羅便臣

繁體中文

羅便臣（Hercules Robinson，1824–1897）係愛爾蘭裔殖民地官員，早年在西印度群島任職，1859年9月出任第五任港督。1860年《北京條約》將九龍半島（界限街以南）割讓英國，1861年1月19日他主持接收儀式，香港版圖首次由港島擴展至九龍；1862年他創辦中央書院（今皇仁書院前身），為華人子弟提供西式教育；1863年香港鑄幣廠啟用，嘗試解決多國貨幣混用問題（該廠1868年因虧蝕關閉）。他任內亦擴建水塘與道路，以應付人口增長同航運需求。1865年離任後，他先後出任錫蘭、新南威爾士、新西蘭及開普殖民地總督，1896年獲封羅士敏勳爵，1897年逝世。半山羅便臣道以他命名。

English

Hercules Robinson (1824–1897), an Irish-born colonial administrator who had served in the West Indies, became the fifth Governor of Hong Kong in September 1859. 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 1862 he founded the Central School (forerunner of Queen's College), giving Chinese boys a Western education, and 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 extended reservoirs and roads to meet a growing population and shipping trade. After leaving in 1865 he governed Ceylon, New South Wales, New Zealand and the Cape Colony, was created Baron Rosmead in 1896 and died in 1897. Robinson Road on the Mid-Levels is named after him.