Morrison Hall: A Missionary’s Book Gift, a Closure, and a Rebirth a Century Later

Morrison Hall (馬禮遜堂) was founded in 1913 by the London Missionary Society on Hatton Road^※, one of HKU’s earliest men’s residences. It closed in 1968, and only through a fundraising drive by its own alumni was it reborn in 2005 within the Jockey Club Student Village II. This article belongs to the 00–12 reference zone (factual); names are recorded as substantiated; no credibility badges are assigned.

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# 1. At a Glance

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# 2. The Name: A Hall Earned with a Library

The naming of Morrison Hall was not a straightforward honour. It was the result of a concrete bequest of books. According to HKU’s official history^※, the hall commemorates Rev. Dr Robert Morrison (1782–1834), an early Scottish missionary sent to China by the London Missionary Society, and the first person to translate the entire Bible into Chinese.

As collated by Chinese Wikipedia^※, the name originates from Dr Morrison’s personal library, which was transferred to the University of Hong Kong via the London Missionary Society. This collection later entered the university library’s rare books section, and in return, the university named its new men’s hostel ‘Morrison Hall’, a gesture of gratitude for this bond of bibliophilia. This origin—‘a name won by books’—sets Morrison Hall apart among HKU residences. It was not the product of a single large building donation, as with Lady Ho Tung Hall or Ricci Hall, but of a gift of knowledge that had crossed nearly a century.

The naming process itself is also on record: in April 1916, the London Missionary Society formally proposed the name ‘Morrison Hall’ for the newly built hostel. The HKU Council resolved on 19 May of the same year to adopt this as the permanent name for the Society’s “recent and valued property.”^※ This means the building itself opened in 1913, but was officially named three years later. During this interim, it likely operated under unofficial designations like ‘London Missionary Society Hostel,’ a detail that explains why some early archives list Morrison Hall with the dual dates ‘founded 1913, named 1916’. HKU’s official history further defines Morrison Hall as ‘a Christian hostel for Chinese students’^※, a purpose that echoes Morrison’s own career of building spiritual bridges between East and West.

The London Missionary Society itself has a deeper connection to HKU. The predecessor of St. John’s College, ‘St. John’s Hall’, was also founded in 1912 by a missionary body from the Anglican communion^※, making it nearly contemporary with Morrison Hall. Together, these were the university’s first hostels with church backgrounds (for St. John’s College, see st-johns-college.md).

Dr Morrison’s personal link to Hong Kong runs even deeper. He had previously ministered in Macau and Guangzhou. In 1818, with fellow LMS missionary William Milne, he founded the Anglo-Chinese College (英華書院) in Malacca^※, its mission ‘the reciprocal cultivation of English and Chinese literature, and the diffusion of knowledge’—a spirit that directly prefigures the founding ethos of Morrison Hall as later described. In 1843, the LMS moved the Anglo-Chinese College to Hong Kong^※, refocusing it on training preachers. The school, after many journeys, operates in Kowloon today under the name Ying Wa College, one of the oldest schools in Hong Kong. Morrison Hall, in other words, is not the LMS’s only mark on Hong Kong’s educational history but an extension, on the HKU campus, of a mission-school lineage that began in Malacca in 1818 and ran through the opening of Hong Kong itself.

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# 3. The Early Years: From One Student to a Hall Spirit (1913–1940)

Morrison Hall was built on Hatton Road, with construction starting in August 1912 and, after delays, officially opening in 1913^※. According to the HKU Archives, it was the third men’s hostel built in the university’s history^※, after University Hall and St. John’s Hall. On opening, it had a single resident^※. By New Year’s Day, the number had grown to 21, and the official count for 1914 was 22. Its original design capacity was 50, a figure only reached after the 1928 completion of its East Wing extension.

