Reginald Edward Stubbs was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England on October 13th, 1876. He was the youngest of five brothers. Reginald Edward Stubbs's father, William Stubbs (June 21, 1825—April 22, 191), was a famous professor of lectures at Oxford University, who studied modern history intensively, and later served as Bishop of Chester and Bishop of Oxford successively. As for Reginald Edward Stubbs, her mother's name is Catherine Dellar (born in 1838), and she is from Navestock, and she is the principal of the village school.
Reginald Edward Stubbs attended Radley School in his early years, and later attended the Eucharist College of Christ in Oxford University on a scholarship. In the university, Reginald Edward Stubbs won the first-class honor in the first classical literature examination in 1897, and graduated with the qualification of Bachelor of Arts in 1899, and at the same time won the first-class honor in the humanities. Later, in 192, he went on to obtain a master's degree in literature.
In January, 19, Reginald Edward Stubbs joined the Oriental Department of the British Colony Department, and served as a second-level instrument, responsible for supervising the development of the Straits colony, federated malay states, Hongkong and Ceylon colonies. In 197, he was promoted to acting as a first-class instrument, and in 191, he officially became a first-class instrument. Not long after, from 191 to 1911, Reginald Edward Stubbs visited Malaya Peninsula and Hongkong to investigate the salary level of foreign civil servants. After returning from the investigation, Reginald Edward Stubbs was appointed as a member of the West African Land Commission in 1912.
while working in the colony department, Reginald Edward Stubbs was responsible for editing the second edition of the Mediterranean and Oriental colonies in the book Historical Geography of the British Colonies by Sir Charles Prestwood in 196. In addition, he was the co-editor of List of Colonial Offices (1911-1912).
As a civil servant working in the British mainland, Reginald Edward Stubbs was rarely transferred to a British overseas colony in 1913, and served as Assistant Secretary in Ceylon, during which he served as Governor for several times. In 1919, he was unexpectedly appointed as the Governor of Hong Kong, replacing Sir Francis Henry May, who was in poor health. Reginald Edward Stubbs officially took office on September 3th, 1919, becoming the 16th Hong Kong Governor. (1) social development
Reginald Edward Stubbs has been actively developing infrastructure since he took office. In terms of transportation, with the increasing popularity of automobiles, Reginald Edward Stubbs made great efforts to open roads during his term of office. In addition to the Castle Peak Road leading to the New Territories, Shek O Road leading to Shek O and Repulse Bay Road leading to Repulse Bay via Huangnai Chung Gorge were built in 1924. In addition, in 1921, Reginald Edward Stubbs approved the establishment of two bus companies, KMB and CMB, which led to the emergence of public bus services in Hong Kong.
Reginald Edward Stubbs also made great efforts to open up land on Hong Kong Island, and carried out large-scale reclamation in the Eastern District and the waterfront of the Seven Sisters in North Point. However, due to a series of strikes, the project was not completed during his term of office. In addition, Reginald Edward Stubbs hosted the grand unveiling ceremony of the Peace Monument in Central in 1923. The Peace Monument is modeled after the same monument in Whitehall, London, to commemorate the soldiers killed in the First World War.
Other contributions made by Reginald Edward Stubbs during his term of office include the re-establishment of the Board of Education in January 192, the establishment of a fund of HK$ 1 million for the University of Hong Kong in September of the same year, and the announcement of the construction of a large-scale Shing Mun Reservoir in October 1923 to provide sufficient drinking water for Kowloon.
② the problem of girls
In the past, Hong Kong has discussed the problem of girls from time to time, but it always ended in vain. However, in 1919, Mrs Clara Halsewood and her husband, who worked in the Navy Department and was stationed in Hong Kong, began to discuss the sister-in-law system, and publicly believed that the sister-in-law system in Hong Kong was equivalent to the slave trade. Reginald Edward Stubbs thinks that the sister-in-law system is a tradition in China, so he is very dissatisfied with the remarks made by Mr. and Mrs. Hesswood, and rarely publicly condemns Mrs. Hesswood. Reginald Edward Stubbs also put pressure on the navy to force Heswood to be transferred from Hong Kong.
