| City of Victoria | |
| Native Name: | 維多利亞市 |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-hk |
| Other Name: | Victoria |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Hong Kong |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hong Kong |
| Subdivision Type: | Statutorily-defined area |
| Subdivision Name: | Hong Kong |
| Established Title: | Founded as a town |
| Founder: | British Hong Kong, Charles Elliot |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Elevation M: | 552 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | (HKT) |
| Established Title1: | Incorporated as a city |
| Established Date1: | [1] |
The City of Victoria,[2] ([3] or)[4] often called Victoria City or simply Victoria, was the de facto capital of Hong Kong during its time as a British dependent territory.[5] It was initially named Queenstown but was soon known as Victoria.[6] It was one of the first urban settlements in Hong Kong and its boundaries are recorded in the Laws of Hong Kong.[7] All government bureaux and many key departments still have their head offices located within its limit.
Present-day Central is at the heart of Victoria City. Although the city expanded over much of what is now Kennedy Town, Shek Tong Tsui, Lung Fu Shan, Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai, Happy Valley, the Mid-Levels, East Point and parts of Causeway Bay,[8] the name Victoria has been eclipsed by Central in popular usage.[9] However, the name is still used in places such as Victoria Park, Victoria Peak, Victoria Harbour, Victoria Prison, and a number of roads and streets. It is also retained in the names of various organisations such as the Victoria City District of the Hong Kong Scout,[10] and the Victoria Junior Chamber.[11] The name Victoria District Court had been used into the 1980s,[12] [13] [14] [15] when it was moved to the Wanchai Tower and combined with other district courts in the territory.
"City of Victoria" had appeared on the statute books early in the 1845,[16] although names such as "Town of Victoria" can be found as well.[17] Letters patent that formally confers the city status and creates the City of Victoria was made on 11 May 1849.
In 1857, the British government expanded the scope of Victoria City and divided it into four wans :
"Sai Wan", "Sheung Wan" and "Choong Wan" retain the same Chinese name today. The four wans are further divided into nine yeuks (similar to 'district' or 'neighbourhood'). The coverage also included parts of East Point and Happy Valley (west of Wong Nai Chung Road on the east side of the racecourse). In 1903, boundary stones were established to mark the city's boundary and six of them are still preserved today. The stones spread from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town.[18]
In the 1890s, Victoria extended four miles west to east along the coastal strip. Buildings were made of granite and brick. Buses and the new tramway would become the main form of transportation in the area.[19]
The city is centred in present-day Central, and named after Queen Victoria in 1843. It occupies the areas known in modern times as Central, Admiralty, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai, East Point, Shek Tong Tsui, the Mid-levels, the Peak, Happy Valley, Tin Hau, and Kennedy Town, on Hong Kong Island.
The city boundaries are defined in the laws of Hong Kong as follows:
According to the 1845 map of Victoria City, 16 streets were initially named for the city. These streets exist mainly in the areas of Central and the Mid-Levels, with two being in Sheung Wan. These street names were finalised by the second Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Francis Davis. All 16 streets were named after persons of great prominence in Great Britain or in Hong Kong, with the location and layout determined according to the position and prominence of the person being named after:
In 1903, the Hong Kong Government erected several boundary stones to mark the limits of Victoria, measuring 98 cm in height, tapered at the top and with the inscription "City Boundary 1903". As the city’s boundaries were clearly defined by ordinance, these stones were more just physical markers.[20]
Three additional boundary stones were found in 2021,[21] adding the total of discovered stones to 10, including the one disappeared in June 2007.[22]
| 1 | Sai Ning Street | Kennedy Town | Re-erected into Kennedy Town Temporary Playground a few metres away from original location in 1970s[23] | ||
| 2 | Slope of Mount Davis, south of Victoria Road | Mount Davis | Discovered on 12 December 2021 | ||
| 3 | Pokfulam Road, near Smithfield | Sandy Bay Gap | |||
| 4 | Slope of Lung Fu Shan, near Hatton Road | Lung Fu Shan | Discovered on 5 December 2021[24] | ||
| 5 | Hatton Road, near Kotewall Road | ||||
| 6 | Old Peak Road, near Tregunter Path | Mid-Levels | |||
| 7 | Magazine Gap Road | Removed in June 2007, whereabouts unknown[25] | |||
| 8 | Bowen Road, near Stubbs Road | ||||
| 9 | Slope near Rosaryhill School, Stubbs Road | Discovered on 12 December 2021 | |||
| 10 | Wong Nai Chung Road | Happy Valley |
In 1866 the nine districts, also called yeuks, are:[26]
Other places that might be considered as yeuks include:
On 21 May 1982, Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose was made a life peer, weeks after the end of his governorship in Hong Kong. His peerage was announced on 31 December 1981 in the 1982 New Years Honours. He was therefore styled as Baron MacLehose of Beoch, of Maybole in the District of Kyle and Carrick, and of Victoria in Hong Kong. The Barony went extinct on 27 May 2000 when MacLehose passed away. [27] [28]