J.J. Paterson
John Johnstone Paterson, was a British and Hong Kong businessman.
Biography
Paterson came from a family closely associated with Jardine Matheson. His father, William Paterson, had been a partner of Jardine Matheson from 1875 to 1887. Patterson Street in Causeway Bay is named after the Paterson family.
Born in Dumfries, Scotland, he was educated at Marlborough College in Wiltshire. He served in the First World War and later developed his career in Hong Kong. Apart from becoming the taipan of Jardine Matheson, he also served as chairman of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company.
He was the taipan of Jardine Matheson from 1921 to 1945, and served as an unofficial member of both the Legislative and Executive Councils of Hong Kong before the Second World War.
Paterson was appointed as an unofficial Justice of the Peace on 9 May 1930. He served as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council from June 1930 until December 1941 and as an unofficial member of the Executive Council from April 1936 to April 1946. During the Battle of Hong Kong, he commanded the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps unit "Hughesiliers", which was responsible for guarding the North Point Power Station.[1][2]
He was captured by the Japanese on 19 December 1941 and interned in Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. After the Japanese surrender in 1945 and the British resumption of control over Hong Kong, he was released. Paterson and fellow Jardine taipan D. L. Newbigging worked to restore business in the colony. He retired shortly after the restoration of civilian government in 1946 and moved to Kenya with his American wife.
He died in Nairobi in 1971 at the age of 84.
See also
- Patterson Street
- William Paterson
- John Jardine Paterson
References
- Marlborough College Register from 1843 to 1904 Inclusive: With Alphabetical Index. H. Hart, printer, 1905.
- "No. 1434", The Kenya Gazette. Nairobi: The Government Printer, 4 June 1971. Online version
- Hahn, Emily, China to Me. E-Rights/E-Reads Ltd, 1999. Online version
- Harris, John R., Lindsay, Oliver, The Battle for Hong Kong 1941-1945: Hostage to Fortune. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005. Online version
- Keswick, Maggie, and Weatherall, Clara, The Thistle and the Jade: A Celebration of 175 Years of Jardine Matheson. Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2008. Online version
- "Nanyuki Branch", East African Women's League, retrieved on 25 November 2012. Website