Kenneth Albert Watson

Kenneth Albert Watson
Watson in 1962
Born(1912-07-30)July 30, 1912
DiedMay 3, 1999(1999-05-03) (aged 86)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forUnofficial member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong

Kenneth Albert Watson, OBE, JP (30 July 1912 – 3 May 1999) was a British businessman in Hong Kong. He was an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

Early years

Watson was born in Singapore in July 1912. In the 1930s and 1940s on the eve of Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, he served in the Hong Kong Naval Volunteer Force.[1]

Career

Watson became a businessman and the owner of Lammert Brothers Auctioneers Ltd. (which operated out of the Pedder Building in Central post-World War Two).[2] From 1964 to 1970, Watson was an unofficial member of the Legislative Council.

He provoked the public on the issue of raising telephone fees in 1964 by saying that telephone service in Hong Kong was one of the cheapest in the world. Watson was a director of the Hong Kong Telephone Company with two Legislative Council members Kan Yuet-keung and Kwan Cho-yiu who also served at the Hong Kong Telephone.[3]

From July to September 1968, he was provisionally appointed to the Executive Council during the absence of J. A. Saunders.[4]

Recognition and death

In 1964, he was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his public services in Hong Kong.[5] He died in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England in May 1999 at the age of 86.[6]

References

  1. ^ "The Hong Kong Government Gazette No.63" (PDF). Hong Kong Government Gazette: 61. 17 January 1941.
  2. ^ Ap, Tiffany (8 July 2013). "Hong Kong's middle market goes under the hammer". SCMP.
  3. ^ Irwin, Lewis G. (2003). The Policy Analyst's Handbook: Rational Problem Solving in a Political World. M.E. Sharpe. p. 111.
  4. ^ H.M. Stationery Office (1968). Hong Kong Annual Report. p. 355.
  5. ^ "No. 43200". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1964. p. 24.
  6. ^ Ancestry: Kenneth Albert Watson