|
College Archives Newsletter #2
February 2019
|
|
Archival Work
St. John's Glory!
In the past 4 months, our helpers processed pennants and trophies. A total of 254 pennants have been catalogued, bagged, labelled and boxed (look at that heap of pennants!). The earliest pennants date back to 1972, while some were awarded for competitions that are no longer organised, such as the Union Festival competitions! Another 89 trophies have been catalogued and briefly cleaned. They are now fully prepared for transfer to the new archives repository!
|
|
|
Retracing St. John's
Legendary St. Johnian
The former Central Magistracy — which forms part of the new centre for heritage and arts in downtown Central called Tai Kwun (大館) — has recently opened its doors to the public. It is among Hong Kong's oldest surviving law court buildings, operating as such from 1915 to 1979. One of our most senior St. Johnians became a local legend after the war, when he was appointed to sit at this magistracy as Hong Kong's first Chinese permanent magistrate. His name was Lo Hin Shing (羅顯勝).
|
|
|
|
|
A portrait of Lo Hin Shing, 1959. Collection of the College Archives.
|
|
|
|
|
Lo Hin Shing's autobiography, published in 1973. Collection of the HKU Libraries.
|
|
|
|
Born in 1889, Lo received classical Chinese education in his ancestral village in Taishan, Guangdong. At the age of 16, he returned to Hong Kong to study at Queen’s College. In 1912, he was admitted to the newly-opened HKU as an Arts student. He resided at St. John’s Hall and was an active member of the university student body, being elected as the Chairman of the Hong Kong University Union in 1915.
|
|
|
|
In an interview with the editors of The Aquila in 1967-68, Canon Martin recounted an anecdote of Lo Hin Shing when he was resident at St. John's Hall. Collection of the College Archives.
|
|
Lo graduated with a BA degree in 1918. He later travelled to Cambridge to study law, and was called to the English Bar in 1923. He returned to Hong Kong and soon established success in his criminal practice. He was also well read in Chinese laws and customs, on which he frequently gave expert opinions to the courts in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
|
|
|
|
A deed of assignment of a private dwelling dated 1944 during the Japanese occupation, attested by Lo Hin Shing. On display on 5/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Faculty of Law, HKU.
|
|
In 1948, Lo began his life on the Bench when the Governor appointed him as a magistrate sitting at the Central Magistracy. In 1952, he was made the Principal Magistrate, a position which imposed on him many administrative work on top of his judicial duties. Nevertheless, this did not take away his heart of compassion. On the Bench, he was well regarded for being kind and compassionate to the underprivileged. Rumour has it that he once volunteered to lend money to a convict to pay his fine! He was also renowned for his good sense of humour, of which many senior lawyers still have fond memories.
|
|
|
|
The former Central Magistracy at Arbuthnot Road, Central. Online Photo.
|
|
In 1959, Lo retired from the Bench and returned to private practice. He then became the first ethnic Chinese lawyer to serve as chairman of the Bar in 1960. In 1964, upon the invitation of the Chief Justice, he returned to the Bench and sat at the Causeway Bay Magistracy until his final retirement in 1970. He died at the age of 100 in 1989.
|
|
In Loving Memory
Professor Michael Wilkinson
We bid farewell to Professor Michael Wilkinson (1945-2019), our beloved law teacher and former Fellow of the College.
Michael was the law faculty's longest-serving professor. He joined HKU in 1983, and had taught generations of law students, many of whom are now established lawyers, judges and academics in Hong Kong. A leading scholar in land law, civil procedure and professional conduct, Michael was much loved by students for his passionate teaching, easy-to-follow lectures and sense of humour.
Aside from his academic duties, Michael had served in numerous positions and committees within HKU and in the public sector. In 2001, he was appointed as Fellow of the College. One member of the College Council recollected that he was 'a very nice gentleman whose views were much respected by all of us'. He held fellowship until his resignation in 2016.
Michael continued to hold lectures during his courageous fight against double cancer in the last few years. He now rests in peace. May we always remember his spirit and selfless devotion to academia and the community.
Please read the obituary issued by the Faculty of Law, HKU here.
|
|
Corrigendum
In First Meeting of the College Archives Subcommittee (January 2019), we left out Ms Leung Pik Ki as member of the College Archives Subcommittee.
|
|
|
|
