The 1952 Hong Kong Urban Council election was held on 30 May 1952 for the two elected seats of the

Urban Council of Hong Kong The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

. It was the first Urban Council election since the end of the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surr ...

, the previous election having been held in 1940. Barrister

Brook Bernacchi Brook Antony Bernacchi (; 22 January 1922 – 22 September 1996) was a lawyer and politician in Hong Kong. He was the long-time chairman of the Reform Club of Hong Kong, the then quasi-opposition party in the colony and the longest serving ele ...

of the

Reform Club of Hong Kong The Reform Club of Hong Kong was one of the oldest political organisations in Hong Kong, existing from 1949 until the mid-1990s. Established by expatriates who were concerned about the Young Plan proposed by Governor Mark Aitchison Young in 1 ...

and

William Louey William Sui-tak Louey (; 7 July 1909 – 9 December 1962) was a Hong Kong businessman and the founder and Chief Manager of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company. Early life and career Louey was born in Melbourne on 7 July 1909 to the son of a Chinese Au ...

, chief manager of

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International. ...

won the two seats.

Overview

It was the first Urban Council election after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Prior to the election, the former Governor Sir

Mark Aitchison Young Sir Mark Aitchison Young (楊慕琦, 30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974) was a British administrator who became the Governor of Hong Kong during the years immediately before and after the Japanese occupation of the territory. Early life, service in ...

suggested a further constitutional reform by a new elected Municipal body replacing the Urban Council. The

Young Plan The Young Plan was a program for settling Germany's World War I reparations. It was written in August 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by American industrialist Owen D. Young, founder and for ...

was strongly opposed by the conservatives and the then Governor Sir

Alexander Grantham Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG (; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji. Early life, colonial administration career Grantham was born on 15 March 1899 and ...

. At the end, the Governor restored the election for two seats in the Urban Council which had existed before the war after the Young Plan was shelved. The polling station was held at the

Murray Parade Ground Murray Barracks () was a barracks for the British Army garrisoned in Admiralty, Central in Hong Kong. It was named after Sir George Murray Sir George Murray (6 February 1772 – 28 July 1846) was a British soldier and politician from Scotla ...

. Some 3,368 men cast ballots, about one-third of the 9,700 registered voters, lower than expectations. The ''China Mail'' said it could "scarcely be regarded as a convincing sign that the Colony is desperately anxious to enjoy extended franchise."

of the

and

of the

Kowloon Residents' Association The Kowloon Residents' Association was one of the earliest political organisations in Hong Kong history founded in 1920. History It was formed by a group of Europeans residing on the Kowloon Peninsula, British Hong Kong on 20 January 1920. The ...

, chief manager of

, were elected out of nine candidates. Pro-

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

barrister

Percy Chen Percy Chen (; 1901–20 February 1989) was a Chinese Trinidadian lawyer of Hakka descent, as well as a journalist, businessman and political activist. Family and early life Chen was born in Belmont, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies, ...

, son of former Foreign Minister of the Republic of China

Eugene Chen Eugene Chen or Chen Youren (; July 2, 1878, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago – 20 May 1944, Shanghai), known in his youth as Eugene Bernard Achan, was a Chinese Trinidadian lawyer who in the 1920s became Chinese foreign minister. He was known ...

, was on the ballot. He urged voters to treat the election as a referendum to press London for a further constitutional reform promised by Young. He ranked sixth of the nine candidates, getting 461 votes. The other Reform Club candidate

Woo Pak-chuen Woo Pak-chuen (; 10 January 1910 – 30 April 2008) was a prominent politician and lawyer of Hong Kong. He was former Unofficial Member of the Executive and Legislative Council of Hong Kong. From 1972 to 1973, he was the Senior Unofficial Memb ...

lost the race by only 38 votes.

Results

Citations

References

* Pepper, Suzanne (2008). ''Keeping Democracy at Bay:Hong Kong and the Challenge of Chinese Political Reform''. Rowman & Littlefield. {{Hong Kong elections

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

1952 in Hong Kong

Urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

May 1952 events in Asia 1952 elections in the British Empire