Sir David Akers-Jones (; 14 April 1927 – 30 September 2019) was a British colonial administrator. He was the
Chief Secretary of Hong Kong from 1985 to 1987, and was briefly Acting
Governor of Hong Kong
The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...
.
Biography
Born David Akers Jones ('Akers' being adopted as part of his surname later), he was son of Walter George Jones, manager of a brick and tile factory at
Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, and Dorothy (née Akers), a schoolteacher.
[Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage 107th edition, vol. 1, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 61] He was educated at
Worthing High School and
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...
(
MA).
Akers-Jones arrived in Hong Kong in 1957, after serving three years in the Malayan Civil Service and joined the
Hong Kong Government
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...
in the summer of 1957. During his long career, Akers-Jones served in many important posts in the Government of Hong Kong, including
Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary,
Secretary for the New Territories, which was later retitled "The Secretary for City and New Territories Administration". He was instrumental in turning small villages into "
new town
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
s" in the
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
teeming with factories and apartment blocks to resettle slum-dwellers from the hillsides of
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
.
He was also
Secretary for District Administration The Secretary for District Administration (), formerly known as Secretary for City and New Territories Administration, was a minister in the Government of Hong Kong in 1980s, which is responsible for local administrative issues.
In 1974, "District ...
,
Secretary for Home Affairs
The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs is the head of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for local issues, and the provision of community and youth services.
List of office holders Registr ...
and
Chief Secretary.
After the sudden death of Sir
Edward Youde
Sir Edward Youde (; Cantonese: ''Yau Tak''; 19 June 1924 – 5 December 1986) was a British administrator, diplomat and Sinologist. He served as Governor of Hong Kong between 20 May 1982 and his death on 5 December 1986.
Early years
Youde ...
, Akers-Jones became Acting
Governor of Hong Kong
The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...
from December 1986 to April 1987. After retiring from the post of Chief Secretary in 1987, he became Special Assistant to Governor
Lord Wilson of Tillyorn for six months. He was later Chairman of the
Hong Kong Housing Authority, from 1987 to 1992.
In the years leading up to the
transfer of sovereignty from the UK to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997, Akers-Jones was appointed as a
Hong Kong Affairs Advisor
Hong Kong Affairs Advisers () were appointed by the Chinese government after the last Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten carried out his electoral reform in the British Hong Kong, in the eve of the handover of the sovereignty of the city-state f ...
to the Central Government of the PRC, from 1992 to 1997, after he relinquished chairmanship of the
Hong Kong Housing Authority, having served a five-year term.
Sir David Akers-Jones retired and lived quietly in Hong Kong. He and his wife bought the dilapidated secluded villa "Dragon View", in
Sham Tseng
Sham Tseng is a coastal area in Tsuen Wan District, Hong Kong, between Ting Kau and Tsing Lung Tau.
History
At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Sham Tseng was 72. The number of males was 32.
In 1982, the Government launched ...
, for HK$1.5 million. The couple renovated it and worked extensively on the garden. They were served with a compulsory purchase order on 19 October 2000 when it was decided to go ahead with a road widening project. He is thought to have obtained at least $30 million in compensation.
Discovery Bay controversy
In 2005, Akers-Jones briefly emerged from retirement to defend, before Hong Kong's Legislative Council, his role in zoning the
Discovery Bay
Discovery Bay (DB) is a resort town on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It consists of mixed, primarily residential, development, in particular upmarket residential development and private and public recreational facilities, including garden houses, ...
resort project on Lantau in the 1970s. Developers were allowed to build there with the stipulation that it would become a resort but most of the units were later converted into luxury housing. He was involved in the original zoning decision enabling development, as the then Secretary for the New Territories.
With
Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland () (local nickname ''HKDL''; also known as HK Disneyland) is a theme park located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and it is owned and managed by Hong Ko ...
subsequently opening nearby and property prices having skyrocketed as a result, suspicions about the fact that the original zoning plan was never enforced have again come to the fore. Akers-Jones criticised the decision to call on an elderly man to testify about events 30 years earlier. He revealed that colonial officials had abruptly changed the zoning of the Discovery Bay project, and gave it to new developers because they feared it would fall into the hands of the former Soviet Union.
