Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs (; 13 October 1876 – 7 December 1947) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of four British territories during his career, including Hong Kong and Ceylon.

Early life and education

Reginald Edward Stubbs was born on 13 October 1876, the son of

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Ches ...

, a historian and bishop of Chester and Oxford, consecutively. He was educated at

Radley Radley is a village and civil parish about northeast of the centre of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Lower Radley on the River Thames. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfor ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

. He obtained first class honours in Lit. Hum. in 1899.

Early Colonial Services

He entered Colonial Office in 1900 as a second-class clerk, eventually serving as acting first class clerk from 1907 to 1910, when he became a permanent 1st class clerk. In that same year, Stubbs was sent on a special mission to

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

and Hong Kong. He was a member of West African Lands Committee in 1912, and became a colonial secretary of

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in from 1913 to 1919.

Governor of Hong Kong

He was appointed

Hong Kong Governor The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

in 1919, a position he served until 1925. During Stubbs' tenure, strikes were frequent, including ones that were very damaging to the Hong Kong economy, such as the Seamen's strike of 1922 and the Canton-Hong Kong strike that began in 1925. Stubbs engaged in cordial talks with

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

and his supporters in Hong Kong prior to Sun's triumphal return to Canton in February 1923. There followed, in 1925, the

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

that involved workers in Hong Kong and Canton, China. The strikers demanded the annulment of the "

unequal treaties The unequal treaties were a series of agreements made between Asian countries—most notably Qing China, Tokugawa Japan and Joseon Korea—and Western countries—most notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Unit ...

" (Treaty of Nanking, Treaty of Peking, and New Territories land lease agreement, which, altogether, allowed British control of Hong Kong). The strikers also demanded better treatment of Chinese labourers in Hong Kong. At first, Stubbs tried to suppress the strikers with legal and forceful means. He regarded the strike as a Bolshevik plot headed by Dr.

to overthrow the colonial government, without any attention to the pressing economic grievances at stake. He banned the Chinese Seamen's Union, the organizer of the strike and banned Dr. Sun and the Soviet military and political advisers in Canton from entering the colony due to Sun's anti-colonial remarks. The efforts backfired and caused an exodus of more than 100,000 Chinese labourers to China. Stubbs took a conservative stance, in line with his Chinese elite advisors, on the issue of mui-tsai, a form of child slavery then prevalent in the colony. He was criticized by London for acquiescence. Stubbs rejected repeated calls among the local European community for direct election 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 ...

, fearing the exclusion of local Chinese from similar rights may lead to unrest. Both Stubbs and his Colonial Secretary

Claud Severn Sir Claud Severn ( Chinese Translated Name: 施勳) (1869–1933) was a British colonial administrator. Severn joined the colonial civil service in British Malaya in 1894 and worked under the Governor of the Straits Settlements. In 1912, he bec ...

were replaced in 1925, having failed to quell the disorder and leaving behind a seriously damaged Hong Kong economy. British Consul General in Canton James Jamieson criticised their leadership, seeing them as out of touch and out of date, unable to converse in Chinese and ignorant of republican China. Stubbs received an M.A. degree during his tenure, in 1920.

Jamaica and Cyprus

After his stormy tenure as Governor of Hong Kong, Stubbs was made Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

a year later, in 1926. He would hold this position until 1932, when he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He would serve in this position until 1933.

Governorship of Ceylon

In 1933 Stubbs was appointed to his last position in the Colonial Service: Governor and Commander-in-Chief of

(

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Bracegirdle affair

In 1937, he was prevailed upon by the White planters to become involved in an illegal attempt to deport

Mark Anthony Bracegirdle Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle (10 September 1912 – 22 June 1999) was a British-born Australian Marxist revolutionary who played a key role in the Sri Lankan independence movement. He was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lank ...

, an Australian planter who had gone over to the side of the workers and joined the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...

(LSSP). Bracegirdle was served with the order of deportation on 22 April and given 48 hours to leave, but he defied the order, going into hiding instead. The Colonial Government began a man-hunt, but was unsuccessful. The LSSP started a campaign to defend him. At that year's May Day rally at Price Park, Colombo placards declaring 'We want Bracegirdle – Deport Stubbs' were displayed, and a resolution was passed condemning Stubbs, demanding his removal and the withdrawal of the deportation order. On 5 May, in the State Council, the LSSP members Dr N.M. Perera and

Philip Gunawardena Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena (11 January 1901 – 26 March 1972) was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and leftist. A founder of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the first political party in Ceylon which was known for having introduced Trotskyi ...

moved a

vote of censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spir ...

on the Governor for having ordered the deportation of Bracegirdle without the advice of the acting Home Minister. Even the Board of Ministers had started feeling the heat of public opinion and the vote was passed by 34 votes to 7. On the same day there was a 50,000-strong rally at

Galle Face Green Galle Face Green is a ocean-side urban park, which stretches for along the coast, in the heart of Colombo, the financial and business capital of Sri Lanka. The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, alth ...

, which was addressed by Dr N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, and

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (8 January 1899 – 26 September 1959), also known as "The Silver Bell of Asia" (ආසියාවේ රිදී සීනුව), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as the fourth Prime Minister of ...

, condemning Stubbs. Bracegirdle made a dramatic appearance on the platform at this rally, but the police were powerless to arrest him. They managed to arrest him a couple of days later, but a writ of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

was served and the case was called before a bench of three Supreme Court judges presided over by Chief Justice Sir

Sidney Abrahams Sir Sidney Solomon Abrahams (11 February 1885 – 14 May 1957), nicknamed Solly, was a British barrister, judge, and Olympic athlete. He served as Chief Justice of Ceylon and as a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He was ...

. The brilliant H.V. Perera, the county's leading civil lawyer, volunteered his services free on behalf of Bracegirdle; he was made a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(KC) on the day that Bracegirdle appeared in court. On 18 May order was made that he could not be deported for exercising his right to free speech, and Bracegirdle was a free man. Stubbs retired shortly afterwards.

Retirement

A year after his retirement, Stubbs became the vice-chairman of West India

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

(until 1939) and Chairman of Northern Division Appellate Tribunal for Conscientious Objectors from 1941 to 1947.

Personal life

Stubbs married Marjory Stubbs in 1909. The couple had two sons and one daughter. He died on 7 December 1947.

Honours

* CMG, 1914 * KCMG, 1919 *

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

, 1928 *Honorary Fellow, Corpus Christi College, 1926 *Hon.

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

, University of Hong Kong, 1926

Recognition

Stubbs Road Stubbs Road (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 司徒拔道) is a road located in Mid-Levels East, Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong, which connects Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Happy Valley to Victoria Peak, The Peak area on Hong Kong Isl ...

in the eastern

Mid-Levels Mid-Levels () is an affluent residential area on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is located between Victoria Peak and Central. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate professionals. It has a population ...

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

was named after him. *The

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

award, the Stubbs Shield, is named after him.Revival of Royal vs Trinity boxing dual after lapse of 50 years
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stubbs, Edward Governors of British Ceylon Governors of Hong Kong Governors of Jamaica 1876 births 1947 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford People educated at Radley College People from Oxford Ceylonese Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century Hong Kong people 20th-century British politicians Chief secretaries of Ceylon Fellows_of_the_Zoological_Society_of_London