砵甸乍

繁體中文

砵甸乍（Henry Pottinger，1789–1856）係英國軍人同殖民地官員，1804年抵達印度參軍，1806年加入東印度公司，曾打扮成商人深入信德與波斯一帶探險，並寫成《Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde》。1841年他獲委任為駐華全權代表，代表英方簽署《南京條約》，1843年6月26日宣誓就任香港首任總督。他依據1843年《英皇制誥》及《皇室訓令》建立行政局（初稱議政局）同立法局（初稱定例局），確立「總督會同行政、立法兩局」嘅管治模式；1844年1月他親自主持立法局首次會議。任內政府財政緊絀、官員質素與治安問題叢生，他任職僅約十一個月便離任，但其搭建嘅憲制框架一直運作至1997年。他離任後先後出任馬德拉斯總督等職，1851年晉升中將，1856年在英國逝世。

English

Henry Pottinger (1789–1856) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He reached India in 1804, joined the East India Company in 1806 and travelled in disguise as a merchant through Sind and Persia, publishing 'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde'. Appointed Britain's plenipotentiary in China in 1841, he signed the Treaty of Nanking for Britain and was sworn in on 26 June 1843 as the first Governor of Hong Kong. Under the 1843 Letters Patent and Royal Instructions he created the Executive Council (initially the Council of Advice) and the Legislative Council, establishing rule by 'the Governor with the advice and consent of the two councils'; in January 1844 he presided over the Legislative Council's first sitting, delayed from 1843 by fever. Fiscal strain and poor administration marked his tenure of barely eleven months, yet the constitutional framework he built lasted until 1997. He later governed Madras, became a lieutenant-general in 1851 and died in Britain in 1856.