Richard Graves MacDonnell (1814-1881) was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a provost of Trinity College Dublin. Educated there, he was called to the bar in 1838 and then joined the Colonial Office, serving as Chief Justice of the Gambia (1843-1847) and Governor (1847-1852), in St Lucia and St Vincent (1852-1853), as Governor of South Australia (1855-1862) and as Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (1864-1865), so that he arrived in Hong Kong with wide governing experience. He became the colony's sixth Governor on 11 March 1866, arriving just as a global financial panic struck: banks and firms faced runs, lending and trade contracted sharply, the economy slid into recession and revenue fell, while the loss-making Hong Kong Mint closed in 1868. To raise money he legalised Chinese gambling in 1867, licensing gambling houses for fees, but the vice, corruption and crime that followed provoked strong opposition and the policy was repealed in 1871. He also backed Chinese community leaders in building the Tung Wah Hospital, which he approved in 1869 and which was founded in 1870 and formally opened in 1872, managed by Chinese directors, becoming the base for Chinese-run medical and charitable work and laying the foundation for the later Tung Wah group of hospitals. He encouraged development on Victoria Peak and pursued pirates vigorously, strengthening sea patrols and arrests, and in office he also handled Chinese registration, land tenure and policing, ruling repeatedly on clashes between Chinese customs and European residents. He was appointed KCMG in 1871, left office in 1872 owing to ill health, was succeeded by Arthur Kennedy, and, after returning to Britain, died in England in 1881.
MacDonnell's experiment of first legalising and then banning gambling became an important lesson for how Hong Kong later handled gambling and public order; the Tung Wah Hospital he backed created a tradition of Chinese-run medical and charitable work that endures, and marked the colonial government's growing reliance on Chinese leaders to keep social order.
Achievements
- 1866 · Became the sixth Governor of Hong Kong, taking office amid a global financial panic that hit government revenue
- 1867 · Legalised Chinese gambling, licensing gambling houses for fees; the policy was repealed in 1871
- 1870 · Backed Chinese community leaders in building the Tung Wah Hospital, established that year