Michael David Irving Gass

Sir Michael D. I. Gass KCMG
祈濟時
23rd Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong
In office 1965–1969
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Edmund Brinsley Teesdale
Succeeded by	Sir Hugh Norman-Walker
21st High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
In office 1969–1971
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Robert Sidney Foster
Succeeded by	Sir Donald Luddington
5th Governor of the Solomon Islands
In office 1969–1973
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Robert Sidney Foster
Succeeded by	Sir Donald Luddington
Personal details
Born	24 April 1916
Died	27 February 1983 (aged 66) Somerset
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Periam Fuller Acland Hood (m. 1975)
Education	King's School, Bruton
Alma mater	Queens’ College, Cambridge
Occupation	Colonial official
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal West African Frontier Force
Years of service	1939-1945
Rank	Major
Unit	Gold Coast Regiment
Battles/wars	World War II

Sir Michael David Irving Gass, KCMG (Chinese: 祈濟時; 1916–1983) was the penultimate High Commissioner of the Western Pacific and also in his junior days Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1965 - 1969, and the acting-Governor of Hong Kong during the riots in 1967.

Education and war years

Gass was educated at King's School, Bruton, and then later obtained degrees at both Queens' College, Cambridge and Oxford University.^[1] After university he entered the Colonial Administration Service. His first appointment was to the Gold Coast in 1939. During World War II Gass entered the Army and achieved the rank of Major, he served in East Africa and Burma with the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force (1939-1945); he was twice mentioned in despatches.

Career

Confrontation between rioters and the Hong Kong Police Force during the riots in 1967

After the war he returned to the Service, spending three years in Ashanti and two in Ghana before being posted in 1958 to the West Pacific High Commission as Chief Secretary.

From then until his retirement in 1973 he remained in the Far East, notably in Hong Kong where he was Colonial Secretary and Acting Governor intermittently between 1965-1969. In the colonial secretary's tenure, he and Ronald Holmes and Jack Cater and other government officials had to deal with riots in 1967 against British colonial rule. During the disorder, Governor Sir David Trench happened to be absent from Hong Kong and all of a sudden there was no one fully in command of the government. As a result, Gass became acting-Governor, and therefore it was Holmes and Gass who were in charge in the crisis. During the riots, he took a tough stance against the activists, in order to effectively control the situation, but has also become one of the main targets of attack leftist camp vocal opposition.

He became High Commissioner for the Western Pacific in 1969.^[2]

When he returned to England, Gass served as a Member of Somerset County Council (1977-1981).

Personal life

He became a Knight Commander of Order of St Michael and St George in the 1969 New Year Honours List.

He married Elizabeth Periam Fuller Acland Hood in 1975. They had no children.

References

1. "Eminent Alumni". Queens' College, Cambridge. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
2. Sir Michael Gass. The Times (London, England), Wednesday, Mar 02, 1983; pg. 14