Senior Unofficial Member

The Senior Unofficial Member, later Senior Member and, finally, Convenor of the Non-official Members, was the highest-ranking unofficial member of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and Executive Council (ExCo) of British Hong Kong, which was tasked with representing the opinions of all unofficial members of the council to the Governor.

Ethnic Chinese members of either council were frequently referred to as "Chinese representatives" of the council before the introduction of elected seats in the LegCo; the most senior ethnic Chinese member was dubbed the "Senior Chinese Unofficial Member" (Chinese: 首席華人非官守議員) or "Senior Chinese Representative".

Background[]

The Executive Council and the Legislative Council were set up in 1843, initially composing of colonial administrators only. The councils were initially chaired by the Governor of Hong Kong. The colony's residents remained unrepresented until 1850, when the government appointed two businessmen to the LegCo, with David Jardine of Jardines as the first Senior Unofficial Member of the LegCo in the history of Hong Kong. It was not until 1896, on his appointment to ExCo, that Catchick Paul Chater became the Senior Unofficial Member.

Historically, ExCo Senior Unofficial Member importance greatly exceeded that of the LegCo counterpart, thus their term of office were longer. Before the Second World War, there were only three Senior Unofficial Members in ExCo, whereas there have been four LegCo Senior Unofficial Members. Initially, membership was restricted to Europeans; ethnic Chinese were admitted at a later date. The first ethnic Chinese to be appointed LegCo Senior Unofficial Member was Ho Kai, who held the post from 1906 to 1914. The first ethnic Chinese to be appointed ExCo Senior Unofficial Member was Chau Tsun-nin, who held the post from 1953 to 1959. Prior to Chau Tsun-nin, Chow Shouson was also ExCo Senior Unofficial Member when he stood in for three months following Henry Pollock.

Senior Unofficial Members of the ExCo would customarily be knighted if they were not already knights, although their LegCo counterparts would not. Pre-WWII ExCo and LegCo Senior Unofficial Member typically served renewable four- to five-year terms. Their seniority implied they would not remain as ordinary Legco/Exco members at the end of their terms, but would leave the council on expiry.

In 1985, indirect elections were introduced for the Legislative Council. To avoid confusion, Sir Edward Youde, the then-Governor, renamed the post Senior Unofficial Member in both councils 'Senior Member'. The introduction in 1991 of direct elections to the LegCo more than doubled the number of its members. The directly-elected members refused to take orders from the Senior Member. The Senior Member at the time, Allen Lee, was unable to represent the council with a single voice and would occasionally have run-ins with the directly-elected members. In 1992, Governor David Wilson abolished the LegCo post of Senior Member. In 1995, Governor Chris Patten renamed the ExCo post of Senior Member 'Convenor of the Non-official Members'.

During colonial times, the Urban Council also had a post entitled 'Senior Unofficial Member', with a similar role. However, its importance was considerably less than its ExCo and LegCo counterparts.

Statistical overview[]

In total there have been 26 and 11 Senior Unofficial Members respectively of LegCo and ExCo. Of these, six have served as Senior Unofficial Members in both councils: Catchick Paul Chater, Sir Henry Pollock, Chau Tsun-nin, Kan Yuet-keung, Chung Sze-yuen and Lydia Dunn.

The longest serving Senior Unofficial Members of LegCo were Sir Henry Pollock and Phineas Ryrie, who sat for 24 and 22 years respectively; The three who served the shortest duration were George Lyall, John Dent and Kwok Chan, who sat for one year. Lydia Dunn was the only female; Dhun Jehangir Ruttonjee was the only Parsee; Roger Lobo was the only Portuguese.

The longest serving Senior Unofficial Members of ExCo was Catchick Paul Chater, who served a total of 30 years; the shortest tenures was Sir Sidney Gordon, serving under one year. Lydia Dunn was the first female ExCo Senior Unofficial Member. Chater was the only Senior Unofficial Member to die in office; Chau Tsun-nin and Chau Sik-nin were the only Senior Unofficial Members drawn from the same clan.

