HONG KONG CADETS, 1862 - 1941
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where the need was pressing; for often the courts could not sit at all for want of interpreters and as frequently had to adjourn owing to incorrect interpretation. Sir Hercules' plan was that 'the cadets should be under 20 years of age; that they should be chosen from any of the Colleges, and not from King's College alone, as at present in the consular service.........on arriving in China, they would have teachers provided for them; when competent, as they might be in three years.........they should be considered preferable (after a further two years of experience in administration) to any office in the Civil Service that did not involve a professional training." The Council liked the scheme and the Secretary of State gave his approval. Regulations governing the cadetships were then published in the Government Gazette on 12 October 1861. The Regulations stipulated that 'at the end of two years' study or as soon afterwards as they shall be declared qualified by a Board of Competent Examiners, the first three Cadets shall be appointed Government Interpreters, and be employed in such of the departments as may require their services (and that) after three years' service they will be considered eligible by the Secretary of State for promotion to the higher offices in the Civil Service of Hong Kong. As it turned out, the first three cadets never held the position of interpreter. They were in such demand and were promoted so swiftly to substantive posts that their promotion was a de facto violation of the published regulations.
The first three cadets were appointed in 1862 and arrived in Hong Kong late that year. They were M. S. Tonnochy,12 W. M. Deane13 and Cecil Clementi Smith.14 There were further appointments in 1865 — Alfred Lister,15 James Russell,16 and R. G. Starkey, but the last resigned within a year and joined the North China Insurance Company. H. E. Wodehouse17 was appointed in 1867 and J. H. Stewart Lockhart18 in 1879, after an interregnum of 12 years during which the scheme was in abeyance. Only 14 cadets were appointed during the rest of the century, among them Francis Henry May19 (1881), Reginald Fleming Johnston20 (1898), and Cecil Clementi (1899), all of whom were to distinguish themselves at a later date.
The early cadets had meteoric careers. They all received acting posts before their period of study was up. Smith became