Sir Matthew Nathan | |||||||
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| 20th Governor of the Gold Coast | |||||||
| In office 17 December 1900 – 9 February 1904 | |||||||
| Monarchs | |||||||
| Preceded by | Frederick Mitchell Hodgson | ||||||
| Succeeded by | John Pickersgill Rodger | ||||||
| 13th Governor of Hong Kong | |||||||
| In office 29 July 1904 – 29 July 1907 | |||||||
| Monarch | Edward VII | ||||||
| Colonial Secretary | Sir Francis Henry May | ||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Arthur Blake | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir Frederick Lugard | ||||||
| 7th Governor of Natal | |||||||
| In office 2 September 1907 – 23 December 1909 | |||||||
| Monarch | Edward VII | ||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Henry Edward McCallum | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen | ||||||
| Under-Secretary for Ireland | |||||||
| In office 12 October 1914 – 3 May 1916 | |||||||
| Monarch | George V | ||||||
| Preceded by | James Dougherty | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Robert Chalmers | ||||||
| 13th Governor of Queensland | |||||||
| In office 3 December 1920 – 17 September 1925 | |||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams | ||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir John Goodwin | ||||||
| Personal details | |||||||
| Born | (1862-01-03)3 January 1862 | ||||||
| Died | 18 April 1939(1939-04-18) (aged 77) West Coker,Somerset, England | ||||||
| Resting place | Willesden Jewish Cemetery, England | ||||||
| Alma mater | Royal Military Academy, Woolwich | ||||||
| Profession | Soldier, colonial administrator | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 彌敦 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 弥敦 | ||||||
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Lieutenant-ColonelSir Matthew NathanGCMG PC (Ire) (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the governor ofSierra Leone,Gold Coast,Hong Kong,Natal andQueensland. He wasUnder-Secretary for Ireland from 1914 to 1916, and was responsible, with theChief Secretary,Augustine Birrell, for the administration of Ireland in the years immediately preceding theEaster Rising.
Nathan was born inPaddington, London, England. He was ofJewish descent and the second son of businessman Jonah Nathan and Miriam Jacob Nathan. His brothers were Colonel Sir Frederick Nathan, an officer of theRoyal Artillery and sometime Superintendent ofWaltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, and Sir Nathaniel Nathan, a colonial judge inTrinidad and Tobago.
Nathan was educated atRoyal Military Academy,Woolwich, where he was the winner of thePollock Medal (1880) before being gazetted toRoyal Engineers in 1880. He continued his training at the School of Military Engineering,Chatham from 1880 to 1884.
Nathan was sent to military expeditions toSudan (1884–1885) and toLushai,India (1889–1894). He was promoted to the position ofcaptain in 1889 and became the secretary to the Colonial Defence Committee between 1896 and 1898. Nathan was promoted tomajor in 1898.
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Nathan was appointed acting governor ofSierra Leone from 1899 to 1900. Late that year, he was appointed as Governor ofGold Coast,[1] a position he occupied until 1903. In 1902, Nathan imported into the Gold Coast a £543 FrenchGardner-Serpollet, paraffin-fired,steam-driven car for his use on the roads aroundAccra.[2] He was appointed a Knight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,[3][4] and invested by KingEdward VII atBuckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.[5]
In 1903, Nathan was appointed asGovernor of Hong Kong, a position he would serve until 1907. During his tenure, Nathan made use of his engineering background to establish a central urban planning and reconstruction policy. He built a major thoroughfare in the marshy area of theKowloon Peninsula; derided at the time as "Nathan's Folly", it developed into a major shopping avenue, afterwards namedNathan Road.[6] The construction ofKowloon-Canton Railway started under this period.
In 1907, Nathan was made Governor ofNatal (until 1909). In that same year, he was raised to a higher rank oflieutenant colonel. In 1909 he returned toEngland and took up an appointment as secretary to theGeneral Post Office, a position he served until 1911. He was chairman of theBoard of Inland Revenue between 1911 and 1914.