The first Warden of Morrison Hall was the Australian-born missionary Rev. Herbert Richmond Wells (b. 1863, Geelong), a fluent Cantonese speaker who published several textbooks on the language in the 1930s^※. He was one of the LMS’s senior sinologist-missionaries stationed in Hong Kong. His successor from 1928, Mr. Stanley V. Boxer (tenure 1928–1941)^※, presided over the hall’s entire interwar period, from the East Wing extension to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Early Morrison Hall became known for its community spirit and athletic prowess. The official university history notes its residents were ‘noted for their community spirit and excellence in sports’^※. This reputation would later be canonised by generations of alumni as the origin of the ‘Morrisonian Spirit,’ a historical capital repeatedly invoked by the reconstruction committee during its fundraising. The curve of early occupancy—one resident in 1913, 21 in 1914, reaching 50 only after the 1928 expansion—shows that Morrison Hall was not an instant sensation in HKU’s founding years. It found its footing over more than a decade, building its standing through word-of-mouth and community activities. This is the soil from which the ‘Morrisonian Spirit’ grew; it was not a rhetorical flourish pasted on after the fact.

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# 4. War and Closure: Requisition, Post-War Repair, and the End in 1968

The war turned Morrison Hall’s fortunes abruptly. During the Japanese invasion and occupation of 1941, British forces requisitioned the hall as a barracks^※. Warden Boxer made his last inspection on 24 December 1941—the day before Hong Kong fell—and found the building already partly looted^※. When he checked again three days later, the damage was far worse. By the end of January 1942, anything movable within the hall had been stripped bare^※.

After the war, Morrison Hall reopened in September 1948, accommodating around 55 residents^※. The official reopening ceremony was held on 9 December of that year, presided over by the then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Alexander Grantham (in office 1947–1958)^※. For a church-affiliated student hostel to secure the sitting Governor for its reopening ceremony speaks to Morrison Hall’s standing in post-war Hong Kong education. The university formally took over the hall’s administration in 1966. But just two years later, on 31 December 1968, Morrison Hall officially closed. The last residents moved out in early 1969^※. The building was subsequently operated by the Church of Christ in China as a youth leadership training centre, ‘Morrison House.’ The last documented event there was in February 1978. The facility was decommissioned around 1981 and later demolished; the site is now a private residential development, Wisdom Court (頌賢花園)^※. From its 1913 founding to its 1968 closure, the physical lifespan of the first Morrison Hall was only 55 years. The name ‘Morrison’ would thereafter vanish from the site, preserved only in the memory and reunions of its old boys.

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# 5. The Alumni-Led Revival: From a 1997 Dinner to Topping Out in 2005

The rebirth of Morrison Hall is a rarity in HKU’s residential history: a case of a hall resurrected through a grassroots, alumni-driven initiative that the university subsequently supported.

According to the official history^※, on 16 January 1997—the hall’s 80th anniversary—a group of alumni gathered for dinner at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence. With over 50 attendees, this dinner marked the start of the ‘Campaign to Rebuild Morrison Hall’^※. The idea to rebuild and a fundraising committee were proposed at the dinner. HKU’s 13th Vice-Chancellor, Professor Y.C. Cheng (a 1963 BSc graduate and Morrison Hall alumnus), strongly championed the campaign, stressing the value of hall education and fellowship^※. He organised the first ‘Morrisonians’ reunion dinner that same year. A second reunion dinner, in 1998, was held in Loke Yew Hall, featuring performances, a charity sale, and an auction of M-Coats (the hall’s commemorative jackets), coordinated by alumnus P.H. Mak^※.

