Percy Hobson Holyoak (1874 – 25 May 1926) was a British businessman in Hong Kong and member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

and

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the c ...

Background and business career

Percy Hobson Holyoak was the son of the Rev. T. H. Holyoak of Chesham-Bois, Buckinghamshire, England. He first arrived in Far East as a member of the Reiss & Co., a well-known Manchester trading firm in Hong Kong since 1864. He moved to Hong Kong in 1899 and was in charge of the Hong Kong office as a managing partner. He subsequently took over the firm with P. W. Massey when it suffered in the commercial slump in 1921 and 1922 and altered the name to Holyoak, Massey, & Co. with Holyoak as the senior partner. Holyoak also held positions in many leading public companies. Among others, he was the chairman of the board of directors of the

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

for three times, chairman of the board of directors of the Hongkong, Canton, and Macao Steamboat Company, Ltd., chairman of 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 ...

, and director of the Hongkong Telephone Company.

Public services

Holyoak was the chairman of the

Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC; zh, t=香港總商會) 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 aroun ...

in from 1917 to 1918 and 1920 to 1921. He was nominated as unofficial member of the Legislative Council as a representative of the chamber on the death of E. A. Hewett in 1915 and later on was appointed to the Executive Council for various times. Despite being a large contributor to the raising funds during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in early 1917 Holyoak moved in the Legislative Council to exclude German merchants from the colony for ten years, mandated by the Chamber of Commerce. In 1919, he and Henry Pollock formed the

Constitutional Reform Association of Hong Kong The Constitutional Reform Association of Hong Kong was a political group formed by expatriate British community striving for constitutional reform in Hong Kong in the late 1910s. History It was first launched in a well-attended meeting at the The ...

to demand London for a further representation in the colonial legislature. He also associated with the Chinese community in public work such as his chairmanship of the Joint Committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the

Chinese General Chamber of Commerce The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCCHK; ) is a non-profit organization of local Chinese firms and businessmen based in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1900 by Ho Fook and Lau Chu-pak, two prominent leaders of the Chinese community during t ...

which supervised the arrangements for the Hong Kong section of the

Wembley Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhib ...

. Among other public offices he was chairman of the

Hong Kong Club The Hong Kong Club () is a gentlemen's club in Hong Kong, the first in the city. Opened on 26 May 1846, it is a private business and dining club in the heart of Central, Hong Kong. Its members were (and still are) among the most influential peo ...

and Alice Memorial Hospital, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Y.M.C.A., president of the

Scout Association of Hong Kong The Scout Association of Hong Kong is the largest scouting organisation in Hong Kong. Scout training was first introduced in Hong Kong by Rev Spink of St Andrew's Church, Kowloon in 1909 and 1910 by the Protestant based Boys' Brigade, Chums S ...

, member of the Court of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

and Justice of Peace from March 1909. He was also a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and was appointed the District Grand Master of English Freemasonry in Hong Kong and South China by the

Duke of Connaught Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that was granted on 24 May 1874 by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to her third son, Prince Arthur. At the same time, he was al ...

Death and family

Holyoak married Neilie Gertude Cowper, daughter of the late William Cowper of Moseley. They had two daughters named Joyce and Dorothy. On 7 April 1926, he left Hong Kong and went back to England with his wife and two daughters by the

Blue Funnel Line Alfred Holt and Company, trading as Blue Funnel Line, was a UK shipping company that was founded in 1866 and operated merchant ships for 122 years. It was one of the UK's larger shipowning and operating companies, and as such had a significan ...

r, ''

Sarpedon Sarpedon (; ) is the name of several figures in Greek mythology * Sarpedon, a son of Zeus, who fought on the side of Troy in the Trojan War. Although in the ''Iliad'', he was the son of Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Gre ...

'' when he was very ill, having suffered from serious kidney illness for some years. The purpose of the trip of mainly reporting to L. S. Amery, 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 ...

on Chinese political and commercial issues. He died on 25 May in London shortly after his arrival. The funeral took place at Yardley Wood Church on Friday 28 May in

Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...

, Birmingham where his wife's family was from. The funeral service was read by the

Archdeacon of Birmingham The Archdeacon of Birmingham is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Birmingham. The archdeaconry was created within the Diocese of Worcester by Order-in-Council on 12 August 1892 (substantially from the Archdeaconry of Covent ...

Cannon C. E. Hopton. There was also a memorial services held at St. John's Cathedral on 31 May, attended by many leading figures in the colony, including 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holyoak, Percy Hobson 1874 births 1926 deaths Chairmen of HSBC Hong Kong philanthropists Hong Kong businesspeople British businesspeople British expatriates in British Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong People from Buckinghamshire Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England