Nathan was appointedUnder-Secretary for Ireland in late 1914, shortly after the outbreak ofWorld War I and the signing into law of theHome Rule Act 1914.[7] His immediate superior was theChief Secretary,Augustine Birrell. TheLord Lieutenant of Ireland was then largely a ceremonial position, and the Chief Secretary spent much of his time in London, where he was a member of the cabinet. Therefore, the Under-Secretary was effectively the head of the administration in Ireland.[8]
Nathan's job involved liaising with theIrish Parliamentary Party (IPP) to prepare them for self-government. He was also concerned with recruiting in Ireland, and received regular reports from the police and military about anti-recruiting and pro-independence activity, including the threat of a German invasion or arms landing in support of an Irish rising.[9]
Alarmed at the growing numbers of separatists in the Civil Service, Nathan wrote to the authorities to have them transferred to England, and eventually got cabinet approval for a letter warning civil servants that they would be dismissed if they continued as members of theIrish Volunteers.[10] He used theDefence of the Realm Act 1914 to suppress newspapers that he considered seditious, against the advice of the IPP[11] In general, however, he avoided any action that might provoke violence.
On 21 April 1916, Nathan was informed that a German boat had been stopped off the coast ofCounty Kerry carrying arms and ammunition and that a man had been arrested after coming ashore from another vessel. The man arrested was subsequently identified as SirRoger Casement[12]
A mobilization of the Irish Volunteers fixed forEaster Sunday was cancelled the day before. Nathan, believing that a rising had been averted, rejected the insistent urging of the Lord Lieutenant,Lord Wimborne, to order the arrest of a large number of rebel leaders and the necessity of raiding premises associated with the Irish Volunteers and theIrish Citizen Army.[13] Nathan cabled Birrell, the Chief Secretary, in London regarding Wilborne's demands. On Easter Monday, while he was in his office inDublin Castle, theEaster Rising broke out and Dublin Castle itself was attacked. An elderly unarmed sentry, Constable O'Brien, was shot dead bySean Connolly. A passing priest administered the last rites.[14]
The Castle gates were closed, and the rebels did not press the attack, but Nathan was a virtual prisoner until troops arrived from theCurragh Camp on Monday evening.[15] Nathan remained in the Castle for the rest of the week (being moved to the stables to accommodate the military), where he kept in contact with London, keeping the government up to date with the situation and helping to answer questions in Parliament.[16]
The Rising came to an end on 30 April. The same day, Birrell offered his resignation, and on 3 May, at Birrell's request, Nathan also resigned.[17] TheRoyal Commission on the 1916 Rebellion (theHardinge commission) was critical of Birrell and Nathan, in particular their failure to take action against the rebels in the weeks and months before the Rising.[18]
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After his resignation, Nathan was appointed secretary to the Ministry of Pensions, a position he held until 1919. In 1920, he was appointedGovernor of Queensland and served in that position until 1925. It was to be his last post in the Colonial Service. During his tenure, Nathan actively promoted British migration toQueensland.
In 1922, he founded, along withHenry Caselli Richards, theGreat Barrier Reef Committee. He was chancellor of theUniversity of Queensland in 1922–25 and was awarded an honorary LL.D. in 1925.
After his appointment as governor expired, Nathan left Queensland for retirement inSomerset, England, where he died in the village ofWest Coker in 1939. He was buried atWillesden Jewish Cemetery, London.
Nathan Road, the main commercial artery in theKowloon Peninsula (otherwise known as the Golden Mile), was named after him.
InAustralia,Nathan and Nathan Heights inBrisbane (the capital city of Queensland) and Nathan Street in theCanberra suburb ofDeakin were named after him.
Nathan House, a boarding house for Form 2 learners atMaritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa is named in his honour.
Scottburgh, South Africa has a street named after Sir Matthew Nathan.
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| Preceded by | Governor of the Gold Coast 1900–1903 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Hong Kong 1904–1907 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Natal 1907–1909 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman,Board of Inland Revenue 1911–1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Queensland 1920–1925 | Succeeded by |
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