Preceded by Edward Shellim Preceded by T. H. Whitehead Preceded by Edward Shellim | Succeeded by E. A. Hewett Name Robert Shewan | |
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Appointed by Sir Henry Arthur Blake Appointed by Sir Francis Henry May | ||
Robert Gordon Shewan (13 November 1859 – 14 February 1934) was a Scottish businessman in Hong Kong.
Biography
Shewan was born in London on 13 November 1859, son of Andrew Shewan, master mariner, and Jane Thomson. He arrived in Hong Kong in 1881 in connection with the American trading house Russell & Co., then one of the largest mercantile firms in the East and subsequently took over the business of the house with an Englishman Charles Alexander Tomes in that firm and changed its name to Shewan, Tomes & Co. in 1895.
With the trading house of Shewan Tomes he formed the Green Island Cement Company and the China Light and Power Company, which generated electricity for Kowloon. He was later on oust by the principal shareholder of the electricity company, Kadoorie family. He was also the director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and of many other local companies.
In 1902 Shewan was elected as the representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Legislative Council.
Shewan took a hard line during the Canton-Hong Kong strike in 1925 as he told the Daily Press the employers should punish their Chinese labourers who went on strike. He also said he had posted a notice to his office boys and clerks who went out stating that if they did not return by the next morning they never need to come back at all.
He died on 14 February 1934 and was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.