Sir David Clive Crosbie Trench (1915–1988) was a senior British colonial official, born in Quetta, British India, on 2 June 1915, who joined the British Colonial Office and served in several territories. He served in the British Army during the Second World War and was awarded the Military Cross; he was Hong Kong's Deputy Colonial Secretary from 1959 to 1960, and from 1961 to 1964 served as High Commissioner for the Western Pacific and Governor of the British Solomon Islands. On 15 April 1964 he succeeded Sir Robert Black as Hong Kong's twenty-fourth Governor and remained in office until 19 October 1971. Industry expanded strongly during his term, with garments, plastics and electronics becoming pillars of the economy and exports and employment growing together as the population rose, but social tensions sharpened: in April 1966 a Star Ferry fare rise triggered the Kowloon disturbances, the first major social conflict of his tenure, and from May 1967 large-scale anti-British riots broke out, with bombings and strikes lasting months, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency, arrest large numbers and tighten labour, societies and public-order legislation. His term, originally due to end in 1969, was extended twice. Responding to grievances, he set in motion a series of social reforms — better labour rights, more public housing and expanded social services — and in 1968 introduced the City District Officer scheme to improve contact between government and people; having announced in his October 1970 address that six years of free compulsory primary education would begin in 1971, he introduced it with legislation penalising parents who kept children from school, a milestone in universal schooling that MacLehose later extended to nine years in 1978. He also launched a Festival of Hong Kong in 1969 to lift morale, and major infrastructure was planned and begun in his time, including the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the Kwai Chung container port and the High Island reservoir. He left Hong Kong in October 1971 and died on 4 December 1988.
Trench steadied Hong Kong through the 1967 riots and answered public grievances with social reform, introducing six years of free compulsory primary education in 1971 as a milestone in universal schooling, while major infrastructure such as the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the Kwai Chung container port and the High Island reservoir was planned and begun under his administration.
Achievements
- 1964 · Became the 24th Governor of Hong Kong.
- 1967 · Declared a state of emergency during the 1967 riots and overhauled labour and societies legislation.
- 1971 · Introduced six years of free compulsory primary education.