Sir George Ferguson Bowen (1821–1899) was an Anglo-Irish British colonial administrator and the ninth Governor of Hong Kong. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, he read law and early served as chief secretary in the government of the Ionian Islands before moving to the Colonial Office; before coming to Hong Kong he had been the first Governor of Queensland, the fifth Governor of New Zealand, the fifth Governor of Victoria and the thirteenth Governor of Mauritius. On 30 March 1883 he became Governor of Hong Kong. Continuing his predecessor's approach, he supported Chinese representation; after NG Choy, the first Chinese unofficial member, resigned in 1882, Bowen upheld the principle of a Chinese seat and in 1884 appointed Wong Shing as a Chinese unofficial member of the Legislative Council, entrenching a Chinese voice in the chamber. In 1884, during the Sino-French War, Hong Kong dock workers and shipyard hands refused to work on French ships; after fourteen of them were fined in court, the whole waterfront struck and demonstrated, and the government called in police and troops and arrested a number of Chinese residents — an episode that forced the colonial administration to reckon with the collective strength of Chinese labour. In office he also helped establish the Hong Kong Observatory and promoted the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter and a government hospital. In poor health, he left the colony in 1887 and died in February 1899. Bowen Road in Wan Chai, completed in 1888, is named after him.
During his term Bowen further institutionalised Chinese representation on the Legislative Council and, when dock workers struck during the Sino-French War, forced the colonial administration to reckon with the strength of Chinese labour. The observatory and typhoon shelter he helped bring about had a lasting effect on Hong Kong's urban governance.
Achievements
- 1883 · Became the ninth Governor of Hong Kong.
- 1884 · Appointed Wong Shing as a Chinese unofficial member of the Legislative Council.
- 1887 · Left office and returned to Britain because of ill health.