Hercules George Robert Robinson (1824-1897) was an Irish-born colonial administrator, born in County Westmeath and educated at the Royal Military School. After service in the Royal Irish Constabulary and posts in the West Indies - president of Montserrat from 1854 and lieutenant-governor of St Kitts from 1855 - he became the fifth Governor of Hong Kong in September 1859, still short of thirty-five. Under the 1860 Convention of Peking the Kowloon peninsula south of Boundary Street was ceded to Britain, and on 19 January 1861 he presided over the ceremony of taking possession, the first extension of Hong Kong beyond Hong Kong Island. In 1860 he reorganised the colony's postal service under a postmaster-general independent of the British Royal Mail, and on 8 December 1862 issued Hong Kong's first set of general postage stamps. In 1862 he founded the Central School, forerunner of Queen's College, with Dr Frederick Stewart as its first headmaster, giving Chinese boys a Western education in the colony's first government school; in 1863 the Hong Kong Mint opened in an attempt to resolve the confusion of multiple currencies (it closed in 1868 after losses). He also reformed public works and civil-service training and pushed the Pok Fu Lam reservoir to secure the water supply. Leaving in March 1865, he went on to govern Ceylon (1865-1872), New South Wales (1872-1879), New Zealand (1879-1880) and the Cape Colony, where he was also High Commissioner for Southern Africa, and was created Baron Rosmead in 1896, dying the next year. Robinson Road on the Mid-Levels is named after him.
By taking possession of the Kowloon peninsula, Robinson extended Hong Kong beyond the island for the first time and laid the geographic groundwork for Kowloon's later growth; the Central School he founded was the colony's first government school and an important starting point for Western education for Chinese residents, and Hong Kong's first general postage stamps were issued during his term.
Achievements
- 1859 · Became the fifth Governor of Hong Kong, succeeding John Bowring.
- 1861 · Presided over the ceremony taking possession of the Kowloon peninsula, the first extension of Hong Kong beyond the island.
- 1862 · Founded the Central School, forerunner of Queen's College, and issued Hong Kong's first general postage stamps on 8 December the same year.