Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch

The Lord MacLehose of Beoch
25th Governor of Hong Kong
In office
19 November 1971 – 8 May 1982
MonarchElizabeth II
Colonial SecretaryHugh Norman-Walker
Denys Roberts
Chief SecretaryDenys Roberts
Jack Cater
Philip Haddon-Cave
Preceded byDavid Trench
Succeeded byEdward Youde
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
21 May 1982 – 27 May 2000
Life Peerage
Diplomatic positions
British Ambassador to Denmark
In office
1969–1971
Preceded byOliver Wright
Succeeded byAndrew Stark
British Ambassador to Vietnam
In office
1967–1969
Preceded byPeter Wilkinson
Succeeded byJohn Moreton
Personal details
Born(1917-10-16)16 October 1917
Glasgow, Scotland
Died27 May 2000(2000-05-27) (aged 82)
Ayrshire, Scotland
Resting placeAlloway Parish Church, Scotland
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
ProfessionDiplomat, colonial administrator
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese麥理浩
Simplified Chinese麦理浩
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMài Lǐhào
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMahk Léih houh
JyutpingMak6 Lei5 hou6
A foundation stone laid by Sir Murray MacLehose, in Pao Yue-Kong Swimming pool, Hong Kong

Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, KT, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DL (Chinese: 麥理浩; 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.[1]

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.[2][3][4][5]

  1. ^ A & C Black (2000). "MacLEHOSE OF BEOCH, Baron". Who Was Who, online edition. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  2. ^ Donald, Sir Alan, "MacLehose, (Crawford) Murray, Baron MacLehose of Beoch", Dictionary of National Biographies. Oxford: OUP, 5th edition, 2004. pp. 788-789.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference spurr225 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Lord MacLehose of Beoch" (1 June 2000)
  5. ^ "LOOKING BACK: HOW LONDON AND BEIJING DECIDED THE FATE OF HONG KONG". Retrieved 6 October 2023.