A History of The University of Hong Kong (Part I) — Pre-Founding Origins, the Opening Act, and Wartime Suspension (1887–1945)

Module: 00 Overview · Sub-file: University History (history) The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong^※, established in 1911 under the University Ordinance and formally opening for classes in 1912^※. This piece is the first part of HKU's institutional history, tracing the story from its 1887 medical origins through to the post-war resumption of 1945. For post-war reconstruction, the centenary celebrations, and recent developments, see the second part, history-2.md; for the governance structure and a detailed dossier on successive Vice-Chancellors, see governance.md; for the history of its symbols, see symbols.md; for the full narrative of Sun Yat-sen's 1923 return address, see sun-yat-sen-1923-speech.md.

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# I. The First Half-Century in a Nutshell

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# II. The Medical Taproot: The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (1887)

The antecedent of HKU's Faculty of Medicine was the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (香港西醫書院), established in 1887.

• It was founded in 1887 by Patrick Manson, James Cantlie, Ho Kai, and others^※, and was associated with the London Missionary Society^※. According to academic research, Patrick Manson served as its first dean^※. Full biographies of the three founders can be found in ../06-people/faculty-and-leaders.md.
• The college was housed in the Alice Memorial Hospital, situated in the area of Hollywood Road and Arbuthnot Road.
• It was renamed the Hong Kong College of Medicine in 1907^※. When HKU opened in 1912, the college was absorbed to become its Faculty of Medicine^※.

# Sun Yat-sen and the College of Medicine

• Sun Yat-sen studied at the College of Medicine from 1887 to 1892^※, becoming its most distinguished early student.
• On 20 February 1923, Sun Yat-sen returned to HKU and gave an address in the Great Hall (now Loke Yew Hall), declaring, "Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong are the birthplace of my knowledge"^※. The complete context and textual analysis of this speech can be found in sun-yat-sen-1923-speech.md.

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# III. The Founding Advocate: Sir Frederick Lugard (1908)

• According to public historical records, in 1908, the then-Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Frederick Lugard, proposed the establishment of a university in the colony during a graduation ceremony^※. One of his arguments was that if the opportunity were not seized, it would be "left to others".
• On 16 March 1910, Sir Frederick Lugard presided over the laying of the university's foundation stone^※.
• Lugard served as the first Chancellor (1911–1912)^※.

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# IV. The Financial Pillars: Mody, Loke Yew, and Swire

HKU's founding depended heavily on private benefaction, with Sir Hormusjee N. Mody and Loke Yew being the two most critical donors.

For complete biographical sketches of Mody and other founding luminaries like Ho Kai, Lam Woo, and Sir Robert Ho Tung, please see ../06-people/faculty-and-leaders.md.

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# V. Legislation, Naming, and the Opening Act (1911–1912)

# The Naming

The institution was named The University of Hong Kong, a purely geographical designation without any religious or linguistic qualifier. This stands in contrast to The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which would later be established in 1963 with "Chinese" in its name to signal a distinct cultural positioning. From its inception, HKU was defined by its English-medium instruction and its orientation towards serving both the Empire and the local Chinese elite.

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# VI. The People at the Helm: First Vice-Chancellor Eliot and the Three Founding Faculties

# The First Vice-Chancellor: Sir Charles Eliot (1912–1918)

According to HKU's list of successive Vice-Chancellors^※, the university's first Vice-Chancellor was Sir Charles Eliot, who assumed office on 17 March 1912 and served until August 1918. A diplomat and scholar by background, Eliot, as HKU's 'founding Vice-Chancellor', steered the fledgling institution in its earliest days—the Main Building was newly completed, and the first 72 students had just enrolled—laying its administrative and academic foundations.

# The Three Founding Faculties: Arts, Engineering, and Medicine (1912)

On 11 March 1912, HKU formally opened with three founding Faculties: Arts, Engineering, and Medicine^※. The Faculty of Medicine was a direct successor to the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, founded in 1887, and was incorporated at the University's launch. The composition of the first cohort of 72 students (31 in Engineering, 21 in Medicine, and 20 in Arts)^※ precisely mirrored this tripartite founding structure.

Context note: The 'Med-Eng-Art' trinity at opening perfectly encapsulated HKU's dual founding mission—to cultivate both doctors and engineers (practical professions) for the Empire and the local community, while also providing a humanities education. It was only with the later addition of Law (1969), Social Sciences, Education, Architecture, and other faculties that HKU evolved into the comprehensive, research-intensive university it is today.

# Eliot Hall and May Hall: Two Antiquities Named After Pioneers

Two early residential buildings on HKU's hillside campus, named after founding figures, are now declared monuments. Eliot Hall, completed in 1914, was named after the first Vice-Chancellor, Sir Charles Eliot^※. It initially served as a student hostel and was used as a relief hospital during World War II. May Hall, completed in 1915, was named after Sir Francis Henry May, the 15th Governor of Hong Kong and HKU's second Chancellor^※. During the war, it was the principal residence for staff and students.

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# VII. Between Two World Wars (1917–1940)

This period saw HKU progressively expand its disciplines, student body, and faculty, and it moved towards co-education.

