David Gregory Jeaffreson,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, JP (, 23 November 1931 – 30 October 2008) was a British colonial government official and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. He arrived in

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 ...

in 1961 serving as

Administrative Officer His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...

, and was

Secretary for Economic Services The Secretary for Economic Services ( and later ) was a minister position in the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for economic development in Hong Kong. The position was renamed to the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour () af ...

and Secretary for Security in

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...

and

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

, during which he had also been appointed as official Legislative Councillor for more than ten years. Jeaffreson was appointed as

Commissioner of ICAC The Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption heads the body that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption in both the public and private realms in Hong Kong. The ICAC was created in 1974 to deal with the c ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sir David Wilson in 1988. Retiring from the government in 1991, he chose to reside in Hong Kong and had become the deputy chairman of Big Island Asia Limited and an independent non-executive director of Buildmore International Limited.

Biography

Early years

Jeaffreson was born on 23 November 1931 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

from a well-known surgical family descended from

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 Census and an estimated 4, ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, which is said to have performed the first successful

ovariotomy Oophorectomy (; from Greek , , 'egg-bearing' and , , 'a cutting out of'), historically also called ''ovariotomy'' is the surgical removal of an ovary or ovaries. The surgery is also called ovariectomy, but this term is mostly used in reference t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.
British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Volume 60 Issue 4'', BJOG, August 1953. Jeaffreson was born to Bryan Leslie Jeaffreson (1896–1953) and Margaret Jeaffreson. His father was a

Physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

who was qualified as a

Medical Doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.''Who's Who'', A & C Black, 2008. Jeaffreson attended Bootham School in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and then went up to

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, obtaining an MA.Edited by Kevin Sinclair, ''Who's who in Hong Kong'', Hong Kong: Who's Who in Hong Kong Ltd.: Asianet Information Services Ltd., 1988. Upon graduation, called up into the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1950 to carry out his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

. He was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

on 4 November 1950. After almost a year's service with the regular army, he was transferred to the Territorial Army list on 22 October 1951, He was promoted to acting

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 22 July 1952. He completed his service on 23 September 1955, transferring to the reserve of officers. In 1955, he joined the Colonial Service and was sent to the British mandate of

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

in where he served as Administrative Officer until 1958. From 1959 to 1960, he was employed by Henricot Steel Foundry, becoming an assistant manager.

Hong Kong Government

In 1961, Jeaffreson 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, ...

as an Administrative Officer. He firstly worked in the Department of Trade Industry and Customs under the Finance Branch, and was promoted to the post of Assistant Secretary for Trade and Industry in 1967 and

Deputy Financial Secretary Deputy Financial Secretary is a ministerial position in the Government of Hong Kong, deputising the Financial Secretary (Hong Kong), Financial Secretary. The position was created in 2022 after John Lee (government official), John Lee Lee governmen ...

in 1972. He became

in September 1976. In this capacity, he oversaw the economic affairs of Hong Kong and occasionally served as acting Financial Secretary.
立法局會議過程正式紀錄
',香港: 香港立法局, 10 February 1988. Jeaffreson was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the New Year Honours of 1981 for his public services. Jeaffreson was Secretary for Security from November 1982 to February 1988 and had briefly served as acting Chief Secretary for Sir David Ford for six days before the end of his term of office. As the Secretary for Security, he was responsible for some sensitive and important issues such as settling the boat people and the introduction of the nationality of

British National (Overseas) British National (Overseas), abbreviated BN(O), is a class of British nationality law, British nationality associated with the British Hong Kong, former colony of Hong Kong. The status was acquired through voluntary registration by individual ...

for Hong Kong. Apart from that, he also paid much attention on issues related to

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

, the

Triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Businesses and organisations * Triad (American fraternities), certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America * Triad (organized crime), a Chinese transnational orga ...

s and

illegal drug The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary law, sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the Recreational drug use, recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to p ...

s. From September 1976 to February 1988, Jeaffreson also served as official Legislative Councillor with the exception of the 1985 to 1986 Session. His ten and a half years' service in the Council was praised by the Governor, Sir David Wilson, and the Senior Unofficial Member of the Council,

Lydia Dunn Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

, when he retired from the Council. On 20 February 1988, Jeaffreson was appointed the

Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption The Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption heads the body that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption in both the public and private realms in Hong Kong. The ICAC was created in 1974 to deal with the c ...

(ICAC) by the Governor, succeeding Geoffrey Barnes. During his term, the ICAC cracked down a number of commercial

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

cases. The ICAC had made a closer cooperation with its counterparts in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

also. Jeaffreson retired from the post on 30 November 1991 and was succeeded by Peter Allan.前任廉政專員謝法新逝世
", ''蘋果日報'', 31 October 2008.

Later years

In retirement, Jeaffreson chose to reside in

and joined some business groups. In 1992, he became the deputy chairman of Big Island Asia Limited. On 2 January 2002, he was appointed as independent non-executive director of Buildmore International Limited, a listed

landed property In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate. In medieval Western Europe, there were two compet ...

company in Hong Kong. Besides, from 1 February 1992 to 31 January 2002, he was a member of the government's Public Service Commission. In December 2007, along with other former Commissioners of ICAC, Jeaffreson attended the opening ceremony of the new ICAC headquarter in North Point. Jeaffreson died in Hong Kong on 30 October 2008, aged 76. Both the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of ...

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

and the incumbent Commissioner of ICAC Timothy Tong sent their condolences to the Jeaffreson family.行政長官對謝法新逝世深表哀痛
, ''新聞公報'', 30 October 2008.

Family

Jeaffreson married Elizabeth Marie Jausions in 1959. They had two sons and two daughters. His wife, his two daughters and two sons survived him. Jeaffreson lived in Pok Fu Lam, which is located in the Southern District on

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 member of the

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is a Hong Kong watersports club for sailing, rowing and paddling. History In 1849 the ''Victoria Regatta Club'' was formed and later absorbed into the ''Hong Kong Boating Clu''b which, in 1889, was in turn ...

Conferment

* J.P. (official, 1963) *

C.B.E. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

( New Year Honours 1981) * J.P. (unofficial, 1 July 1998)

Footnotes

References

English materials

*
British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Volume 60 Issue 4'', BJOG, August 1953. * Edited by Kevin Sinclair, ''Who's who in Hong Kong'', Hong Kong: Who's Who in Hong Kong Ltd.: Asianet Information Services Ltd., 1988. * ''Who's Who'', A & C Black, 2008.

Chinese materials

*
立法局會議過程正式紀錄
',香港: 香港立法局, 10 February 1988. * "保安司謝法新突然「官運亨通」，月底任署理布政司", page one, second section of ''華僑日報'', 10 February 1988. * "謝法新服務立局十年，獲港督及鄧蓮如讚揚", page five, second section of ''大公報'', 11 February 1988. *
公務員敘用委員會二零零零年年報
', 公務員敘用委員會, 2000. *

, ''新聞資訊'', 公務員事務局, 11 January 2002. *

, ''太陽報'', 9 December 2007. *
建懋國際有限公司－2008年報
', 建懋國際, 29 May 2008. *

, ''新聞公報'', 30 October 2008. *
獨立非執行董事逝世
, ''公告'', 建懋國際, 31 October 2008. *
前任廉政專員謝法新逝世
, ''蘋果日報'', 31 October 2008.

External links

Buildmore International Limited
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeaffreson, David People educated at Bootham School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Government officials of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Hong Kong businesspeople 1931 births 2008 deaths Hong Kong people of British descent