William Des Vœux

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Sir William Des Vœux
Governor of Newfoundland
In office
1886–1887
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterSir Robert Thorburn
Preceded bySir John Hawley Glover
Succeeded bySir Henry Arthur Blake
10th Governor of Hong Kong
In office
6 October 1887 – 10 December 1891
MonarchVictoria
LieutenantSir William Cameron
Sir James Edwards
Sir George Barker
Colonial SecretaryFrederick Stewart
Francis Fleming
Preceded bySir George Bowen
Succeeded bySir William Robinson
Personal details
Born
George William Des Vœux

(1834-09-22)22 September 1834
Baden-Baden, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Confederation
Died15 December 1909(1909-12-15) (aged 75)
Brighton, England
Spouse
Marion Pender
​
(m. 1875)​
Children7
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
University of Toronto (BA)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese德輔
Simplified Chinese德辅

Sir George William Des Vœux

GCMG (22 September 1834 – 15 December 1909) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of Fiji (1880–1885), Newfoundland (1886–1887), and Hong Kong (1887–1891).[1]

Early life

Des Vœux was born as the eighth of nine children of Reverend Henry Des Vœux and his second wife Fanny Elizabeth Hutton in

Huguenot from Normandy, France, who settled in Ireland in the early 18th century.[3]

Des Vœux attended a public school in London before starting his studies at Charterhouse School (1845–1853) and Balliol College, Oxford (1854–1856), but left without a degree after his father gave him the choice of finishing his degree and becoming a clergyman or seeking his fortune in the colonies.[4] Des Vœux then moved to Canada, where he finished his BA at the University of Toronto and became a barrister in Upper Canada in 1861.

Colonial services

Des Vœux (far right) in Guiana

Des Vœux became stipendiary magistrate and superintendent of rivers and creeks

indentured servants by plantation owners and managers, des Vœux wrote a 10,000-word report in 1869 to Lord Granville, the Secretary of State for the Colonies in which he detailed many abuses. When the contents of the report were published, there was a great outcry and the Commission of Inquiry into the Treatment of Immigrants was conducted. Des Vœux gave testimony before the commission in Georgetown and its report led to many improvements in the workers' treatment.[7]

He reorganised and codified old French system of law when he was the Administrator and Colonial Secretary of

Governor of Newfoundland from 1886 to 1887.[8]

Governor of Hong Kong

sedan chairs
in Hong Kong

Des Vœux served as the tenth

Hong Kong Electric Company
began providing electricity to Hong Kong Island.

Post-governorship

After Des Vœux's time as Governor of Hong Kong ended, he entered retirement. He was created a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
in 1893. In 1903, he published his memoirs called My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong with Interludes.

Personal life

On 24 July 1875, Des Vœux married Marion Denison Pender, daughter of submarine telegraphy pioneer John Pender and Emma Denison. They had two daughters and five sons, three of whom died in infancy. Des Vœux died in Brighton, England, on 15 December 1909.[2] William Des Vœux's son Henry John (1876-1940), married Dorothy Turner-Farley in 1911. Their son, Lt-Colonel Sir Richard, the eighth and last Des Vœux baronet, was killed in action at Arnhem in September 1944.

Honours

  • Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
    , 1877
  • Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
    , 1883
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
    , 1893

Namesakes

References

  1. ^ Mennell, Philip (1892). "Des Vœux, Sir George William" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32795
    . Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  3. ^ Des Voeux, George William (1903). My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong with Interludes. Volume 1. London: John Murray. p. 1.
  4. ^ "Des Vœux, Sir George William". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  5. ^ Shiona M Airlie, Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, 2012, p. 123
  6. ^ William G. Des Voeux, My colonial service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong, with interludes, (London: J. Murray, 1903), 125.
  7. ^ Thurn, Everard im (1912). "Des Vœux, William" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  8. ^ "Des Voeux, Sir George William (1834-1909)". Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

[1]https://www.thepeerage.com/p21366.htm#i213654

Sources

  • Stephanie Williams, Running the Show: The Extraordinary Stories of the Men who Governed the British Empire, Viking 2011,
    ISBN 978-0670918041
    .

External links

  • Media related to George William Des Vœux at Wikimedia Commons
  • Works related to William Des Vœux at Wikisource
  • Des Voeux, George William (1903). My Colonial Service in British Guiana, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Fiji, Australia, Newfoundland, and Hong Kong with Interludes. Vol. 1 / Vol. 2. London: John Murray.[2]
Government offices
Preceded by
Administrator of Saint Lucia

1869–1878 		Succeeded by
Arthur Elibank Havelock
Preceded by Governor of Fiji
1880–1885 		Succeeded by
High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
1880–1885
Preceded by
Governor of Newfoundland

1886–1887 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Major-General William Cameron
as Acting Administrator 		Governor of Hong Kong
1887–1891 		Succeeded by
Major-General Digby Barker
as Acting Administrator

[3]

  1. ^ "Person Page".
  2. ^ https://ancestors.familysearch.org/ru/KCZZ-FZS/george-william-des-voeux-1834-1909. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ https://ancestors.familysearch.org/ru/KCZZ-FZS/george-william-des-voeux-1834-1909. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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