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# VIII. Wartime Suspension and Reconstruction (1941–1945)

When the Pacific War reached Hong Kong, teaching at HKU was interrupted, marking the only total shutdown of the University since its founding.

# War Clouds Gather: The Battle of Hong Kong, December 1941

According to the Wikipedia entry on the "Battle of Hong Kong"^※, on 8 December 1941 (almost simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor), Japanese forces crossed the Sham Chun River and invaded Hong Kong. After eighteen days of resistance, the defenders surrendered, and the colonial government capitulated on 25 December ('Black Christmas')^※. Hong Kong entered a period of Japanese occupation that lasted three years and eight months (1941–1945).

During the brief eighteen-day battle, the University was not a bystander. Many residents, including university staff and students, participated in the defence, serving in units like the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) as infantry, artillerymen, sappers, field medical personnel, and nurses^※. The HKU campus in Pok Fu Lam was adjacent to Queen Mary Hospital; during the fighting, university buildings were incorporated as part of a temporary relief hospital, helping to share the overflow of wounded from Queen Mary^※.

# Suspension: The Only Complete Shutdown

According to the Wikipedia entry for HKU^※, the Japanese invasion in 1941 caused university buildings to be damaged, and the University was closed until its resumption in 1945. This was the only time since classes first began in 1912 that HKU was forced to cease all operations. During the occupation, campus facilities were requisitioned for other purposes, and significant losses were suffered, including library collections, scientific instruments, and archival records. Post-war reconstruction required an almost total overhaul—from buildings and books to faculty.

# The Medical Faculty's Inland Journey: A Wartime Exile

The Faculty of Medicine provides the most dramatic wartime case of 'exile and survival'. According to the Wikipedia entry for HKU^※, during the occupation, the Faculty of Medicine was evacuated to Chengdu, drawing on the resources of mainland Chinese institutions to ensure that medical education would not be interrupted. The entire university (including medicine) was closed from Christmas 1941 to mid-1945. Many stranded or displaced students were able to continue their studies on a visiting basis at institutions in mainland China.

Context note (from academic and official sources): During the War of Resistance, droves of students and faculty from South China's higher education institutions relocated inland to the 'Great Rear Area' (around Chengdu, Kunming, and Chongqing) to continue their work. HKU's medical faculty converged with this tide, a vignette of the wartime motto of 'Higher Learning Uninterrupted'. A detailed archive of the specific migration routes, host institutions, and the transitional arrangements for staff and students requires consultation of HKU's special collections and the Medical Faculty's own history; this article marks this as 'to be verified against Faculty history archives'.

# Restoration and Wartime Degrees

Following the liberation of Hong Kong in August 1945, HKU immediately set about resuming classes. A major challenge in the immediate post-war period was how to recognise the studies of students whose education had been scattered by war. According to public records, a post-war Emergency Committee mechanism was established to review the academic standing and credits of wartime students, enabling many whose education had been truncated by conflict to meet the requirements for their degrees. (Exact names and numbers for wartime degree conferrals require checking HKU departmental histories and special collections; this article does not list specific numbers to avoid inaccuracies.)

This chapter represents the only time HKU has been forcibly and completely shut down by an outside power. Since opening in 1912, HKU had weathered financial hardship, social upheaval, and political storms, but its teaching had never come to a systemic halt. Only the Japanese occupation at the end of 1941 brought the entire university—its student union, its library, its laboratories—to a standstill. This history tangles HKU's fate with that of the entire city: its staff and students defended the city as volunteers, its halls were converted into relief hospitals, and its students (figures like Eileen Chang and Stanley Ho) were driven from its gates one step shy of graduation. HKU's suspension is a facet of the collective trauma of Hong Kong's 'three years and eight months'; its restoration unfolded in lockstep with the city's own reconstruction. The post-war reconstruction effort is detailed in the next part, history-2.md.

The scholarly monograph Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong University During the War Years (HKU Press) systematically traces the university's experience of 'dispersal and rebirth' during wartime and is a key academic work on this period.

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# Unverified / To be Confirmed

• The exact number of students in the first intake: The official 'Giving' page and multiple other compiled sources state 72 (with a breakdown of 31/21/20). A figure of '71' is occasionally seen in non-official sources. This article adopts the official page's figure of 72 and notes the breakdown.
• Details of the legal succession from the College of Medicine to HKU's Faculty of Medicine (the transfer of assets, the transitional arrangements for staff and students): The official summary is a 'merger'. Detailed archival records require consultation of HKU's special collections and the Medical Faculty's history; see ../11-medical-hospital/ for more depth.
• Specific administrative achievements during Sir Charles Eliot's tenure: This article records his term of office and foundational role based on the succession lists. His specific accomplishments require consulting scholarly monographs on HKU's early history.
• The exact number and register of wartime degree conferrals: The official summary states they were awarded retroactively through the Emergency Committee. A complete register requires checking HKU's special collections; this article describes only the mechanism without listing specific numbers.
• The point-by-point route and host institutions for the Medical Faculty's inland evacuation: The HKU Wikipedia entry only states 'relocated to Chengdu'. A more granular history of the evacuation requires consulting the Medical Faculty's own historical archives.

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