although the heswoods returned to England, the incident did not subside. On the contrary, they launched a series of campaigns in Britain, which made British public opinion begin to show concern about the problem of Hong Kong girls, and even the House of Commons debated the issue. Churchill, the colonial minister at that time, was also very dissatisfied. Churchill always had a tough style. In February 1922, he sent a telegram to Reginald Edward Stubbs asking the Hong Kong government to take corresponding action immediately. However, due to Reginald Edward Stubbs's opposition to the abolition of the sister-in-law system, and some Chinese Members of the Legislative Council like Shou son Chow also expressed strong opposition to banning the sister-in-law, the Hong Kong Government delayed Churchill's instructions again and again. Churchill left his post in October 1922 because he lost his seat in the House of Commons, and failed to follow up, so the Hong Kong Government successfully continued to adopt a delaying strategy towards his successor, Duke of Devonshire.
it was not until March 1923 that the hong kong government passed a law prohibiting the transfer of girls for profit and empowering the governor to register all girls in hong kong. However, due to the fierce opposition of the Legislative Council members, the implementation of the provisions on registration in the law was suspended, so in fact, the law has not implemented any practical measures to solve the problem of girls. With regard to the issue of Hong Kong girls, the Hong Kong Government will not take further action until Reginald Edward Stubbs leaves office and Sir Jin Wentai takes over.
③ New Territories Affairs
In 1923, in order to restrict the construction of houses on agricultural land in the New Territories, Reginald Edward Stubbs announced a land premium policy for building houses on agricultural land in the New Territories. Since the Hong Kong Government did not have such restrictions in the past, and the new case was detrimental to the property rights of residents in the New Territories, many of them even thought that the land premium policy was in conflict with the Special Provisions on Expanding the Boundary of Hong Kong, which aroused strong opposition from the villagers in the New Territories. In order to make the Hong Kong Government withdraw its policy, the squire of the New Territories met with the Secretary for Home Affairs of the Chinese people and Shou son Chow, a Chinese member of the Legislative Council, and asked Reginald Edward Stubbs to "retract his mandate", but Reginald Edward Stubbs remained indifferent.
Later, in August 1924, the squires from Tsuen Wan, Fanling and Yuen Long formed the New Territories Agriculture, Industry and Commerce Research Association, and continued to oppose the land premium policy. However, Reginald Edward Stubbs never gave in. It was not until Sir Jin Wentai succeeded as the Governor that the Hong Kong Government accepted the villagers' proposal on land premium and withdrew the policy. On the other hand, in order to save people's hearts and calm down the dissatisfaction of the clans in the New Territories, Reginald Edward Stubbs promised the New Territories squire Deng Boqiu's request in 1924 to find out the whereabouts of the iron gate that was taken away after the British army invaded Jiqing Wai in 1898. After a round of twists and turns, the iron gate was finally transported back to Jiqingwei from Ireland on May 26th, 1925. For the sake of solemnity, Reginald Edward Stubbs visited Jiqingwei at that time and presided over the handover ceremony of the iron gate.
④ China Affairs
On China Affairs, Reginald Edward Stubbs has made many controversial actions. Shortly after he took office as governor-general, Chen Jiongming, a Guangdong warlord, led troops to expel Guangxi warlords and Yunnan warlords from Guangzhou in November 192, and welcomed Sun Yat-sen, who was in Shanghai, back to Guangzhou, reorganized the military government to protect the law and launched the second movement to protect the law. A few days later, the law-enforcement military government sent a note to the envoys of various countries in Beijing, demanding that a sum of customs clearance from Guangdong, but turned over to the Beiyang government, be transferred to the law-enforcement military government. However, because the military government protecting the law was not recognized internationally at that time, its request was rejected by the ministers of various countries.
