plan, but it fell through because of the opposition of coastal landlords, navy and businessmen. Similarly, after Robinson's plan was put forward, it caused great social repercussions and eventually prompted him to shelve it.

In addition, in 1859, Robinson took the lead in proposing the construction of the first reservoir in Hong Kong. After a round of public solicitation of design drawings, the pond finally broke ground at the end of Pokfulam 1860. The reservoir was later built in 1863 and named Bofulin Reservoir. Since then, tap water has been supplied to the urban area. However, the original design capacity of Pokfulam Reservoir is 30 million gallons, but the final design can only accommodate 2 million gallons, and the water supply is far lower than the original estimate. Therefore, shortly after he left office, the Hong Kong government planned to build a second pond in Da Tan.

1848, Sir David, then governor, intended to build a botanical park, but it was shelved due to financial and land grant problems. It was not until 1860 that Robinson found the land to build a park in Central. On August 6th, 1864, the first phase of the park was completed and opened to the public, becoming the first park in the history of Hong Kong.

During Robinson's tenure, there were many residential areas, including greening streets and providing gas street lamps in urban areas. Together with the above-mentioned animal and plant parks, the market quality of Hong Kong has been improved. In addition, Jardine Matheson's firm once proposed to donate the First Hall of Hong Kong during Robinson's tenure. The proposal was not implemented until 1866, but Robinson had already left office. With the successive defeats of the Qing court in the British-French allied campaign, China and Britain signed the Beijing Treaty on June 24th, 1860, 10, ceding South Kowloon, which belonged to Kowloon Division, to Britain and becoming a part of British Hong Kong. Later, on1861165438+9, Robinson, the British Consul General in Guangzhou and the representatives of the Qing court held a "land award ceremony" in Kowloon, which was formally incorporated into the Kowloon Peninsula south of today's Boundary Street.

But in fact, while the war was still going on, British soldiers had already entered Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon as early as March 1860, and successfully "leased" the Kowloon Peninsula to the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lao Chongguang. Therefore, after the war, Parkes, on behalf of the military, requested that South Kowloon be allocated to the British army as a military camp. Robinson initially opposed this proposal, insisting that Kowloon should be used for civilian or recreational development, which made the British army and the Hong Kong government at loggerheads. Finally, in 1864, Robinson unilaterally extended the border to deep water and moved the British troops there, and the incident was temporarily calmed down. Since the war between Britain and France, Hong Kong's economy has developed remarkably. With the opening of many commercial ports in China by the Tianjin Treaty and the Beijing Treaty, foreigners are allowed to do business in the Mainland, and the opium trade is legalized, benefiting Hong Kong's entrepot trade. 1864, the total value of goods imported from Hong Kong was about 34 million taels, among which opium and cotton goods were the main imported goods. As for the goods exported through Hong Kong, including tea and silk.

In addition, many enterprises were established in Hong Kong after the war, including Huangpu steamship company and even the gas company. In addition, many foreign banks have moved to Hong Kong to operate, and many banks have emerged one after another. Among them, HSBC, which was established in Hong Kong on 1864, is still one of the most important banks in Hong Kong after more than a hundred years. Driven by foreign investment, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce was formally established on 186 1. The Chamber of Commerce, composed of large strata from all walks of life, will play a decisive role in the future administration of the Hong Kong Government.

In the case of economic growth, government revenue has also increased significantly. In 1865, the total government revenue was as high as 175, 7 17, of which land sales revenue was 30,866, which was 10 times higher than that of 10 years ago. At the same time, after the annexation of Kowloon, the total population of Hong Kong increased from19497 1 in 860 to 1 1932 1 year 18665438. The increase in population has led to a significant increase in government revenue in rates and other areas. In addition, in 1860 and 1865, Robinson decided to increase the business registration certificate fee and stamp duty to open up more financial resources. With strong financial resources, the British government even required to pay 20,000 pounds a year for military expenditure in 1864.

In addition to dealing with Hong Kong's economic affairs, Robinson also served as a member of a committee specializing in managing the financial affairs of the Straits Colonies. Later, in 1867, the committee urged the Straits Colonies to stop being subordinate to the East India Company and formally be incorporated into the administration of the British Colonial Department.