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Sir Robin Black | |
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| 23rd Governor of Hong Kong | |
| In office 23 January 1958 – 31 March 1964 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Colonial Secretary | Edgeworth David Claude Bramall Burgess Edmund Brinsley Teesdale |
| Preceded by | Alexander Grantham |
| Succeeded by | David Trench |
| 3rd Governor of Singapore | |
| In office 30 June 1955 – 9 December 1957 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Chief Secretary | William Goode |
| Chief Minister | David Marshall Lim Yew Hock |
| Preceded by | John Nicoll William Goode (acting) |
| Succeeded by | William Goode |
| 19thColonial Secretary of Hong Kong | |
| In office 20 February 1952 – 30 March 1955 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | John Nicoll |
| Succeeded by | Edgeworth David |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Brown Black (1906-06-03)3 June 1906 |
| Died | 19 October 1999(1999-10-19) (aged 93) |
| Spouse(s) | Anne, Lady Black |
| Children | 2 |
| Profession | Colonial administrator |
Sir Robert Brown Black,GCMG, OBE (Chinese:柏立基; 3 June 1906 – 19 October 1999), known asSir Robin Black, was a British colonial administrator who served asGovernor of Singapore from 1955 to 1957, andGovernor of Hong Kong from 1958 to 1964.
Born in Edinburgh and educated atGeorge Watson's College and theUniversity of Edinburgh, he would spend three decades overseas and return to Britain in the 1960s.
Sir Robert Brown Black served in the administration of Britain's colonies for more than 30 years. Entering the colonial service, Black was assigned toTrinidad, but the remainder of his postings were in Asia.
During his posting inNorth Borneo, Black was commissioned into theIntelligence Corps and involved in guerilla resistance against the Japanese. He was captured in 1942 and spent the remainder ofWorld War II in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.
After the war ended, he returned to the colonial service and served inNorth Borneo andHong Kong before moving on toSingapore as Governor (1955–57). Subsequently, he became Governor of Hong Kong from 1958 to 1964.
During his governorship, Hong Kong became increasingly prosperous. At the same time, many tens of thousands of refugees were illegally crossing the border fromChina every year, driven in part by widespreadfamine in China during the years 1958–1961. Some were stopped and sent back, but almost all of the hundreds of thousands who reachedKowloon were allowed to stay. This influx placed an enormous burden on the colonial authorities, but the needs of the refugees were met by a programme ofpublic housing construction andpublic health measures.
Robert Black had been dealing with leftists in a heavy-handed way. On 18 April 1958, a raid was conducted on the library of thePui Kiu Middle School (PKMS). The officer-in-charge of the Hong Kong Island Section of the Inspectorate of Education visited the school with five assistants. Nineteen books were confiscated and four were used as evidence of the 'mismanagement of the school' in a warning letter addressed to the school supervisor on 13 May. On the basis of these and other accusations, such as hiring of unregistered teachers and discussion of political issues in school meetings, To Pak-fui (杜伯奎), the principal of PKMS, was deported on 6 August, to Lo Wu.[1]
Hong Kong experienced a prolongeddrought of unanticipated severity during the last two years of his tenure, which led to a serious water shortage. Water rationing was imposed in May 1962 and continued through August 1964. From June 1963 until late May 1964 (when the arrival ofTyphoon Viola ended the drought) the water supply was restricted to a single four-hour period every four days.
Black helped establish theChinese University of Hong Kong by uniting several smaller institutions.[2] He served as Chancellor of both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and theUniversity of Hong Kong during his tenure as Governor of Hong Kong.
He was knighted (KCMG) in 1955 and promoted toGCMG in 1962.
Black returned to Britain in 1964.[3] He was active with theCommonwealth War Graves Commission and theRoyal Commonwealth Society, and served as chairman of theClerical Medical and General Life Assurance Society in the 1970s. He died on 19 October 1999, having been predeceased some years earlier (in 1986) by his wife Anne. He was survived by their two daughters, Barbara and Kathryn.[2]
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Governor of Hong Kong 1958–1964 | Succeeded by SirDavid Trench |
| Preceded by SirJohn Nicoll | Governor of Singapore 1955–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by SirJohn Nicoll | Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong 1952–1954 | Succeeded by |
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