Robert Shewan

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = R. Shewan.png

| imagesize = 180px

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Robert Gordon Shewan

| honorific-suffix =

| office1 = Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong

| term_start1 = 23 June 1902

| term_end1 = 7 December 1905

| predecessor1 = T. H. Whitehead

| successor1 = E. A. Hewett

| appointed1 = Sir Henry Arthur Blake

| term_start2 = 25 May 1917

| term_end2 = 27 December 1917

| predecessor2 = Edward Shellim

| successor2 =

| appointed2 = Sir Francis Henry May

| term_start3 = 1 January 1919

| term_end3 = 23 December 1919

| predecessor3 = Edward Shellim

| successor3 = S. H. Dodwell

| office4 = Chairman of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation

| term_start4 = February 1902

| term_end4 = February 1903

| predecessor4 = James Johnstone Keswick

| successor4 = A. J. Raymond

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1859|11|13}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1934|2|14|1859|11|13}}

| death_place = British Hong Kong

| party =

| occupation = Businessman

| alma_mater =

| resting_place = Hong Kong Cemetery

| spouse = Dorothy "Dolly"

}}

Robert Gordon Shewan (13 November 1859 – 14 February 1934) was a Scottish businessman in Hong Kong.

Early life

Robert and his twin brother William were born in London on 13 November 1859. They were sons of Andrew Shewan (1820–1873), a master mariner, and Jane (née Thomson) Shewan (1822–1886).{{cite book |last1=England |first1=Vaudine |title=The Quest of Noel Croucher: Hong Kong's Quiet Philanthropist |date=1998 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=9789622094734 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nw1bTZV4BaAC&pg=PA44 |accessdate=12 August 2019 |language=en}}

Career

Shewan arrived in Hong Kong in 1881, in the employ of Russell & Company, which was then one of the largest mercantile companies in the Far East. He and Charles Alexander Tomes, who was a grandson of merchant David Hadden, acquired the infrastructure of that firm subsequent to its dissolution in 1891, and consequently created Shewan, Tomes & Co. in 1895.{{cite news|title=Making Impressions: The adaptation of a Portuguese family to Hong Kong, 1700-1950|last=Braga|first=Stuart|page=34|date=October 2012|url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/10180/7/07Appendices1,17_Braga.pdf}} The new company formed the Green Island Cement Company and the China Light and Power Company, which generated electricity for Kowloon. He was subsequently dismissed from the latter by its principal shareholder, the Kadoorie family. Shewan was also the director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and of many other local companies.{{cite book|title=Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China|editor1-last=Wright|editor1-first=Arnold|page=173|publisher=Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub. Co|location=London|year=1908}}

In 1902, Shewan was elected as the representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Legislative Council.{{London Gazette |issue=27497 |date=21 November 1902 |page=7533}} He also served as Consul for Chile at Hong Kong. Shewan was unsympathetic to the Canton-Hong Kong strike in 1925: he told the Daily Press that employers should punish those of their Chinese labourers who went on strike. He also posted a notice to his office clerks that stated that those who left and did not return by the next morning would be permanently dismissed.{{cite news|title=No Weakness.|newspaper=Hong Kong Daily Press|date=24 July 1925|page=3}}

Personal life

Shewan was married to Dorothy "Dolly" Kate Lucas (d. 1961), who was a daughter of William Lucas and former wife of James Marke Wood.

Shewan died on 14 February 1934. He was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.{{cite web |title=Robert Gordon Shewan – CLP, Green Island Cement and HK Rope Manufacturing – The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group |url=https://industrialhistoryhk.org/robert-gordon-shewan-clp-green-island-cement-rope-manufacturing/ |website=industrialhistoryhk.org |publisher=The Industrical History of Hong Kong Group |accessdate=12 August 2019}}