On the fundraising front, P.H. Mak (BA 1967) made the first pledge of HK$10 million, meeting half of the initial HK$20 million target^※. Another alumnus, Dr Dexter Hung-Cho Man (1916–2010, BSc(Eng) 1940), also pledged HK$10 million^※. Dr Man’s life story is a microcosm of HKU and Morrison Hall giving. A practising architect and builder responsible for the design and construction of over thirty high-rises in the Western District, he also ran a lantern factory and was an active racehorse owner, serving as manager of the HKU Alumni Association Jockey Club Syndicate^※. He had served as President of the HKU Alumni Association as early as 1973, chaired its International Liaison Committee from 1988 to 1992, was made an Honorary University Fellow in 1995, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Social Sciences at the 155th Congregation in 1998^※. Beyond the HK$10 million pledged in 1996 for Morrison Hall’s reconstruction, he had donated HK$20 million in a single gift to the HKU Research and Development Fund in 1995, and HK$300,000 in 1973 to help the Alumni Association acquire its premises^※. The Morrison Hall contribution was just one of his many multi-million-dollar gifts over three decades, yet it became the one for which the entire tower is named. The ‘Rebuild Morrison Hall’ project formally launched on 27 June 2001 (after a geological survey forced a last-minute relocation of the planned site from University Drive to a new plot opposite Lady Ho Tung Hall, near the Flora Ho Sports Centre, finalised in 2003). The total cost was approximately HK$100 million. A foundation stone ceremony was held on 22 February 2003, a topping-out ceremony on 12 March 2005, and the hall officially opened in August 2005^※. To sustain the hall’s traditions, the Morrison Hall Alumni Association (MHAA) was founded in 2000^※, five years before the new hall opened, pre-emptively preserving the alumni network. Dr Laurence Lee Tsun Hou, an Honorary Permanent Fellow of HKU, was a member of the 1997 Reconstruction Campaign’s coordinating committee; his support for the university spanned over half a century^※.

The new hall’s building is named ‘Dexter H C Man Tower’ in honour of the other major donor. It is one of the three residential towers composing HKU’s Jockey Club Student Village II; the other two are Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall^※. While each tower carries its donor’s name, the internal operations continue under the distinct names and histories of Morrison Hall, Lee Shau Kee Hall, and Suen Chi Sun Hall. Morrison Hall did not change its name upon moving into a new building. The continuity is one of hall identity, stretching back to 1913, not of a building’s name.

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# 6. The New Hall: 300 Beds in the Jockey Club Student Village II

The present Morrison Hall is located at 109 Pokfulam Road, within HKU’s Jockey Club Student Village II, adjacent to the Flora Ho Sports Centre. It provides 300 co-educational places, split roughly equally between undergraduates and postgraduates^※. This mixed undergraduate-postgraduate structure distinguishes it from most of HKU’s traditional, largely undergraduate halls like Ricci Hall or Lady Ho Tung Hall, reflecting a newer design emphasis on interdisciplinary residential integration.

The Jockey Club Student Village II was fully funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. A grand opening ceremony was held on 2 May 2006, officiated by the then Jockey Club Chairman, Ronald Arculli, with the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui, in attendance^※—nearly a year after residents had moved in. The entire village houses around 900 local and international students from 23 countries^※. HKU explicitly stated its aim was ‘to foster a multi-cultural environment on campus,’ enabling local and international students to learn through organising joint activities. The Jockey Club Charities Trust had previously funded the Jockey Club Student Village I, completed in 2002, and had supported over 50 HKU projects since 1957^※, placing Morrison Hall’s rebirth within that long-term partnership. In the first year of occupancy, student villagers self-organised the inaugural ‘HKU Jockey Club Student Village Walkathon,’ raising about HK$40,000 for community development services at St. James’ Settlement, intending it as an annual tradition^※. The timing of this fundraising tradition’s launch neatly echoes the eight-year alumni fundraising effort that rebuilt the hall.

Lee Shau Kee Hall and Suen Chi Sun Hall, the two other residential units in the same village, also maintain their own independent histories and student committees. The three halls share the village’s canteen, multi-purpose rooms, and outdoor spaces, but activities like orientation, sports leagues, and hall festivals are still run under each hall’s own name. Hall identity has not been diluted by the shared location.

