Staveley, William

Updated August 23, 2014

William Staveley, British Army officer, was listed as a resident of Hong Kong from 1848 to 1851. He was Hong Kong's Lieutenant Governor as well as the Commander of the British Forces in China and Hong Kong between 1848 and 1851. He was an ex officio member of the Executive Council during the same period of time. He was the Administrator of Hong Kong in March 1848. Staveley Street 士他花利街 was named in his honor. The Cantonments was listed as his address in 1850. He was awarded Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).

Staveley was the father of Charles William Dunbar Staveley.

Military records, Rank: Major-General.

William and Charles William Dunbar Staveley were the only father and son Commander of British Forces in China and Hong Kong.

Selected Bibliography: Tarrent, William, The Hong Kong Almanack and Directory for the Year 1846, 1848, 1850, Hong Kong: China Mail, resp. 1846,1848 and 1850.

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.

De Almada e Castro, Leonardo

Updated October 29, 2014

Leonardo de Almada e Castro, civil servant, was listed as a resident of Hong Kong from 1845 to 1850. He was the Chief Clerk and Keeper of the Records in the Colonial Secretary's Office between 1846 and 1850. He was the Clerk of Council of the Executive and Legislative Councils in 1850.

Selected Bibliography: Bridgman, Elijah Coleman (Ed.), Chinese Repository, Vol. 14, January to December, 1845. Canton: 1845. Tarrent, William, The Hong Kong Almanack and Directory for the Year 1846, 1848, 1850, Hong Kong: China Mail, resp. 1846,1848 and 1850.

Caine, William

Updated October 12, 2014

William Caine, judicial official, later civil servant, was listed as a resident of Hong Kong from 1841 to 1859. He was Chief Magistrate between 1841 and 1844. He held the positions of Colonial Secretary and Auditor General between 1846 and 1854. He was appointed Sheriff of Hong Kong in 1846. He was an ex officio member of the Legislative Council between 1843 and 1845, and of the Executive Council in 1850 He was a Justice of the Peace (official) between 1843 and 1850^[1]. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch in 1850. Hollywood Road was listed as his address in 1850. He retired and left Hong Kong in 1859. He received his first pension payment of £1,060 from the Hong Kong Government on January 16, 1860. Caine died on September 10, 1871.

Military records, British Army, Rank: Captain; Brevet Major; Service: 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot.

Caine had four sons: George Whittington Caine (born in Inida in 1832)^[2]; Henry Monteith Caine (born in Calcutta in 1838); William Hull Caine (born in Hong Kong); and Charles Henry Fearon Caine (born in Hong Kon in 1846)

[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.

[2] George Whittington Caine entered the British Consular Service in Hong Kong in 1851 at the age of 19. He became the first British Consul in Swatow in 1860, a position he held on until 1868. He was given by the Qing government an official Chinese name of 堅佐治. After Swatow, G.W. Caine was appointed British Consul in Hankow and remained in that post until 1872 whereupon he resigned from the Consular Service. He moved to Sydney, Australia in early 1873, and was joined by his wife and their eight children in April 1873. A few weeks following the arrival of his family, he was arrested on charges of embezzlement of money belonged to the Crown when he was in charge of Britain's affairs in Hankow. The amount he was charged for was 9,137 Mexican dollars. He was sent back to China and was brought to trial at the British Consular Court (probably in Hankow) on August 6, 1873. The jury returned a general verdict on the whole indictment that stated, “We find that the prisoner took the money without any fraudulent intention.”. Instead of dutifully acquitting G.W. Caine according the verdict, the judge charged the jury afresh and describing to them what their verdict should be, and in fact suggesting that the verdict should be on the several counts. The jury at last delivered a verdict of guilty with a recommendation to mercy. None was given, George Whitington Caine was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

G.F. Caine had three children: William Henry Attwood Caine, Guy Caine and Lillian Caine. W.H.A. Caine, who was born in Hong Kong on December 19, 1859, was listed as the manger of a large ranch in north-western South Africa owned by a London-based company at the time of the Anglo-Boer War.

Selected Bibliography: Hong Kong's First [internet]. Hong Kong Government, Pensions Payable out of the Revenues of the Colony, 1871. Richard W. email Oct. 2 & 3, 2013. Tarrent, William, The Hong Kong Almanack and Directory for the Year 1850, Hong Kong: China Mail, 1850.