1841-1860 1898-1918







Hong Kong 1860-1898


Administration . In 1860 the Chinese Empire ceded Kowloon to Britain. Hercules Robinson served as governor 1859-1965, Richard Graves McDonnell 1865-1872, Arthur Edward Kennedy 1872-1877, John Pope Hennessy 1877-1882, George Ferguson Bowen 1883-1885, George William des Voeux 1887-1891, William Robinson 1891-1898.

The Economy . In 1863, the Mexican and similar Silver Dollars were declared the only legal tender. In 1895 the Hong Kong Dollar was introduced, one HK $ divided into 100 cents.
Hong Kong emerged as a regional trade hub. The Hong Kong Shanghai Bank was established in 1864. The Association of (Hong Kong) Stockbrokers, predecessor of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was established in 1891. NIYB 1898 mentions sugar refineries in Hong Kong.

Social History . Jan Lahmeyer gives the estimated population of Hong Kong in 1861 as 119,300; the census of 1897 counted 236,382. Hong Kong experienced the influx of Chinese refugees during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864). Hong Kong suffered the outbreak of bubonic plague in 1894.

Modernization . In 1862 Government Central School (modern Queen's College) was established, the first modern school in Hong Kong. Tung Wah Hospital was opened in 1872. The Hong Kong Jockey Club, organizing horse races as an amateur sport, was founded in 1884. The Peak Tram began operation in 1888.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article History of Colonial Hong Kong 1800s-1930s, Wilsone Black, William Robinson, Digby Barker, William des Voeux, N.G. Cameron, William Henry Marsh, George Ferguson Bowen, Malcolm Struan Tonnochy, John Pope Hennessy, Governor of Hong Kong, Frederick Stewart, Queen's College (Central School), Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Peak Tram, Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong Jockey Club, from Wikipedia
Hong KOng, from A Global History of Currencies (B. Taylor)
DOCUMENTS Hong Kong Administrators, from World Statesmen (B. Cahoon), scroll down for Hong Kong
Historical Population Statistics : Hong Kong, from Population Statistics (Jan Lahmeyer)
REFERENCE Frank Welsh, A Borrowed Place, The History of Hong Kong, NY : Kodansha 1993
Article : Hong Kong, in : Statesman's Year Book 1878 pp.670-675, 1895 pp.111-115, 1898 pp.111-115 [G]
Article : Hong Kong, in : International Year Book 1898 p.398 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 9th 2007

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