Henry Keswick (politician) explained

Henry Keswick
Office:Member of Parliament
for Epsom
Term Start:1912
Term End:1918
Preceded:William Keswick
Succeeded:Rowland Blades
Office1:Provisional Unofficial Member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
Term Start1:10 March 1908
Term End1:9 May 1908
Preceded1:Edbert Ansgar Hewett
Succeeded1:Henry Spencer Berkeley
Term Start2:5 May 1910
Term End2:1910
Preceded2:Catchick Paul Chater
Succeeded2:Catchick Paul Chater
Office3:Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Term Start3:23 May 1907
Term End3:20 April 1911
Predecessor3:William Jardine Gresson
Succeeded3:Charles Henderson Ross
Office4:Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council
Term Start4:August 1906
Term End4:May 1907
Predecessor4:Cecil Holliday
Successor4:David Landale
Office5:Chairman of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation
Term Start5:February 1908
Term End5:February 1909
Predecessor5:G. H. Medhurst
Succeeded5:William Jardine Gresson
Birth Date:1870
Birth Place:Shanghai, China
Death Date: (aged 57 or 58)
Death Place:London, England
Nationality:British
Spouse:Ida Wynifred Johnston
Party:Conservative
Parents:William Keswick
Amelia Sophie Dubeux

Henry Keswick (1870 – 29 November 1928) was a British Conservative politician and businessman and member of the Executive Council and Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

Biography

Henry Keswick the first-born and only surviving son of William Keswick by his first wife Amelia Sophie Dubeux (d. 1883), born in 1870 in Shanghai, into the Keswick business dynasty.[1] He was educated at Eton College and graduated with a B.A. at the Trinity College, Cambridge in 1892, of which he took his M.A. degree later. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers on 25 February 1893.[2] The battalion was embodied after the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, and he left Queenstown for South Africa on the with other men of the battalion in March 1900.[3] He saw active service and was promoted to a captain. After the war had ended, he resigned his commission on 2 August 1902. He rejoined the battalion during the First World War in which he commanded until its disbandment.[4] He was also a member of the Royal Company of Archers, a ceremonial unit that serves as the sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland.

He joined the family business and spent two years in the New York office of Jardines before he arrived in Hong Kong in 1895, the year before his Uncle James Johnstone Keswick left and became the taipan of the Jardine. During his time in the Far East, he went to Shanghai and became the chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council from 24 August 1906 and served until May 1907. He was also chairman of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce.[4]

He was appointed as Unofficial Member of the Legislative and Executive Councils during his time in Hong Kong. He was also vice-chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company as well as other numerous public companies. After he returned to England, he became the first chairman of the Far Eastern Section of the London Chamber of Commerce and member of the London Committee of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.[4]

He returned to England in 1911 to represent Hong Kong at the coronation of King George V. He was still in England when his father died and succeeded him as the member of Parliament for the Conservative and Unionist in at the Epsom by-election in 1912, and held the seat until 1918. He was also member of the county council of Dumfriesshire, where he spent most of his latter life.

In 1922, he returned to Hong Kong and the Far East in his yacht "Cutty Sark". He remained a director of Jardines until his death on 29 November 1928 in London.

Family

He married Ida Wynifred Johnston (born c.1880) in 1900 and had three children:[5]

  1. David Johnston (1902 Yokohama – 1976); married Nony or Nonie Barbara Pease, and had children, including Amelia Sophia or Sophy Keswick whose children include: Percy Weatherall (b. 1957), Mrs Catherine Soames and Isobel, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne and another son.
  2. Sir William Johnston "Tony" Keswick (1903 Yokohama – 16 February 1990, London), a Taipan of Jardine Matheson 1934–1941; married Mary Etheldreda Lindley, and had 3 sons: Henry Keswick (knighted 2009 Birthday Honours), Sir Chips Keswick, and Simon Keswick. His eldest and youngest sons were Tai-Pans. Two of his grandsons are based in Hong Kong, working for Jardine Matheson, one of whom, Ben Keswick, is the present Tai-pan in Hong Kong.
  3. Sir John Henry Keswick KCMG (1906 Dumfriesshire – 1982, Dumfriesshire) KCMG 1972, Tai-Pan of Jardine Matheson 1941–1953; married 1940 Clare Mary Alice Elwes (1906–1998), and had children the gardening author Maggie Keswick Jencks (1941–1995). Father and daughter founded the Keswick Foundation, and Maggie Jencks established Maggie's Centres to help cancer victims, before her own death. Maggie was married to landscape architect Charles Jencks, and left children.

Notes and References

  1. http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/Keswicks.html The Keswick Tai-Pans
  2. Hart′s Army list, 1901
  3. The War in South Africa - Embarcation of Troops. 12 March 1900 . 7 . 36087.
  4. News: Hong Kong Telegraph. Major H. Keswick. 3 December 1928. 2.
  5. Web site: The Keswick Tai-pans. Epsom and Ewell History Explorer. 6 December 2013.