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We are delighted to welcome Alan MacDonald to the RGS again to tell the story of another towering 19th Century Hong Kong figure, Sir James Lockhart. Alan tells of Lockhart’s meteoric career and the very significant contribution that he made to the growth and development of Hong Kong. He also tells of Lockhart’s later career in British Wei Hai Wei, a treaty Port in northeast China.
Born in 1858 as James Haldane Stewart Lockhart in Argyllshire, Scotland, he attended King William's College on the Isle of Wight and the University of Edinburgh. Lockhart then took a Colonial Service cadetship and subsequently joined the Hong Kong Government in 1882.
Lockhart enjoyed a succession of promotions and was ultimately appointed as Hong Kong’s Colonial Secretary in 1895, the day-to-day head of the government. He was also made a member of the Legislative and Executive Councils. A fine linguist and sinologist, he also developed a very positive relationship with the Chinese business community. Lockhart was a talented sportsman and in 1886, he founded the Hong Kong Football Club – and had the new Lockhart Road in Hong Kong named after him.
As the talk reveals, Lockhart’s career was not all plain sailing. His actions, at times, caused him to fall from favour in the eyes of the British Colonial Office which probably prevented him from being elevated to the governorship of Hong Kong, and instead his posting as Commissioner of Wei Hai Wei. Lockhart’s scholarship lives on, with his Chinese coin collection at the National Museum of Scotland and his books at the University of Cambridge.
Alan Macdonald is from Glasgow, United Kingdom, and was educated at the University of Nottingham. He has had a varied international career in development planning, the master planning of human settlements and urban design. For the last 35 years in Hong Kong, he has been a Director of URBIS Limited, a multi-disciplinary design company established in Hong Kong. He is a member and a fellow of several local and international professional institutes.
In Hong Kong, Alan has specialised in the design and implementation of new development areas, new town design and urban renewal projects. He has also worked on many development and design projects in mainland China, Africa, the Middle East and India. His projects have won over 50 design awards and won the RTPI Award for Design Excellence in 2017. Alan is a past Chieftain of the Hong Kong St Andrew’s Society.
Members of the RGS, their guests and others are most welcome to attend this event, which is HK$250 for RGS Members and HK$300 for guests and others, including complimentary free-flow drinks.
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The opinions expressed in this talk are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Geographical Society - Hong Kong.
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