Ronald Dare Gillespie (14 April 1890 – 8 April 1981) was a

Scottish Canadian Scottish Canadians are people of Scottish descent or heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a large impact on Canadian culture s ...

businessman,

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 ...

officer and politician in Hong Kong. He was member of the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

from 1946 to 1948.

Biography

Ronald Dare Gillespie was born in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada in April 1890 and was educated at

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. L ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

He received his training in Edinburgh but returned to British Columbia to practise engineering and surveying. He served as Captain in the

Gordon Highlanders Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

during the

First World War 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 taken

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

La Bassee LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

in January 1915 and was later exchanged. After the war, he joined the

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

, a British chemicals company which he later became the Chairman, and served in several cities in China. He was interned in Hong Kong by the Japanese during the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surr ...

and was released in exchange for Japanese held by Canada in 1943. Gillespie then served in the British Raw Materials Mission in Washington until the war ended. Gillespie returned to Hong Kong in October 1945 and became the Chairman of the

Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC; ) was founded on 29 May 1861, and is the oldest and one of the largest business organizations in Hong Kong. It has around 4,000 corporate members, who combined employ around one-third of Hong Kon ...

. In April 1946, he was nominated as the Chamber of Commerce's representative in the

and served until 1948. During his service in the Legislative Council, he was appointed member of the eleven-member Taxation Committee in 1946 which chaired by the Financial Secretary C. G. S. Follows to discuss the controversial issue of introducing new tax. Members included

Arthur Morse Sir Arthur Morse ( Chinese: 摩士) (25 April 1892 – 13 May 1967) was the head of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation during and after World War II. He was a British banker born in Tipperary in Ireland. He worked in Shanghai, Lon ...

, chief manager and chairman 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 ...

and unofficial member of the Executive Council and another unofficial member of the Legislative Council, Man-kam Lo. Gillespie believed that an income tax was the best form of taxation "provided it was equitably collected." The government eventually introduced the Inland Revenue as a result. Although Gillespie supported the bill, he was concerned the government might have no qualified staff to collect tax. Ronald Dare Gillespie was son of George Gillespie and Florence Adelaide Hebden. He married Kathleen Little. He died at the Old House,

Milford-on-Sea Milford on Sea, often hyphenated, is a large village or small town and a civil parish on the Hampshire coast. The parish had a population of 4,660 at the 2011 census and is centred about south of Lymington. Tourism and businesses for quite pr ...

, near

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

on 8 April 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Ronald Dare 1890 births 1981 deaths People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh British Army personnel of World War I British World War I prisoners of war Businesspeople from British Columbia Canadian expatriates in China Canadian expatriates in Hong Kong Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian prisoners of war in World War I Hong Kong businesspeople Imperial Chemical Industries executives Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong People from Victoria, British Columbia 20th-century Canadian businesspeople