Regarding hall facilities, the ground floor houses the ‘Lee King Fun Main Hall’—a multi-purpose space named after an alumnus, equipped with a piano and table tennis table. There is also ‘M Box,’ a hall team practice room for band instruments and rehearsals; communal pantries on each floor with a television, refrigerator, and instant water heater; and an Octopus-operated coin laundry on the 15th floor with five washing machines and four dryers^※. Most rooms are doubles, furnished with a bed, desk, bookshelf, wardrobe, and air-conditioning, with a small number of single rooms available^※. The ‘Alumni Lounge’ on the first floor displays photos and trophies from across the decades. Its official purpose is dual: a ‘history exhibition room’ and a ‘student activity space.’ On the same floor, there’s a meeting room for the hall committee—in a sense, a physical link to the old hall’s memory.

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# 7. Hall Culture and Activities

The new generation at Morrison Hall continues the old hall’s emphasis on sportsmanship and community, while developing a more diverse club ecosystem. The hall hosts a student band, sports teams, and cultural groups, alongside regular events like a ‘Hall Festival’ and film nights^※. The very presence of the Alumni Lounge is a statement of hall culture: new residents moving in can look up and see photographs and trophies of the ‘Morrisonians’ from the early 20th century. This is how the hall concretises and transmits the narrative of ‘community spirit’ to the next generation.

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# 8. Notable Alumni

The most illustrative figure on Morrison Hall’s notable alumni list is the central driver of its rebuilding. The then 13th Vice-Chancellor, Professor Y.C. Cheng (BSc 1963, Morrison Hall alumnus), was not only the initiator and coordinator of the reconstruction campaign but also a rare case in HKU history of a Vice-Chancellor who was an alumnus of the hall, personally driving its revival^※. Alumnus Mr. Stephen Hui (BSc(Eng) 1970) has served as a long-standing mentor in the Morrison Hall Mentorship Programme since 2010^※, a regularly cited example of alumni ‘giving back.’ The hall also counts among its alumni Venerable Yuen Quing (a BA graduate), who later turned to Buddhism to propagate the Dharma^※. Her path is frequently cited by the hall to demonstrate that the careers of Morrisonians are not confined to commerce or academia.

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# 9. Management

Morrison Hall is directly administered by HKU. Accommodation applications are processed centrally through CEDARS (Centre of Development and Resources for Students). Day-to-day operations are run by a Hall Association and a Hall Committee, and the hall maintains a close relationship with the Morrison Hall Alumni Association (MHAA), which remains involved in freshman orientation, the mentorship programme, and scholarship adjudication.

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# 10. Situating Morrison Hall in the HKU Hall System: A Unique Tale of Disappearance and Rebirth

When viewed within the broader context of HKU’s residential system, what makes Morrison Hall unique is not its early founding date. St. John’s Hall (1912) and University Hall (earlier) both predate Morrison Hall (1913)^※, making it only the third men’s hostel. Its uniqueness lies in it being the only HKU residence to have undergone a complete cycle of physical closure, conversion of the original site to other uses, and a distant, homonymous reconstruction years later. St. John’s College, Ricci Hall, and other church-founded halls from the same period underwent war and relocation, but were never entirely shut down. Morrison Hall truly vanished for 37 years (1968–2005), during which its original site changed hands—first as a youth centre, then demolished for a private housing estate, Wisdom Court—until alumni, through their own fundraising, revived the name ‘Morrison Hall’ kilometres away on Pokfulam Road.

This rebirth model, driven by an alumni network rather than the university itself, also gives Morrison Hall a unique place in HKU’s history of hall benefaction. Most halls, such as Ricci Hall and St. John’s College, were built in one go by their founding churches and have endured ever since. Others, like Lady Ho Tung Hall and Simon K. Y. Lee Hall, were created by a single major donor’s gift (see simon-ky-lee-hall.md). Morrison Hall, however, is one of the few cases where dozens of alumni, over eight years (1997–2005), pooled their contributions to effectively ‘buy back’ their hall’s name. This is the real-world basis for the ‘Morrisonian Spirit’ so often stressed in the hall’s narrative. It is not just a slogan; it is the actual reason this hall survives.

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