[ { "id": 210686, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 37, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "20\n\nWALTER GREENWOOD\n\nthe British Colony of Hong Kong. He matriculated at London University in 1875, and in 1876 he passed the Intermediate Examination in Laws obtaining first place of those candidates who achieved second class at honours. Also in 1876 he won the Lee Essay Prize at Gray's Inn, the subject being \"The Judicature Act 1873, stating its object and provisions generally and its probable effect on the administration of the law in England”. He was called to the Bar in November 1876. I have no information as to how he otherwise spent his time during 1874-6. The last glimpse of him in England I know of is an entry in Foster's Men at the Bar 2nd ed. 1885 in which his addresses are given as Hong Kong and the Junior Conservative Club.\n\nFrancis was admitted to practise at the Hong Kong Bar in March 1877, being the 27th on the Roll and the first barrister of Gray's Inn to be so admitted. His admission was moved by the Attorney General George Phillippo before Smale who was still Chief Justice. Phillippo said that his call certificate had been filed and an affidavit of identity sworn before Mr. Justice Huddleston was before the Court. However Huddleston had not given any indication of his office and the question was raised whether it was in order to receive the affidavit. Phillippo said that Francis was well known in Hong Kong and Smale said that he was prepared to act on his personal knowledge of him. Just to resolve any remaining doubts there might be it was noted that the affidavit was dated from “Judge's Chambers\" and that was deemed sufficient. Perhaps Francis heaved a sigh of relief. It would have been somewhat tedious for him to have to return to England to obtain a further and better affidavit of identity. E.J. Eitel in his book Europe in China wrote \"the admission to the Bar of Mr. Francis added new zest to the local displays of forensic eloquence”. Shortly after his own admission Francis signed an affidavit in support of the application of Ng Choy the first Chinese to be admitted to practise in Hong Kong. I like to think that it was an indication of his sympathy towards the Chinese.\n\nIn 1877 the leading practitioner at the Bar in Hong Kong was T.C. Hayllar who was admitted to practise in 1868 and at first Francis practised in his shadow. Another obstacle to getting work was that at that time the Attorney General was allowed to engage", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210687, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 38, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "21\n\nin private practice. However he quickly became established and when Hayllar left Hong Kong in 1882 he was ready to step into his shoes. The Hong Kong Telegraph in its obituary observed “In the early part of his career he had an uphill fight but his eloquence and thorough grasp of the law quickly placed him in the leading ranks of the Bar and after the retirement of Hayllar he had no rival. No important case could come before the court without Francis being retained\". The China Mail said “As a lawyer he had limitations but they were due to lack of early legal training rather than lack of ability. He had a ready grasp of the main points of a case and was unequalled as a reader of character, particularly Chinese character, and an expert cross-examiner\". The speed with which he prospered may be judged from the fact that he took silk in 1886, being only the third member of the Hong Kong Bar to do so. In his letter to the Colonial Secretary requesting the Governor to recommend him to the Secretary of State for appointment Francis wrote \"His Excellency is well aware that this is an honour which according to the recognised custom and etiquette of the profession is always asked for and when properly applied for is seldom refused”. The Chief Justice (now Phillippo) wrote \"Mr. Francis is fully deserving the honour he seeks. On the retirement of Mr. Hayllar Q.C. he obtained the position of leading counsel at the Bar in conjunction with the Attorney General. In nearly every case he holds a brief on one side or the other, and as leading counsel when more than one counsel is employed”. Governor Bowen wrote \"he has risen into leading and lucrative practice at the local Bar where he is making, as I am informed, some £4,000 annually. I have no hesitation in recommending that his application be granted\". The newspaper reports of cases bear out the above observations. Only towards the end of his life when his health began to fail did anyone else challenge his supremacy. He died before the start of the Hong Kong Law Reports but one of his cases is reprinted from a newspaper: Tang Kai Shang v. Ng Pak To H.K.L.R. Vol. 6 for 1911 p.90.\n\nReading the newspaper reports of his cases Francis comes across as a forceful, and often pugnacious and outspoken, advocate who took every possible point for his clients and never gave up. He had many clashes with the bench, other counsel and witnesses. He admitted that he was \"at all times very hot tempered\" and more than once apologised for “the unjustifiable warmth” of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210709, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 60, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "43\n\nClub and Fraser Smith and represented the Club in legal proceedings. After one case Fraser Smith unsuccessfully proposed at an Annual Meeting that his fees be not paid, alleging that he had been actuated by prejudice in advising that there were grounds for expelling Fraser Smith from the Club. I have found no evidence that Francis ever rode or owned horses. However he did run on one occasion. That was in 1880 in the Veterans Flat Race during the Civilian Athletic Sports. He was unplaced off a twenty yard start. T.C. Hayllar won off thirty-five yards.\n\nHe was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the China Association and the Navy League, and in 1895 accepted the Presidency of the British Mercantile Marine Officers Association. He was also a member of the Gun Club and the Rifle Association. He joined various literary and debating societies. He supported Dr. Cantlie in the formation of the Odd Volumes Society in 1893 observing that he had been connected with many similar ventures during his thirty-three years of residence.