Sir George E. Strahan was to be the next Governor of this Colony

China Mail 1887 Jan 20

The announcement that Sir George E. Strahan was to be the next Governor of this Colony, initially made by the Ceylon Observer and reproduced by us on New Year's Eve, has been confirmed by Reuter's telegram published in another column this evening. There is still some doubt, however, whether Sir George Strahan will be allowed by his medical advisers to take up the post. When he passed through Ceylon, it was certainly the opinion of those who then saw him and were intimate with him that he would not be able to stand our uncongenial summer climate; but the trip to England may have done him much good and thoroughly reinvigorated him.

Sir George was born in the parish of Rathen in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, some 50 years ago, and is the son of the late Rev. W. D. Strahan, who was for many years Governor of Gordon's Hospital, now Gordon's College, in Aberdeen. Leaving his native village when quite young, Sir George first commenced his studies at the Grammar School in Aberdeen. Afterwards, he joined the University of Aberdeen, where he distinguished himself greatly, winning as a prize a Commission in the Army which was in the gift of the then Lord Rector. He is an excellent scholar in ancient Greek and is also proficient in modern Greek. It was probably on this account that he was selected as aide-de-camp to Mr. Gladstone, when that statesman was appointed Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands in 1859, the same year as Sir George Bowen retired from the chief secretaryship of the Government of these Islands.

If Sir George Strahan accepts the post and comes to the Colony, this will be the first time Hong Kong has been governed by a Scotchman. Sir George is a widower and has been so for a number of years, his wife, an American lady, having died a few years after their marriage. We again give his services as recorded in the Colonial Office List:

Major Sir George C. Strahan, R.A., K.C.M.G. (1880), C.M.G. (1857). Entered the Royal Artillery, October 1857. Appointed aide-de-camp to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., when Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, January 1859. Appointed in the same capacity by the late Sir Henry Storks, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., February 17. Noted as Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta during a portion of 1868-69. Colonial Secretary, Bahamas, 1868. Acting Governor, Bahamas, from April 1871 to May 1873. Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, July 1874. Governor of the Windward Islands, 1876. Administrator of the Government, Lagos, 1878. Governor, Tasmania, 1880. Appointed to administer the government of the Cape of Good Hope, and to be H.M.'s High Commissioner for South Africa, pending the arrival of Sir Hercules Robinson in the colony. Since 1881, he has been Governor of Tasmania.