Created on 24 February 2022
Herbert K Lau
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Dr. The Honorable Sir David Akers-Jones
New Territories Rotary Club Honorary Member
By Herbert K. Lau (劉敬恒)
(New Territories Rotary Club Director/Secretary 1983-1987)
25 December 2019
Dr. The Honorable Sir David Akers-Jones, KBE, GBM, CMG, HonDSocSc (CityPolyHK),
HonLLD (CUHK), HonDCL (Kent), HonRICS, MA (Oxford), JP, (鍾逸傑爵士) (14 April 1927 –
30 September 2019), Briton, was a career colonial administrator. He was elected Honorary
Member of the Rotary Club of New Territories (新界扶輪社) during his tenure as the Secretary
for the New Territories (新界政務司) from 1974 until 1981. It is the tradition of the Rotary Club,
since its inception in 1969, to invite the highest government administrator of the territory as
Honorary Member.
Akers-Jones as a linguist was well-known. Besides Anglo-Saxon, Old English, Old French,
Hindi and Malay, he also knew Hokkien (福建話), Chiu Chow (潮州話), Hakka (客家話),
Cantonese (粵語) and Putonghua (普通話). His knowledge of the Chinese languages also
extends to literature. He was a Knight of the realm, former Chief Secretary (香港布政司), Acting
Governor (署理香港總督), Advisor to the Governor, artist and architect of district
administration and representative government, the man most responsible for the phenomenal
development of the New Territories.
An Administrator of the British Crown Colony Hong Kong
Born on 14 April 1927 in Worthing, England, Akers-Jones was educated at Worthing High
School. He first set eyes on the Far East during the Second World War as a young man of 17
who was then serving in the merchant navy of the British India Steam Navigation Company.
2
After the War, he entered Oxford and read English Language and Literature up to the death of
Chaucer, and obtained in his Master of Arts (MA) degree from Brasenose College (English
1949), Oxford.
It was at Oxford that he met and fell in love with a beautiful young actress who was appearing
with the Liverpool Playhouse. This was Miss Jane Spickernell, daughter of Admiral Sir Frank
Spickernell. Not long after, they married and the young Akers-Jones joined the Foreign Office.
By order of the Foreign Office, United Kingdom, Akers-Jones arrived in the British Crown
Colony Hong Kong and joined the Government in the summer of 1957, after 3 years in the Civil
Service of the British Federal Malay States. In Hong Kong his first posting was to the
Department of Trade and Industry where he was put in charge of Hong Kong’s emergency
rations. From Trade and Industry, David Akers-Jones moved on to become, successively and
successfully, the District Officer (理民官) of Tsuen Wan (荃灣) (1959-1961), the Islands (離島)
(1961-1962) and Yuen Long (元朗) (1962-1967). In the Yuen Long tenure, he was sent to the
University of Kent in England to study a diploma course on “The Comparative Study of Local
Government and Politics” prior promotion to Deputy District Commissioner in 1967, Principal
Assistant Colonial Secretary (首席助理輔政司) for 4 years in charge of lands affairs, then District
Commissioner (新界民政署署長) (5 November 1973 – 31 March 1974), and Secretary for the New
Territories (1 April 1974 – 30 November 1981). Except for a four-year spell in the Lands
Department, his career in the New Territories spanned some 18 years. Finally, he became the
first Secretary of the City and New Territories Administration (政務司) (later retitled Secretary
for District Administration) (1 December 1981 – 10 February 1985). Akers-Jones was
instrumental in turning small villages into “new towns” in the New Territories, teeming with
factories and apartment blocks to reset the slum-dwellers from the hillsides of Hong Kong
Island. He led the local administration in Hong Kong, implemented a representative political
system on a trial basis, and held the first 18 district councils election.
Akers-Jones was also briefly Secretary for Home Affairs (民政司) and then was promoted to
Chief Secretary (布政司) (10 June 1985 – 11 February 1987). After the sudden death of Sir
Edward Youde, 26th Governor of Hong Kong (第 26 任香港總督尤德爵士), Akers-Jones became
Acting Governor of Hong Kong from December 1986. After retiring from the post of Chief
Secretary on 11 February 1987, he remained as Acting Governor until April 9, then became
Special Assistant to Sir David Clive Wilson, the 27th Governor of Hong Kong (第 27 任香港總督
衛奕信爵士), for 6 months. Certainly, Akers-Jones had been an Official Member sitting in both
of the Hong Kong Executive Council (香港行政局) and Legislative Council (立法局) for years.
Leaving the government establishment, Akers-Jones was later the first non-official Chairman
of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (香港房屋委員會) from 1987 to 1992. After he
relinquished the chairmanship, in the years leading up to the transfer of sovereignty from the
United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China (中華人民共和國) (PRC) on 1 July 1997,
Akers-Jones was appointed as a Hong Kong Affairs Advisor to the Central Government of the
PRC, from April 1993 to 1997. In 1996, Akers-Jones was appointed by PRC Central
Government a member of the Selection Committee to elect the first Chief Executive of the
future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which would be established on 1 July 1997. **/ ?>
Dr. The Honorable Sir David Akers-Jones
New Territories Rotary Club Honorary Member
By Herbert K. Lau ()
(New Territories Rotary Club Director/Secretary 1983-1987)
25 December 2019
Dr. The Honorable Sir David Akers-Jones, KBE, GBM, CMG, HonDSocSc (CityPolyHK),
HonLLD (CUHK), HonDCL (Kent), HonRICS, MA (Oxford), JP, () (14 April 1927 -
30 September 2019), Briton, was a career colonial administrator. He was elected Honorary
Member of the Rotary Club of New Territories () during his tenure as the Secretary
for the New Territories () from 1974 until 1981. It is the tradition of the Rotary Club,
since its inception in 1969, to invite the highest government administrator of the territory as
Honorary Member.
Akers-Jones as a linguist was well-known. Besides Anglo-Saxon, Old English, Old French,
Hindi and Malay, he also knew Hokkien (), Chiu Chow (), Hakka (),
Cantonese () and Putonghua (). His knowledge of the Chinese languages also
extends to literature. He was a Knight of the realm, former Chief Secretary (), Acting
Governor (), Advisor to the Governor,...