Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch

Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, (16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000), was a British politician, diplomat and colonial official who served as the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982.

He was the longest-serving governor of the colony, with four successive terms in office.

He previously worked for the British Council in China and was the British Ambassador to South Vietnam and Denmark.

Although MacLehose came from a diplomatic background and lacked colonial administrative experience, he was generally regarded as one of the most successful and popular governors of Hong Kong due to the number of social reforms enacted during his time and for Hong Kong's economic success during his time in office.

Although his tenure as governor finished before formal British-Sino negotiations over Hong Kong commenced, he sought to improve diplomatic relations with China and held talks with Deng Xiaoping.

Murray MacLehose was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 October 1917, the second child of Hamish Alexander MacLehose who owned a printing business and Margaret Bruce Black.

He was born whilst his father was away serving with the 8th Battalion of the Scottish Rifles during the First World War.

MacLehose attended Rugby School in 1931 and Balliol College, Oxford where he read modern history.

After graduating he began working for the colonial administrative government in British Malaya in 1939 before being temporarily transferred to British consulate in Xiamen in 1940 to learn Hokkien which was widely spoken in northern Malaya.

During World War Two, while under the cover of being the British vice-consul, MacLehose trained Chinese guerrillas to operate behind Japanese lines to carry out sabotage.

He was detained by the Japanese army in December 1941 before being repatriated back to Britain in 1942.

He returned to China to work with British naval intelligence.

During one episode, he reportedly walked into a club in Shantou controlled by the Japanese army where he calmly ordered a gin and tonic before leaving without obstruction.

In May 1944 he met British scientist and historian Joseph Needham.

MacLehose was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the British government in 1946 for his wartime service.

At the end of the Second World War, MacLehose served as the British Acting Consul in Fuzhou before becoming Consul General for the British Foreign Office in Hankou in 1948.

He developed a keen interest in Chinese culture and learned to speak Mandarin.

MacLehose returned to Britain in 1950 in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War in which the Chinese Communist Party took power.

MacLehose was seconded to the High Commission of the United Kingdom, Wellington in 1954 and was principal private secretary to Foreign Secretary George Brown in the late 1960s.

In this role he helped to oversee the integration of the British Colonial Office into the Foreign Office.

In 1967, he was appointed the British Ambassador to South Vietnam and held the role until 1969.

His career was almost stalled when he left a copy of a confidential telegram in a bank in 1967.

The document contained correspondence between then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and US President Lyndon Johnson concerning the Vietnam War.

Another British diplomat was able to recover the telegram before its contents could be leaked.

Upon being informed of the potential security breach, Wilson and Brown decided against allowing an investigation into MacLehose's error out of appreciation of his abilities and record.

This decision likely saved his career, and allowed MacLehose to proceed to his next post as British Ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam in 1967.

MacLehose was appointed Governor shortly after the 1967 Hong Kong riots due to his extensive diplomatic background in Asia, perceived skill to analyse political problems and because the British government felt he lacked colonial baggage.

MacLehose summarised that Hong Kong had already established sufficient economic capacity and the time had come to reform Hong Kong's social policies.

MacLehose stood well over six feet tall.

He avoided wearing his gubernatorial uniform, as he felt very ill at ease in it but wore a traditional colonial office uniform after arriving on a Cathay Pacific flight to be sworn in as Governor by Hugh Selby Norman-Walker.

A diplomat with a British Labour Party background, MacLehose introduced a wide range of reforms during his time in office that laid the foundation of modern Hong Kong as a cohesive, self-aware society.

He had Chinese recognised as an official language for communication, alongside English.

He greatly expanded welfare and set up a massive public housing programme.

Under massive public pressure, he created the ICAC to root out corruption.

By establishing the District Boards, he greatly improved government accountability.

He oversaw the construction of the Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong's transportation backbone, and other major infrastructure projects.

Between this time and 1971, MacLehose served in the British Embassy in Beijing and briefly as the Ambassador to Denmark.

MacLehose became Governor of Hong Kong in November 1971.

He held the position until May 1982, making him Hong Kong's longest-serving governor: his 10 years and 6 months in office exceeded Sir Alexander Grantham's record by one month.

He was widely and affectionately known as "Jock the Sock", in reference both to his Scottish heritage and to his name, 'hose' being a word meaning sock or stocking.