Executive Council[]

№	Senior Unofficial Member		Years	Appointed Governor	Remarks
1		Sir Catchick Paul Chater	1896–1926	Sir William Robinson	LegCo Senior Unofficial Member 1900–1906; Died in office
2		Sir Henry Pollock	1926–1941	Sir Cecil Clementi	Concurrently LegCo Senior Unofficial Member
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (1941–1945)
3		Sir Arthur Morse	1946–1953	Sir Mark Aitchison Young
4		Sir Tsun-nin Chau	1953–1959	Sir Alexander Grantham	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member; First Chinese Senior Unofficial Member
5		Sir Sik-nin Chau	1959−1962	Sir Robert Brown Black	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member
6		Albert Rodrigues	1962–1974	Sir Robert Brown Black	First Portuguese Senior Unofficial Member
7		Sir Yuet-keung Kan	1974–1980	Sir Murray MacLehose	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member
8		Sir Sidney Gordon	1980	Sir Murray MacLehose	Assumed office from March to August 1980
9		Sir Sze-yuen Chung	1980–1985	Sir Murray MacLehose	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member
Post renamed "Senior Member" in 1985
1		Sir Sze-yuen Chung	1985–1988	Sir Edward Youde	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member
2		Dame Lydia Dunn	1988–1995	Sir David Wilson	Previously LegCo Senior Unofficial Member; First female Senior Official Member
Post renamed "Convenor of the Non-official Members" in 1995
1		Dame Rosanna Wong	1995–1997	Chris Patten
Transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997 Post remains in the Executive Council of the present Hong Kong See List of Convenor of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong

Legislative Council[]

Order	Image	Senior Unofficial Member	Term start	Term end
1		David Jardine	1850	1856
2		Joseph Jardine	1857	1860
3		George Lyall	1860	1860
4		Alexander Perceval	1861	1864
5		Francis Chomley	1864	1866
6		John Dent	1866	1867
7		James Whittall	1867	1867
8		Hugh Bold Gibb	1867	1870
9		Phineas Ryrie	1870	1892
10		Emanuel Raphael Belilios	1892	1900
11		Catchick Paul Chater concurrently Senior Unofficial Member at LegCo	1900	1906
12		Dr. Ho Kai	1906	1914
13		Wei A. Yuk	1914	1917
14		Sir Henry Pollock 1926 to 1941 LegCo Senior Unofficial Member Chow Shouson stood in between September and December 1928	1917	1941
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong
15		D. F. Landale	1946	1950
16		Chau Tsun-nin Later became ExCo Senior Unofficial Member	1950	1953
17		Chau Sik-nin Later became ExCo Senior Unofficial Member	1953	1959
18		Ngan Shing-kwan	1959	1961
19		Kwok Chan	1961	1962
20		Dhun Jehangir Ruttonjee	1962	1968
21		Kan Yuet-keung Later became ExCo Senior Unofficial Member	1968	1972
22		Woo Pak-chuen	1972	1974
23		Chung Sze-yuen Later became ExCo Senior Unofficial Member	1974	1978
24		Oswald Victor Cheung	1978	1981
25		Roger Lobo	1981	1985
Post renamed 'Senior Member'
1		Lydia Dunn Later became ExCo Senior Unofficial Member	1985	1988
2		Allen Lee	1988	1992
Post abolished in 1992

See also[]

• Executive Council of Hong Kong
• Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Senior Chinese Unofficial Member
• Unofficial Member
• Father of the House

Footnotes[]

References[]

• Hong Kong Government Gazette, Hong Kong: GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG, 1852–1941.
• Hansard, Hong Kong: HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 1884–1992.
• 〈港府昨正式發表ExCo 議員名單〉，《工商日報》第四頁， 1946 5月8日 。
• 〈ExCo 議員已全部委出〉，《工商日報》第四頁， 1946 5月30日 。
• Hong Kong Government Gazette, Hong Kong: GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG, 1951–1959.
• Hong Kong Annual Report, Hong Kong: Government Press, 1951–1969.
• Endacott, G. B., Government and people in Hong Kong, 1841–1962: A Constitutional History, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1964.
• 鄭棟材，CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE COUNCILS IN HONG KONG UP TO 1941, 29 April 1968.
• 鍾士元，《香港回歸歷程－鍾士元回憶錄》，香港：中文大學出版社，2001 。
• Li, Simon, FACT SHEET-"THE FIRST" in Legislative Council History, Hong Kong: HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 13 January 2003.

External links[]

• CHINESE UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE COUNCILS IN HONG KONG UP TO 1941