John Pope Hennessy

Sir John Pope Hennessy, KCMG (Chinese Translated Name: 軒尼詩) (1834 - 1891) was a British politician and Colonial Administrator, who became the 8th Governor of Hong Kong.

Early life
Sir John Pope Hennessy was born in 1834 in Ireland. He was a Catholic who strongly believed Liberalism. Hennessy completed his medical training at Queen's University of Ireland. Afterwards, he joined the British Army Medical Department and later studied law and became a legal professional.

Public Service
He started his Public Service career as the Supplemental Clerk at the Privy Council, and eventually became a minor Conservative member of the British Parliament.

Early Colonial Service
Hennessy eventually joined the Colonial Office and became the Governor of Sierra Leone from 1872 to 1873. He became the Governor of Barbados, from 1873 until 1877.

Governor of Hong Kong
Immediately after his tenure in Barbados, Hennessy was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, a position from which he served until 1882.

During his tenure, Hennessy realized that the Chinese people, who were treated as second-class citizens up to that time, have an increasingly important influence on the Hong Kong economy. With that in mind, he lifted the ban that forbade Chinese people from buying lands, constructing buildings, and operate businesses in the Central District. This caused a development boom in the Central District. Also, he allowed Chinese people in Hong Kong to become Naturalised UK Citizens. He appointed the first Chinese member to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Wu Tingfang, who would later become the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China.

Also, during his rule, he established the first Grant-in-Aid system in education area. This is a very important point for the educational history of Hong Kong.

Governor of Mauritius
After his tenure as Governor of Hong Kong was over, Hennessy went on to become the Governor of Mauritius, a position in which he served until 1893. This was his last post in the Colonial Service.

Personal life
His personal motto is "Three Grand Qualifications to Success", in which he described as "The first is audacity, the second is audacity, and the third is audacity".

Sir John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy (1913 - 1994), who was a British art historian and the director of the British Museum from 1974 until 1976, was Hennessy's grandson.

Hennessy died in 1891.

Honours

 * KCMG

Places Named After Him
As he is not popular among the European community of Hong Kong, there was no construction named after him until much later. On 1929-06-14 Hennessy Road, which is a main road located on the new reclamation, present-day a crowded commercial and shopping area at Wan Chai and Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island was named after him.

軒尼詩