\n\nHe was an inveterate lecturer, his subjects ranging from Jesuitism in 1872 through maritime and Asian affairs to the theory of British Advocacy in 1897. He was still lecturing in the year of his death. He was said to be an entertaining, clear and simple lecturer though the China Mail said that his chief fault as a public speaker was \"inartistic redundancy\".\n\nIn 1889 at a meeting of the Literary Society he expressed hope for an elected Legislative Council and objected to heads of departments being members of the Executive Council. In 1893 at the Odd Volumes Society on the subject \"What does Hong Kong want\" he gave the answer “public spirit”, and attacked incompetent officials and harmful legislation.\n\nIn 1899, again at the Odd Volumes Society, he disagreed with the view of an earlier speaker that the British Nation was more vulgar than others and deficient in imagination and gave his own view that the British were disliked by others because of their national self-complacency and arrogance which resulted from the accomplishment of great deeds.\n\nHe played chess and kept open house in his chambers for chess players at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesdays. In 1894 he was involved in a living chess tournament organised to raise funds for the Union Church and held in the grounds of the Hon J.J. Keswick at East Point. In 1897 he took part in the founding of the St. Cecilia Society established to cultivate a taste for music and was its President.\n\nPage 60\n\nPage 61", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214925, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2000", "page_number": 21, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "that it contains a considerable pool of talent, but we also appreciate that some people like to be invited before they are prepared to step forward.\n\nProjects and other activities\n\nWe do, as readers appreciate, undertake various projects and receive enquiries from around the world about local history and the like, where sometimes the specific answers do not appear as important as the quests to find them. During the year under review we received interesting information from old soldiers in Britain about searchlights used in pre-World War Two Hong Kong. This information was passed on to Comendador Arthur Gomes of the Hong Kong Prisoners of War Association for publication in their Monthly Newsletter.\n\nWe also received an enquiry from Mr. Kenneth Evans, in England, about his ancestors who lived both in China and in Hong Kong. One of these was Thomas Child Hayllar KC, Attorney General, who at one stage was embroiled in a dispute with Governor Pope-Hennessy. This has been well documented. For our efforts, Mr. Evans made a small donation to our Branch. This appears to be the first time the HKBRAS has been 'paid' for undertaking research. We also received an enquiry from a Dr Hansell in Bath, UK, who had bought a 19th century clock which had been made by Douglas Lapraik, in Hong Kong. Information was requested about the latter gentleman who started his working life as a clockmaker and died a shipping magnate. The information requested was duly supplied.\n\nThe RAS/AMO Volunteers\n\nThe working group of 20 plus RAS volunteers has continued to make a meaningful contribution to the conservation of heritage by assisting the Government Antiquities and Monuments Office. Most of the visits have taken place on Saturdays and this year they have included such places as villas in Kowloon Tong and excavations at Tai Fu Tai in San Tin. The more energetic members have then been called upon to undertake follow-up research, to write reports and make recommendations. We are grateful to all our steadfast volunteers and if anyone else would like to join them, especially those with a sound knowledge of local building or local history, they would be welcome. We also need more members who can read Chinese. As always a special\n\nPage XX", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216217, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 516, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "450\n\nwas not possible to erect a replacement plaque in the cathedral. The authorities concerned would not permit it.\n\nAnother interesting case was that of a clock made by Douglas Lapraik in Hong Kong in the mid 19th century. This story has been written up by the enquirer, Dr Peter Hansell, and an account is published in this volume of JHKBRAS,\n\n*\n\nOther enquiries have included a request from a family member about Thomas Child Hayllar who was Attorney General in Hong Kong in the middle of the 19th century. On similar lines, Francis Howell was also enquiring about family members named Eckford who worked in China and Hong Kong during the past two centuries.\n\nOn another occasion we received an enquiry from a HKBRAS overseas member for information about what appear to be bullet marks on the low boundary wall which runs along the east side of lower Stubbs Road. Although they were probably caused by machine gun fire during the attack by the Japanese, in December 1941, we have not been able to glean any detailed information about the actual incident.\n\nAnother enquirer, an academic living in New Zealand, wanted to know whether there were any roads, buildings or any monuments at all in Hong Kong in memory of Nurse Edith Cavell. She was executed by the Germans in Brussels, on 12 October 1915, for assisting Allied prisoners escape. As far as we know there is nothing erected in her memory in Hong Kong.\n\nA gentleman from Britain wanted to learn more about his maternal grandfather who joined the colonial service in 1910, whereupon he was posted to Hong Kong and subsequently to Canton to learn Cantonese. During the run-up leading to the Sun Yat Sen Revolution, probably in May or June of 1911, the group of Hong Kong cadets was accosted by over-zealous Chinese officials. One of the cadets then drew his revolver and shot an official. The British gentleman has said that, according to family lore, his grandfather, Samuel Burnside Boyd McElderry, was able to calm the situation and talk the group out of the encounter. In spite of searches at the Hong Kong Public Records Office (who were extremely helpful) and elsewhere, no information has been gleaned about this incident.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]