Sir David Robert Ford, (; 22 February 1935 – 10 September 2017) was the fifth and the last non-

ethnic Chinese The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of s ...

Chief Secretary of Hong Kong The Chief Secretary for Administration, commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal officials of Hong Kong, principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Chief Se ...

and Deputy Governor of Hong Kong from 1987 to 1993 and was Hong Kong Commissioner in London until 1997.

Biography

Ford was born on 22 February 1935 and educated at the

Taunton School Taunton School is a co-educational independent school in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster is Lee Glaser, appointed in the aut ...

in southwest England. He joined the military service at 20 as a regular army officer 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 ...

, serving in 17 different countries on five different continents. In his last five years of service, he served in Aden and Borneo with the Commando Brigade. During the

Hong Kong 1967 Leftist riots The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British Hong Kong, British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the ...

, Ford was seconded to the Hong Kong government. The riots instigated by the local communists left 51 people dead. Ford left the army in 1972 and began working in the Hong Kong government, holding a number of appointments as a senior civil servant . He became the Director of the

Information Services Department The Information Services Department (ISD) is the Hong Kong Government's public relations office, publisher, advertiser, and news agency, serving as the link between the government and the media. It was also commonly called Government Informat ...

in 1974 where he engaged in propaganda warfare with the communists in Hong Kong. He was Under Secretary in the

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; ga, Oifig Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of State for N ...

between 1977 and 1979 during the resurgence of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

in the period known as

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. Pro-Beijing newspapers believed Ford was an

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent due to his portfolio. Ford returned to Hong Kong in 1979 and studied at the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

between 1980 and 1983 before he became Hong Kong Commissioner in London. He was the

Secretary for the Civil Service The Secretary for the Civil Service is the head of the Civil Service Bureau in Hong Kong. Unlike other secretaries for bureaux, the Secretary for the Civil Service is filled by an administrative officer from the civil service, who may choose to ...

from 1985 and 1986. He became the

and Deputy Governor of Hong Kong in 1986, serving as the most senior civil servant with the highest position in the civil service. During this period, he initiated the planning for Hong Kong's new international airport at

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

in 1989. He was the 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. ...

for a week before

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...

reported for duty on 9 July 1992. He held the position until 1993 when he retired and took the position of Hong Kong Commissioner in London for the second time. Ford retired from public service in 1997, focusing on breeding rare cattle and sheep in Devon. He was a director of the

Campaign to Protect Rural England CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Forme ...

between 2001 and 2003. In 2002, he became a non-executive director at

PCCW Limited PCCW Limited (formerly known as Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited) is a Hong Kong-based information and communications technology (ICT) company. The company is the majority owner of telecommunications company HKT Limited, and also holds a maj ...

. From 2003 to May 2017 he was chairman of UK Broadband Limited, a subsidiary of PCCW. UK Broadband was sold to

Three UK Hutchison 3G UK Ltd is a British telecommunications and internet service provider currently based in Reading, England. It is a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, operating under the global Three brand. Three is the fourth-largest mobile net ...

in May 2017. He visited Hong Kong several times after his departure, attracting interest from the pro-Beijing media which speculated on his strategising with

pan-democrat The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...

opposition and "meddling" in Hong Kong's internal affairs. Ford died on 10 September 2017, at the age of 82. Lady Gillian Ford, his wife, was a founder and subsequently patron of the Hong Kong Children's Cancer Foundation from 1988 to 1992.

Personal life

In 1958, Ford married Elspeth Anne (née Muckart). Together they had four children; two sons and two daughters. Their marriage was dissolved in 1987, and the same year he married Gillian Petersen (née Monsarrat). One of his daughters is

Mandy Ford Amanda Kirstine Ford (known as Mandy; born 1961) is a British Anglican priest who has served as Dean of Bristol since 3 October 2020. Early life and education Ford was born in 1961 in Wool, Dorset, England. Her father was Sir David Frost, an arm ...

, an Anglican priest who has been Dean of Bristol since 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, David Robert 1935 births 2017 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies Chief Secretaries of Hong Kong Government officials of Hong Kong Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order Royal Artillery officers People educated at Taunton School HK LegCo Members 1985–1988 HK LegCo Members 1988–1991 HK LegCo Members 1991–1995