Sir Douglas Clague (13 June 1917 – 11 March 1981) was a British Hong Kong soldier and entrepreneur who spent most of his life 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 Delta i ...

Early Years

Born in South Rhodesia, in 1917, Clague arrived in

in 1940 as a

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 ...

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 ...

, and on the outbreak of

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

became a prisoner in the

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

PoW camp.HONG KONG: Trouble in the Hongs

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

, 20 October 1975 He later escaped, and joined the

British Army Aid Group The British Army Aid Group (B.A.A.G.) was a para-military organisation for British and Allied forces in southern China during the Second World War. The B.A.A.G. was officially classified in the British Army's order of battle as an MI9 unit t ...

in free China. On the ending of the war, he famously took the surrender of Japanese forces in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

more or less single-handedly.

Business Career and Involvements in Hong Kong

After the war, he became the

tai-pan A tai-pan (,Andrew J. Moody, "Transmission Languages and Source Languages of Chinese Borrowings in English", ''American Speech'', Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), pp. 414-415. literally "top class"汉英词典 — ''A Chinese-English Dictionary' ...

of the British Hong Kong hong Hutchison, better known as Hutchison Whampoa. He overstretched his finances, which resulted in

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

taking over the firm, replacing Clague, and led to the sale of Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-Shing's

Cheung Kong Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, is a multinational conglomerate, based in Hong Kong. It was one of Hong Kong's leading multi-national conglomerates. The company merged with its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa on 3 June 2015, as part of a majo ...

in 1979.Stephen Vines
The Other Handover

, 6 August 2005 Clague was also one of the commandants of the

Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force The Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force provides additional manpower to the Hong Kong Police Force, especially during emergencies and other incidents. The HKAPF's mandate is governed by the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force Ordinance. History Th ...

, and a member of both the Executive and the Legislative Councils of Hong Kong, when he succeeded

Cedric Blaker Cedric Blaker (19 November 1889 – 18 June 1965) was a British entrepreneur in China and Hong Kong. He was the chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the '' South China Morning Post'' and the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce ...

on 21 March 1958. From 1950 to 1951 he was President of the Gunners Roll of Hong Kong. Clague owned a

lodge Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one. Lodge or The Lodge may refer to: Buildings and structures Specific * The Lodge (Australia), the official Canberra residence of the Prime Ministe ...

Kam Tsin Kam Tsin (), also known as Kam Tsin Tsuen () is a village and an area in the North District, in the New Territories in Hong Kong. Administration Kam Tsin is a recognized village under the New Territories Small House Policy. It is one of th ...

in the northern

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 ...

alongside many other wealthy people. He was also a

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic ...

owner and one time chairman of the

Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...

; it was under his tenure the

Sha Tin Racecourse Sha Tin Racecourse is one of the two racecourses for horse racing in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin in the New Territories. It is managed by Hong Kong Jockey Club. Penfold Park is encircled by the track, and the Hong Kong Sports Ins ...

was developed. The Clague Garden Estate in

Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan (formerly also spelled Tsun Wan) is a town built on a bay in the western New Territories of Hong Kong, opposite of Tsing Yi Island across Rambler Channel. The market town of Tsuen Wan emerged from the surrounding villages and fle ...

is named for him, as he was also one of the longest serving chairmen of the

Hong Kong Housing Society The Hong Kong Housing Society or Housing Society for short, is the second largest public housing provider in Hong Kong (the first being the Hong Kong Housing Authority). The Society housed around 130,000 residents as of 2020. The Housing Society ...

Personal

Clague was married to Lady Margaret Isolin Clague (née Cowley); they had three children (Jonathan, Penny and Isolin). He died of cancer aged 64, in 1981; Lady Clague died in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clague, Douglas 1917 births 1981 deaths British expatriates in Hong Kong 20th-century British businesspeople Hong Kong justices of the peace Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II British colonial police officers World War II prisoners of war held by Japan Escapees from Japanese detention Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Hong Kong recipients of the Queen's Police Medal British expatriates in Southern Rhodesia