Sir George William Des Vœux (22 September 1834 – 15 December 1909) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of Fiji (1880–1885), Newfoundland (1886–1887), and

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 ...

(1887–1891).

Early life

Des Vœux was born as the eighth of nine children of Reverend Henry Des Vœux (1786–1857) and his second wife Fanny Elizabeth Hutton in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

, Germany, on 22 September 1834. His grandfather was Irish politician

Sir Charles des Voeux, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Phillip Vinchon Des Voeux, 1st Baronet (died 24 August 1814) was an Irish politician. Des Voeux was the son of Martin Anthony Vinchon de Bacquencourt, who had assumed the surname of Des Voeux after leaving France to settle in Ireland ...

.im Thurn, E. F.; Milne, Lynn, rev. "Des Vœux, Sir (George) William". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004 ed.). Oxford University Press. . Retrieved 9 May 2020. His great-grandfather was a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, France, who settled in Ireland in the early 18th century. Des Vœux attended a public school in London before starting his studies at Charterhouse School (1845–1853) and Balliol College, Oxford (1854–1856), but left without a degree after his father gave him the choice of finishing his degree and become a clergyman or seeking his fortune in the colonies. Des Vœux then moved to Canada, where he finished his BA at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

and became a barrister in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

in 1861.

Colonial services

Des Vœux became stipendiary magistrate and superintendent of rivers and creeks in British Guiana from 1863 to 1869, where he championed native causes. First stipendiary magistrate in the East Bank Demerara district, he was later transferred to the Upper Demerara-Berbice region, he argued that this transfer was to limit his influence and power on decisions being made in the main city of the colony Georgetown. He was one of the leading figures (with Joseph Beaumont and James Crosby) against the system of

Indian indenture system The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than one million Indians were transported to labour in European colonies, as a substitute for slave labor, following the abolition of the trade in the early 19th c ...

. Based on his experience in Guiana where he witnessed many instances of cruel and unjust treatment of

indentured servants Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...

by plantation owners and managers, des Vœux wrote a 10,000-word report in 1869 to Lord Granville, the Secretary of State for the Colonies in which he detailed many abuses. When the contents of the report were published, there was a great outcry and the Commission of Inquiry into the Treatment of Immigrants was conducted. Des Vœux gave testimony before the commission in Georgetown and its report led to many improvements in the workers' treatment. He reorganised and codified old French system of law when he was the Administrator and Colonial Secretary of St. Lucia between 1869 and 1880. Afterwards, Des Vœux was appointed

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

and

High Commissioner for the Western Pacific The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was the chief executive officer of the British Western Pacific Territories, a British colonial entity, which existed from 1877 until 1976. Numerous colonial possessions were attached to the Territorie ...

from 1880 to 1885. He was appointed

Governor of Newfoundland The lieutenant governor of Newfoundland and Labrador () is the viceregal representative in Newfoundland and Labrador of the , who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as ...

from 1886 to 1887.Des Voeux, Sir George William (1834-1909)
. Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

Governor of Hong Kong

Des Vœux served as the tenth

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. ...

from 1887 to 1891. This was the last post he held in the Colonial Services. During his tenure the Peak Tram began operation in 1888, providing relatively affordable transportation for people living on The Peak. Des Vœux segregated the Peak together with effectively all the elevated areas of Hong Kong Island from crowded Chinese-style tenements by enacting the European District Reservation Ordinance in November of that year. A year before he left office, the newly established

Hong Kong Electric Company The Hongkong Electric Company (HEC; ) is one of Hong Kong's two main electricity generation companies, the other being China Light & Power. The company is owned by several companies including Power Assets Holdings, State Grid Corporation of Chi ...

began providing electricity to Hong Kong Island.

Post-governorship

After Des Vœux's time as Governor of Hong Kong ended, he entered retirement. He was created a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

in 1893. In 1903, he published his memoirs called ''My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong with Interludes''.

Personal life

On 24 July 1875, Des Vœux married Marion Denison Pender (1856–1955), daughter of submarine telegraphy pioneer

John Pender Sir John Pender KCMG GCMG FSA FRSE (10 September 1816 – 7 July 1896) was a Scottish submarine communications cable pioneer and politician. Early life He was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, the son of James Pender and his wife, Marion Ma ...

. They had two daughters and five sons, three of whom died in infancy. Des Vœux died in Brighton, England, on 15 December 1909. William Des Vœux's son Henry John (1876-1940), married Dorothy Turner-Farley in 1911. Their son, Lt-Colonel Sir Richard, the eighth and last Des Vœux baronet, was killed in action at

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

in September 1944.

Honours

* Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, 1877 * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, 1883 *

, 1893

Namesakes

Des Voeux Road Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named after the 10th Governor of Hong Kong, Sir William Des Vœux. The name was sometimes spelt with the ligature œ i ...

, Hong Kong * Des Voeux Peak, second highest peak on Taveuni Island, Fiji

References

Sources

*Stephanie Williams, ''Running the Show: The Extraordinary Stories of the Men who Governed the British Empire'', Viking 2011, .

External links

* * *Des Voeux, George William (1903). ''My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong with Interludes''
Vol. 1

Vol. 2
London: John Murray. {{DEFAULTSORT:Des Voeux, George William Chief secretaries (British Empire) High Commissioners for the Western Pacific 1834 births 1909 deaths Des Voeux family Governors of Fiji Governors of Hong Kong Governors of Newfoundland Colony Governors of British Saint Lucia British Guiana judges British expatriates in Canada British expatriates in Guyana Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford University of Toronto alumni British people of French descent Irish people of French descent People from Baden-Baden 19th-century Hong Kong people 19th-century British politicians Hong Kong people of Irish descent