Thomas Henderson Whitehead (August 1851 – 8 May 1933) was a Scottish banker in Hong Kong and member of the Executive Council and

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...

. Born at

Dunblane Dunblane (, ) is a town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links to much of the Central Be ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in August 1851, he initially planned his career as a lawyer and received legal and commercial training in Dunblane and Liverpool.

Career

Whitehead joined the

Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (informally The Chartered Bank) was a bank incorporated in London in 1853 by Scotsman James Wilson, under a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria.

and became Manager of the Hong Kong branch in 1883 and Superintendent of its Far Eastern Branches in 1893. Whitehead represented the bank to the United States Government on the issue of maintaining the stability of Mexican dollars. He left Hong Kong in 1902 to take the bank's joint-manager in London. He was appointed unofficial member of the Legislative Council in 1890 and Executive Council in 1902. Whitehead held criticism to the incompetence of the

Tung Wah Hospital Tung Wah Hospital is a charitable hospital in Hong Kong under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. Located above Possession Point at 12 Po Yan Street in Sheung Wan, it is the first hospital established in colonial Hong Kong for the general pub ...

during the Plague of 1894 in the Legislative Council. Whitehead also suggested a

recreation ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

to be built in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

in the 60th year of the reign of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. In 1896, Whitehead sent a petition to the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

, asking for a more representative government in Hong Kong. In 1902 Whitehead again represented the Hong Kong ratepayers to send a petition to the Parliament in London for constitutional reform of the Hong Kong municipal government. Whitehead involved in the negotiations with the Chinese authorities in Peking and Canton over the Cassel loan of 1895 whereby Britain loaned the Chinese government a million pounds to help them pay the indemnity they owed to Japan after losing the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

. In 1900, the Qing Imperial Court appointed him as the Financial Adviser. In 1917 Whitehead was closely identified with the creation of the British Overseas Banks' Association (the organization later became the British Overseas and Commonwealth Banks Association in 1964), of which he became the first chairman. He was a prominent figure of the banking system until he retired in 1920. Whitehead was also a correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' in Hong Kong and came into prominence in 1895 when he disclosed the secret treaty between China and Russia regarding the occupation of Port Arthur. Whitehead died in a London nursing house on 8 May 1933 at the age of 81. The cremation took place at

Golders Green Golders Green is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet in north London, northwest of Charing Cross. It began as a medieval small suburban linear settlement near a farm and public grazing area green, and dates to the early 19th century. It ...

and interment at Dunblane.

Publications

* ''How a crown colony is governed: Taxation without representation'' * ''The Expansion of Trade in China'' * ''British Interests in China'' * ''Address on the Expansion of Trade with China'' * ''World's Monetary Economic Crisis: World's Economic Laws Violated, World's Monetary Measures Answerable, Remedy'' * ''The Critical Position of British Trade with Oriental Countries''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, THomas Henderson 1851 births 1933 deaths People from Dunblane People from British Hong Kong Hong Kong bankers Scottish bankers Scottish journalists Hong Kong journalists Scottish expatriates in Hong Kong Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Hong Kong businesspeople

Career

Publications

See also

References