Philip Stanley Cassidy Explained

Philip Stanley Cassidy
Honorific-Suffix:CBE, JP
Office:Unofficial Member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
Term Start:July 1951
Term End:April 1952
Appointed:Sir Alexander Grantham
Office1:Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Term Start1:25 August 1948
Term End1:30 April 1952
Predecessor1:C. C. Roberts
Successor1:Cedric Blaker
Appointed1:Sir Alexander Grantham
Birth Date:30 March 1889
Birth Place:Ilford, Essex, England
Death Place:Midhurst, Sussex, England
Occupation:Businessman
Children:Richard Ross Forbes

Philip Stanley Cassidy (30 March 1889 – 14 May 1971) was a British and Hong Kong entrepreneur. He was taipan of the John D. Hutchison & Co. and unofficial member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

Biography

Cassidy first came to Hong Kong in 1913 and worked for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation before he was invited into partnership of the John D. Hutchison & Co., an import and export company, with his brother-in-law T. E. Pearce in 1922. They set up a branch office in Canton in 1929 which ceased to operate in 1941.[1] Cassidy became the taipan of the John D. Hutchison & Co. after Pearce was killed in the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941.

He was member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and was its chairman from 1948 to 1950 and again from 1951 to 1952. He was elected by the chamber of commerce to serve on the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 1948 and served on the Executive Council of Hong Kong from 1951 to 1952.[2]

He was also member of the Committee of the Diocesan Boys' School from 1922, director of the European Y.M.C.A., member of the Court of the University of Hong Kong from 1929, and officer of the St. John's Cathedral.[2] He was also a co-founder of Cheero Club established in 1935 to provide facilities for the entertainment and recreation of British forces in Hong Kong.

He announced his retirement from public service in 1952 and returned to London.[2] He became chairman of the Hong Kong House and was awarded Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood in 1959.

Cassidy married Margaret Johnson Rodger, daughter of A. Rodger of the China Sugar Refinery on 15 January 1919 at the Union Church.[3] They had a son named Richard Ross Forbes Cassidy, an architect in Scotland.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Braga, José Maria. Hong Kong Business Symposium: A Compilation of Authoritative Views on the Administration, Commerce, and Resources of Britain's Far Eastern Outpost. South China Morning Post, Limited. 1957. 450.
  2. Book: Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Report for the Year 1952. Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
  3. News: WEDDING AT THE UNION CHURCH. Hong Kong Daily Press. 2. 16 January 1919.
  4. Book: 40. RIAS Quarterly. 16. 2013. 2016-02-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20150401233248/http://www.rias.org.uk/files/2014/224/A0C50C59-F139-7E51-C63F-D2D8E20F7C1D.pdf. 2015-04-01. dead.