Political views
Akers-Jones criticised Hong Kong's post-colonial government for continuing a policy of maintaining high property prices, its lack of urban planning, and frequently ill-conceived plans to reclaim land in
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...
.
Akers-Jones advocated converting the
Election Committee
The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...
into a committee which would nominate suitable candidates for the post of chief executive for election by the public. He further believed in preserving
functional constituencies
A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China:
* Functional constituency (Hong Kong)
* Functional cons ...
but that they should be turned into an upper house in a
bicameral legislature instead of abolishing them.
Memoirs
In later life, Akers-Jones penned occasional letters to the ''
South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' and wrote occasional columns there and at ''
The Standard''. In 2004, he published a volume of reminiscences, entitled ''Feeling the Stones''.
Benevolent work
Akers-Jones was honorary chairman of the Bridge to China foundation, or Wu Zhi Qiao, which is a charitable, non-profit organisation based in Hong Kong dedicated to building footbridges in rural mainland China. It was established in 2005 as a collaborative effort between the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Xi'an Jiaotong University to build a single footbridge across the Po River in Gansu province. The foundation ultimately formed partnerships with 17 universities in China, Hong Kong, and the United States.
He was a founder and the honorary president of the local chapter of
Outward Bound
Outward Bound (OB) is an international network of outdoor education organizations that was founded in the United Kingdom by Lawrence Holt and Kurt Hahn in 1941. Today there are organizations, called schools, in over 35 countries which are att ...
, the Outward Bound Hong Kong. He was a vice-president of the
Hong Kong Girl Guides Association
Hong Kong Girl Guides Association () is the sole Guide organisation in Hong Kong. It was formally established in 1919 though the first Girl Guides Company was formed in 1916. The association became a full member of the World Association of Girl G ...
. He was vice-patron and honorary life president of the
Hong Kong Football Association
The Hong Kong Football Association Limited (), often abbreviated to the HKFA, is the governing body of association football in Hong Kong. Its current chairman is Pui Kwan Kay and its Chief Executive Officer is Joaquin Tam.
History
The HKFA was ...
.
Akers-Jones was a trustee and vice-president of the
Worldwide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
Hong Kong and chairman of the
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
Charitable Foundation
Akers-Jones was chairman of
Operation Smile China Medical Mission and president of the
English-Speaking Union
The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skill ...
(Hong Kong). He was honorary advisor to Musicus Society.
In 2014, Akers-Jones founde
Invotech a do-tank to spread innovation and technology in Hong Kong.
Personal life
In 1951, Akers-Jones married
Jane Spickernell, daughter of
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
Captain Sir Frank Todd Spickernell,
KBE,
CB,
CVO,
DSO, and maternal granddaughter of
Sir Delves Louis Broughton, 10th Baronet. Jane Akers-Jones was appointed
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
in 1988. They had two adoptive children, son (Simon d. 1981) and a daughter (Byrony).
Death
Akers-Jones died from colorectal cancer at
Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 30 September 2019 at age 92.
His wife Jane had died in 2002.
References
Citations
Sources
*
Akers-Jones, Sir DavidInternational Who's Who. Retrieved 3 September 2006.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers-Jones, David
1927 births
2019 deaths
20th-century British politicians
20th-century Hong Kong people
Alumni of the University of Kent
Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong politicians
Chief Secretaries of Hong Kong
Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Deaths from cancer in Hong Kong
Deaths from colorectal cancer
English emigrants to Hong Kong
Governors of Hong Kong
HK LegCo Members 1985–1988
Hong Kong Affairs Advisors
Hong Kong justices of the peace
Hong Kong people of British descent
Hong Kong people of English descent
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong
People educated at Worthing High School
People from Worthing
Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal