Geoffrey Robley Sayer (11 February 1887 – 27 January 1962) was a British civil servant and historian. He was the head of the Sanitary Department and Director of Education in Hong Kong in the 1920s and 1930s.

Education and career

He was born in London on 11 February 1887 to an affluent household. His father was a hydraulic and sanitary engineer. He was educated at Highgate School in London and

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, where he obtained an honours degree in classics and philosophy and played cricket. He also won a blue for football. Sayer took the colonial service examinations after graduation and his good results allowed him to opt for the prime postings of India. However, he chose Hong Kong instead and arrived as a cadet on 1 January 1911. Sayer served on various positions and was an acting private secretary to

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 ...

Francis Henry May Sir Francis Henry May (; 14 March 1860 – 6 February 1922) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Fiji from 1911 to 1912 and Governor of Hong Kong from 1912 to 1918. Early life and education May was born in Dublin, Ire ...

in 1915. He joined the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was severely injured with the Rifle Brigade in France. As he spoke Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin, he was transferred to the

Chinese Labour Corps The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC; french: Corps de Travailleurs Chinois; ) was a force of workers recruited by the British government in the First World War to free troops for front line duty by performing support work and manual labour. The French ...

until the end of the war. He returned to Hong Kong in 1920 as the head of the Sanitary Department. He gained reputation for his work with the vaccination campaign of 1923–24 and the cholera outbreak of 1932. However he was also criticised for his primitive and unhygienic methods used for refuse collection. He argued for continuing the practice of collecting by bullock cart and dumping at sea. Soon after he took a year's leave. In 1934, he returned to Hong Kong to take up the position of Director of Education. During his service he was under the pressure of London for an overhaul of the education system and he was seen as incapable to bring the necessary experience. He was almost permanently on leave when he was pressured by the home government committee report of 1937. In 1938, he retired after the collision with the Teachers Training Committee report. In 1937, Sayer published his first famous historical work, ''Hong Kong, 1841–1862: Birth, Adolescence and Coming of Age''. He wrote the second history, ''Hong Kong, 1862 to 1919: Years of Discretion'' with the edition and additional notes by D. M. Emrys Evans, which was published posthumously in 1975. He also translated two books on Chinese poetry in 1951 and 1959.

Personal life and family

Sayer played cricket throughout his time in Hong Kong in a private team, Sayer's XI for the

Hong Kong Cricket Club The Hong Kong Cricket Club () is situated in the heart of Hong Kong Island surrounded by the hills and greenery of Wong Nai Chung Gap Wong Nai Chung Gap () is a geographic gap in the middle of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The gap is betwee ...

and civil service teams. He was famous for his batting ability, scoring centuries against the Royal Navy in 1927 and 1931. He also captained the colony team against Shanghai and Malaya in the Interport Series. Sayer married in 1919 and had three sons and two daughters. One of his sons,

Guy Sayer Guy Mowbray Sayer, CBE, JP (18 June 1924 – 14 April 2009) was the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1972 to 1977, and an unofficial member of the Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the aut ...

, was the chief manager of the

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

from 1972 to 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayer, Geoffrey Robley 1887 births 1962 deaths People educated at Highgate School Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Rifle Brigade soldiers Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Hong Kong civil servants 20th-century Hong Kong historians Government officials of Hong Kong Historians of Hong Kong