Johnson, Alexander R.

Updated September 25, 2014

Alexander R. Johnson, officer of the British Diplomatic Department, was listed as a resident of Hong Kong from 1843 to 1850. He was the Secretary and Registrar of the Hong Kong Office of the British Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of Trade between 1846 and 1850. He was an ex officio member of the Executive Council in 1850. He was a Justice of the Peace (official) between 1843 and 1850^[1]. He was a trustee of St. John Church in 1850. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch in 1850.

[1] He was one of the first 44 Justices of Peace ever to be appointed in Hong Kong. Their appointments were announced by Henry Pottinger on the fifth day after he had sworn in as the first Colonial Governor. The date was June 30 ,1843.

Selected Bibliography: Hong Kong's First [online]. Tarrent, William, The Hong Kong Almanack and Directory for the Year 1846, 1848, 1850, Hong Kong: China Mail, resp. 1846,1848 and 1850.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

BPCST - Hong Kong Office of the British Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of Trade
d.um - died unmarried
ExCo - Executive Council
LegCo - Legislative Council
LMSTS - Theological Seminary of the London Missionary Society 倫敦會中國神學院
m; m1; m2, etc. - marriage, first, second time, etc.
MEP - Société des Missions étrangères de Paris (Society of Foreign Missions of Paris)
PAHK - Prefecture Apostolic of Hong Kong [Xianggang] 香港監牧區
RA - Royal Artillery, the Britsh Army
RAC - Royal Asiatic Society
RE - Royal Engineers, the Britsh Army
RN - the British Royal Navy
s/o - son of

From Rudi Butt

Don't forget to add “HKR 1841-50” to your subject blank when you email me. I have a habit of deleting messages from people I don't know, and I don't want to throw away yours. Thank you.
rudibutt@hotmail.com
Hong Kong

I am taking the rest of the summer off and will reply to your email/comments when I am back. Thank you for your patience and I hope you too will have an enjoyable summer. (6/24/2016)

The most boring task of compiling a biographical dictionary, speaking from my very limited experience, is to list up all the names and attach the most basic of information in each entry. My bases for this phase of the project lie upon three volumes of “The Hong Kong Almanack and Dictionary” viz. 1846, 1848 and 1850, which were compiled by William Tarrent, editor of The Friend of China. I hope I am able to get this done say within a couple of weeks and move into the next, and clearly a much more interesting, phase in which I will begin researching the individuals. (8/3/2014)

Biographical Dictionary of Residents of Hong Kong, the First Ten Years (1841-1850)