Reginald Edward Stubbs, however, thinks that if the protector's military government gets this surplus, it can use it as a guarantee to borrow money from Hong Kong. Therefore, Reginald Edward Stubbs boldly suggested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accept Sun Yat-sen's suggestion after being requested by the military government that protects the law. However, after Reginald Edward Stubbs's proposal reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it immediately aroused great repercussions. Lord Corson, then foreign minister, thought that Reginald Edward Stubbs's proposal was not only contrary to the consistent position of the British government, but also he was not qualified to interfere in British foreign affairs, and as a result, Reginald Edward Stubbs was irrelevant in the related incident.
a few days later, the military junta protecting the law unilaterally announced in January 1921 that it would take over the domestic customs in February. At this time, Reginald Edward Stubbs's position has changed. In addition to immediately sending warships to protect Guangdong Customs, he also supported the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, suggesting that the military government protecting the law should be blocked. Faced with this tough stance and the unstable situation in Guangzhou, Sun Yat-sen was forced to shelve his plan to take over the domestic customs.
In order to gain international recognition after the Guanyu incident, the protector military government convened the Extraordinary Congress in April 1921, and elected Sun Yat-sen as the Extraordinary President. Sun Yat-sen officially took office on May 5 of the same year, but the Hong Kong Government posted a notice on May 4, explicitly forbidding any related celebration activities in Hong Kong. Two days later, the Hong Kong Government again stated that it was forbidden to conduct fund-raising activities for the military government in Hong Kong. After the notice was posted, the Guangzhou military government was very dissatisfied with the Hong Kong government's practice and protested to the British Consul General in Guangzhou. On May 23rd, Reginald Edward Stubbs finally gave a reply to the incident. He believed that the Beiyang government was the legal regime recognized by Britain, so there was nothing wrong with the Hong Kong government's practice. Reginald Edward Stubbs also said that he was not in Hong Kong when the notice was issued by the Hong Kong Government, so he didn't know, and he only apologized for the impoliteness of the writing of the notice. Reginald Edward Stubbs's reply further aroused the dissatisfaction of the protector military government. On May 24th, Wu Chaoshu, the military government's undersecretary of foreign affairs, severely criticized Reginald Edward Stubbs's explanation. The British Consul General in Guangzhou and the local English newspapers also unanimously disapproved of Reginald Edward Stubbs's action. Under the opposition of all walks of life, the Hong Kong government finally withdrew the notice.
Although the relationship between Reginald Edward Stubbs and the military government protecting the law is not beautiful, it has changed with the chaos of the military government. In June 1922, Chen Jiongming instigated the June 16 Incident to drive Sun Yat-sen away from Guangzhou, but not long after, Chen Jiongming Fu was overthrown by the warlords of Yunnan and Guangxi who supported Sun Yat-sen in January 1923, enabling Sun Yat-sen to return to Guangzhou in March of that year. At this time, Reginald Edward Stubbs chose to support Sun Yat-sen, who regained power, and solemnly invited him to visit Hong Kong on February 17, during which he even held a luncheon with Reginald Edward Stubbs on February 18 and delivered a famous public speech at the University of Hong Kong on February 2. Reginald Edward Stubbs had hoped to give strong support to Sun Yat-sen, and he even almost lost his post and official position.
however, this friendly relationship did not last, and then the Guangzhou business group incident occurred in August 1924. In the incident, Chen Lianbo, a Chinese comprador of HSBC in Guangzhou, was suspected of smuggling arms to Guangzhou and attempted to launch a mutiny to occupy Guangzhou. However, the private arms were discovered by the Guangdong government in time, which eventually failed the mutiny and made Chen Lianbo flee Hong Kong. At that time, public opinion generally believed that the Guangzhou Business Group incident was supported by Britain, while the general manager of HSBC even thought that Reginald Edward Stubbs acquiesced in the incident at least. Reginald Edward Stubbs, however, was very angry at the accusation and denied the statement supported by Britain. Although the incident is still confusing in the end, the relationship between Reginald Edward Stubbs and the Guangzhou military government has always been overshadowed.
(5) Strikes
Dragged by the First World War, Hong Kong's post-war economy was troubled to some extent, and post-war inflation made everything expensive, which made the lower classes in society deeply troubled. For example, in 1919, the rice harvest in South Asia triggered a shortage of rice in Hong Kong, and the price of rice even rose as much as 1 times, which caused a wave of rice grabbing. Later, Reginald Edward Stubbs entered the market to stabilize the price of rice and implemented price control, and the situation improved. However, the Hong Kong Government has failed to take measures to improve the livelihood of the lower classes, especially workers, resulting in a series of large-scale industrial strikes. In April 192, forced by life, the Hong Kong Chinese Machine Club took the lead in asking the employers for a 4% pay increase. At first, the employers refused, which made 9, workers angry and returned to the mainland. Finally, the employers were forced to raise their wages by 32.5%, and the incident was solved.
