Denis Campbell Bray, (; 24 January 1926 – 8 July 2005) was a senior British colonial civil servant in Hong Kong. He was

Secretary for Home Affairs The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs is the head of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong, which is responsible for local issues, and the provision of community and youth services. List of office holders Regist ...

from 1973 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984.

Early life and education

He was born on 24 January 1926 at the

Matilda Hospital Matilda International Hospital is a For-profit Community Hospital in Hong Kong located at 41 Mount Kellett Road, The Peak, Hong Kong Island. The hospital was built as a result of the last will and testament of Granville Sharp, the husband of ...

in Hong Kong to Rev. Arthur Henry Bray and Edith Muriel. His father was a missionary working in

Fat Shan Foshan (, ; Chinese language, Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province of China, Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the wes ...

who ran the Wah Ying School. He went to school in Fat Shan and

Chefoo Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao o ...

before he went abroad to attend the

Kingswood School Kingswood School is a private day and boarding school in Bath, Somerset, England. The school is coeducational and educates over 1,000 pupils aged 9 months to 18 years. It was founded by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1748, and is the ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. He served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

from 1947 to 1949.

Civil service career

Bray was appointed a Hong Kong cadet in 1950. He was posted as Assistant Secretary for Chinese Affairs due to his fluency in Cantonese. He first made his presence following the

Shek Kip Mei fire The Shek Kip Mei fire () took place in Hong Kong on 25 December 1953. It destroyed the Shek Kip Mei shanty town of immigrants from mainland China who had fled to Hong Kong, leaving over 53,000 people homeless. The area that was destroyed by the ...

on the Christmas Day in 1953, in which he gate-crashed a meeting convened by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Sir

Alexander Grantham Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG ( zh, c=葛量洪; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji. Early life, colonial administration career Grantham was born on ...

at 6am on the next day, to ask the Governor to resettle the 50,000 homeless people left by the fire. He was subsequently Assistant Secretary of the Colonial Secretariat in 1953. In 1954 he was appointed District Officer of

Tai Po Tai Po is an List of areas of Hong Kong, area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Mark ...

until 1956. He was Assistant Director of Urban Services and was the Secretary of the Special Duties Unit dealing with the

Hong Kong 1967 Leftist riots The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the colonial governmen ...

. Bray became District Commissioner in the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

in 1971. In 1973 he became

, a position he held until 1977, and again from 1980 to 1984. In the intervening years (1977 to 1980) he served as the Hong Kong Commissioner in London. During his tenure as Secretary for Home Affairs, he occasionally acted as Governor. He oversaw the establishment of the District Boards, which were set up under Governor Sir

Murray MacLehose Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, ( zh, t=麥理浩; 16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000), was a British politician, diplomat and colonial official who served as the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982. He was the lo ...

's District Administration Scheme. For his public services he was made

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the ...

in 1975 and

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1977.

Retirement

After his retirement from the government, Bray remained active in Hong Kong public life. He served as chairman of the

English Schools Foundation The English Schools Foundation (ESF) is an organisation that runs 22 international schools in Hong Kong. It is Hong Kong's largest English-medium organisation of international schools. It was founded in 1967 with the passage of the English ...

from 1985 to 1991, presiding over the Maurice Millard incident of 1991, and was also chairman of the

Jubilee Sports Centre The Hong Kong Sports Institute () is a sports institute located in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is mandated to provide training to athletes, and also offers academic qualification in the field of sports training. The institute sponsors ...

between 1985 and 1989. He was director of the

Hong Kong Philharmonic The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra () is a symphony orchestra based in Hong Kong. Colloquially referred to as the HKPO or HKPhil (), the orchestra was first established in 1947 as an amateur orchestra under the name Sino-British Orchestra (), ...

from 1985 and executive director of the

Community Chest of Hong Kong The Community Chest of Hong Kong () is an independent, nonprofit organization established on 8 November 1968 in Hong Kong. The Community Chest serves as an umbrella organization to provide grants to a wide range of community projects. Vision ...

from 1985 to 1992. He was the president of the Hong Kong Yachting Association between 1989 and 1991. Besides that, he also held several business positions including the directorship of First Pacific Davies Ltd., Herald Holdings Ltds, and Leighton Asia Ltd.

Personal life

He married Majorie Elizabeth Bottomley, who was also born in Hong Kong, in 1952, by whom he had one son Rupert and four daughters, Jennifer, Alison, Diana and Lucy. His younger brother was the Labour Party MP

Jeremy Bray Jeremy William Bray (29 June 193031 May 2002) was a British Labour politician and a Member of Parliament for 31 years. Early life and education Bray was born in British Hong Kong, the son of Reverend Arthur Bray, a Methodist missionary. He s ...

. He wrote an autobiography, ''Hong Kong Metamorphosis'', which was published in 2001. He died of blood cancer in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, England on 8 July 2005.

Bibliography

References

External links

Interview of Denis Bray - Hong Kong Memory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Denis Campbell 1926 births 2005 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Government officials of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Hong Kong people of British descent Progressive Hong Kong Society politicians Royal Navy officers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Hong Kong justices of the peace People educated at Kingswood School, Bath