Archibald Orr Lang (circa 1880 – 10 July 1957) was a Scottish shipping businessman and unofficial member of the

Executive Council Executive Council may refer to: Government * Executive Council (Commonwealth countries), a constitutional organ that exercises executive power and advises the governor * Executive Council of Bern, the government of the Swiss canton of Bern * Ex ...

and

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 Kon ...

Career

Lang arrived in Hong Kong in 1904 to join the Gibb, Livingston & Co. He became a partner of the company and also the Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co. From 1916 to 1927, he was the head of the Gibb, Livingston & Co. He served on the committee 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 ...

and became chairman in 1922 and vice-chairman in 1927. On 24 November 1921, Lang was elected by the Chamber to represent the business interest in the

during Sir

Henry Pollock Sir Henry Edward Pollock, QC, JP (, 16 December 1864 – 2 February 1953) was an English barrister who became a prominent politician in Hong Kong. He acted as Attorney General in Hong Kong on several occasions, and was once appointed to the sa ...

's absence. Since he had served on the Legislative Council on several occasions and on the Executive Council from 1922. During his stay in Hong Kong, he was director of many public companies., including the

Union Insurance Society of Canton The Union Insurance Society of Canton (commonly known as the Union) was a major Hong Kong-based insurance company regarded in the early 20th century as one of the four leading British businesses, or " hongs", of colonial Hong Kong alongside Hong Ko ...

, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, the

Indo-China Steam Navigation Company The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, Limited (ICSNC), was established in 1873 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Jardine, Matheson & Co., one of the largest trading companies in the Far East at that time. Early history With the advent of ...

, the China Sugar Refining Company, the

Hong Kong, Canton, and Macao Steamboat Company The Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company was a British people, British Merchant navy, merchant shipping and Maritime transport, maritime trading Private company limited by shares, company founded in 1865 in the Crown colony of British Hong K ...

and the Peak Tramways Company. He was also a director on the board 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 chairman of the bank in 1923. He left Hong Kong in April 1927 for London and his farewell gathering was attended by Governor

Cecil Clementi Sir Cecil Clementi (; 1 September 1875 – 5 April 1947) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements from 1930 to 1934. Early lif ...

. In December 1927, A. O. Lang was appointed assistant manager of the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World c ...

, one of the biggest British shipping companies, in succession to A. C. Symes on retirement. He was subsequently appointed the board of the P & O Company with Sir

Harcourt Butler Sir Spencer Harcourt Butler (1 August 1869 – 2 March 1938) was an officer of the Indian Civil Service who was the leading British official in Burma for much of his career, serving as Lieutenant-Governor (1915–17 and 1922–23) and later Gov ...

after the death of Lord Inchcape and

Lord Kilbracken John Arthur Godley, 1st Baron Kilbracken, (17 June 1847 – 27 June 1932), was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British civil servant and the longest serving, and probably the most influential, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India. Ear ...

. He was also the chairman of the Far Eastern Conference, a conference for all shipping companies in the Far East, from 1927 to 1938. He resigned after being appointed deputy chairman of the P. & O. Company in 1939. At the time he also held the post of deputy chairman of the B. I. Company. Lang continued to become managing director and deputy chairman of the P. & O. Company during the

Second World War 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 ...

Family and death

He married Ellen Margaret Love in 1910 in Hong Kong. Their daughter, Shelia Macnaughton Lang, was born in Hong Kong in 1913. Their son, William Macnaughton Lang, was born in Hong Kong in 1918 and also worked for P & O in London for many years. Beverley Lang, Mrs Justice Lang, an English High Court judge, is his granddaughter. A.O. Lang died on 10 July 1957 at the age of 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Archibald Orr 1880s births 1957 deaths Scottish businesspeople in shipping Hong Kong shipping businesspeople Scottish expatriates in Hong Kong Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong P&O Chairmen of HSBC Scottish chairpersons of corporations Scottish bankers 20th-century Scottish businesspeople British expatriates in British Hong Kong