Francis DOUGLAS [c.1833-1874]

Submitted by David on Wed, 05/08/2013 - 13:33
Names
Given
Francis
Family
Douglas
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Date
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)
Died
Date

I'm looking for photos of Francis Douglas, to be used in the Central Police Station project. If you know of any, please could you let me know in the comments below?

He's of interest because he was the Superintendent of Victoria Gaol from 1863 til his death in 1874.

There's no record of him serving in Legco, nothing in the HKPRO images database or UKNA archive.

Dates of birth & death taken from his gravestone inscription:

08---/17/05- FRANCIS DOUGLAS/ Late Superintendent of Victoria Gaol/ who died at Hong Kong June 18th 1874 aged 41 years.This stone is erected as a token/ of respect by a few of his friends.

I haven't found any family tree records.

Photos that show this Person

Comments

Additional notes from Patricia Lim:

  • See 'The Royal HK Police' by Crisswell & Watson Macmillan HK 1982. 1860's Indiscipline at Victoria Gaol reached farcical proportions. Salary of $60.00 per month insufficient to attract suitable applicants. Incident of Charles Ryall led to recruitment of F Douglas from UK after wh. Gaol became known as Douglas Hotel. 1863 Arrived H.K. Superintendent for over 12 years.
  • G.G. 7.9.1872, Appt. J.P.1872 
  • 1874, Sir J. Smale, Attorney Gen., on his death. 'I have recently felt that the2 great institutions in this colony to show to strangers are our public school and our gaol. Under very difficult conditions, he acted with an honest and sturdy independence to my knowledge.'
  • After dth. eg. Council voted an Honorarium of $1920 to his children.
  • Symbol on gravestone indicates he was a freemason