般咸

繁體中文

般咸（George Bonham，1803–1863，又譯文咸）係東印度公司及殖民地官員，1836年至1843年出任第四任海峽殖民地總督，1848年3月接任第三任香港總督。他任內面對鴉片戰爭後商貿不如預期嘅困局，推行緊縮開支、精簡政府編制，並擴大土地拍賣同差餉收入令庫房逐步回穩；他首次為定例局引入非官守議員議席，又成功爭取把香港地契年期由75年延長至999年。1850年代內地太平天國戰亂加劇，大量華人南來避亂，香港人口同轉口貿易同步增長，華商階層開始壯大。1853年他親赴南京與太平天國領袖會談，會談嘅不快促使英國對太平天國採取中立。1851年12月28日上環大火燒毀四百多間房屋，政府其後檢討街道規劃同防火安排。般咸道以他命名，他1854年離任，1863年逝世。

English

George Bonham (1803–1863) served the East India Company and the colonial service, and was the fourth Governor of the Straits Settlements from 1836 to 1843 before taking office as the third Governor of Hong Kong in March 1848. Facing trade far below the expectations of the opium-war years, he cut expenditure, streamlined the civil establishment and widened land sales and rates revenue, gradually restoring the treasury; he also brought non-official members into the Legislative Council for the first time and secured the extension of Hong Kong land leases from 75 to 999 years. As the Taiping upheaval spread across the mainland in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants poured into Hong Kong, swelling population and re-export trade and strengthening the Chinese merchant class. In 1853 he visited Nanking for talks with Taiping leaders, whose sour reception helped push Britain towards neutrality. On 28 December 1851 a great fire in Sheung Wan destroyed more than 400 houses, prompting reviews of street planning and fire safety. Bonham Road is named after him; he left office in 1854 and died in 1863.