Encouraged by the successful strike of the Hong Kong Chinese Machine Club, new trade unions were established one after another. By January 1922, the Hong Kong Seamen's Union even followed the example of the Chinese Machine Club and launched a general strike for seafarers, demanding that foreign shipping companies such as Jardine's and Swire's increase the salary of Chinese seafarers by 3%, so that Chinese seafarers could be treated equally with foreign seafarers. As there was no reply from the management, the trade union officially started the strike on January 22nd as scheduled.
At first, only 1,5 people took part in the seamen's general strike, but with the participation of various trade unions, the number of strikers quickly rose to 12,, and tens of thousands of workers even returned to the mainland, leaving hundreds of ships stranded in Hong Kong and all trades and industries gradually coming to a standstill. Even the Governor's Office had only two Chinese domestic helpers left, which also disrupted the schedule of Prince Wells' visit to Hong Kong in April. In the incident, Reginald Edward Stubbs's attitude was very tough. In addition to issuing martial law, he ordered the closure of the Hong Kong Seamen's Union and restricted the amount of money workers could take when they left Hong Kong. On March 4th, a group of workers who were leaving Hong Kong were shot by the military and police while passing through Sha Tin, resulting in the death of six workers, which is known as the "Sha Tin Massacre" in history. After the tragedy, people's feelings were even more boiling, and Reginald Edward Stubbs made concessions, promising to cancel the ban on trade unions and compensate the families of the victims of the Sha Tin tragedy. At the same time, the management promised to raise the salary by 15-3% and reissue the wages of workers during the strike, and the strike officially ended.
In 1925, another general strike took place in Hong Kong. This strike was called the "General Strike of Provinces and Ports", which was larger than the General Strike of Seamen and the largest strike since the opening of Hong Kong. The strike in Guangdong and Hong Kong was first caused by the May 3th Massacre in 1925. On that day, a group of Shanghai students staged a demonstration in the concession to protest against the illegal dismissal and beating of Japanese cotton yarn factories. However, during the demonstration, a British policeman shot and killed the students, causing many deaths and injuries. Immediately after the tragedy, anti-imperialist and anti-British waves appeared in all parts of China. On June 19th of the same year, driven by the * * * production party, there was a general strike in Hong Kong, and on June 21st, the Chinese workers in Shamian British Concession also responded to the strike, further expanding the scope of the strike. Then, on June 23rd, the Sharkey tragedy happened in Guangzhou. When workers and students marched to Sharkey, they were shot down by British and French soldiers, resulting in more than 5 deaths and more than 1 injuries.
Reginald Edward Stubbs's term of office as governor originally expired at the end of June, 1925. However, after the general strike in Guangdong and Hong Kong, he immediately volunteered to extend his term of office until the strike was satisfactorily resolved. Just like the seamen's strike in 1922, Reginald Edward Stubbs stubbornly refused to back down in this strike, and immediately declared martial law, ordered Chinese police officers to disarm, and blocked the Guangzhou government to prevent it from supporting workers. However, at the same time, at the call of the trade unions, the number of workers who returned to the mainland after a strike in Hong Kong rose to 25, in early July, and banks even ran into a squeeze on 5 July. All walks of life in the society were basically at a standstill, and the market order was even more chaotic, and many basic services were heavily dependent on the British army for limited maintenance.
Reginald Edward Stubbs firmly believed that the strike was under the command of the * * * production party, so he strongly advocated that Britain should send troops to overthrow the Guangzhou government with the participation of the * * * party, but Reginald Edward Stubbs's suggestion was not accepted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, he suggested that the British government pay 3 million yuan to bribe the Beiyang government to try to end the anti-British movement in Guangzhou, but the suggestion was still rejected by the British government. In the case of disappointment, Reginald Edward Stubbs even secretly used 5 thousand