The Constitutional Reform Association of Hong Kong was a political group formed by expatriate British community striving for constitutional reform in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in the late 1910s.

History

It was first launched in a well-attended meeting at the Theatre Royal on 3 May 1917 by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. It submitted a proposal of introducing unofficial majority in the

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 ...

to the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

through member of parliament Colonel John Ward but was rejected by the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

in 1920. On 9 January 1919, a resolution was passed at its public meeting for an unofficial majority in the Legislative Council, and for seven members elected, one each by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, the Justices of Peace, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and four (one Portuguese and three British) by British subjects on the jurors list. Governor Reginald Stubbs commented the Association in 1920 as a "farcical body", when the Association consisted of a few dozen persons, most of whom took no part in the proceedings and appeared to be moribund. By October 1923, the Constitutional Reform Association ceased to exist. An article in ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'' said " e strike and boycott of 1925 finally killed (temporarily at least) the Constitutional Reform movement. Its champions were sobered by visions of the dangers attaching to any relaxation of Official control." In 1929, the new 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 ...

agreed to add four new seats to the Legislative Council, two each for official and unofficial member, which was seen as a liberal move by the press.

References

{{Hong Kong political parties Politics of Hong Kong Political organisations based in Hong Kong 1917 establishments in Hong Kong 1923 disestablishments in Hong Kong Political parties established in 1917