{{Short description|British merchant (1860–1915)}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder |image = E.A. Hewett.png |image_size = 180px |alt = |honorific_prefix = |name = Edbert Ansgar Hewett |honorific_suffix = [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]] |office = Unofficial Member of the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong]] |term_start = 1 June 1906 |term_end = 24 November 1915 |successor = [[Ernest Hamilton Sharp|E. H. Sharp]] |predecessor = [[Charles Wedderburn Dickson|C. W. Dickson]] |appointer = Sir [[Matthew Nathan]]<br>Sir [[Frederick Lugard]] |office1 = Unofficial Member of the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] |term_start1 = 17 May 1906 |term_end1 = 28 October 1915 |predecessor1 = [[Robert Gordon Shewan|R. G. Shewan]] |successor1 = [[Percy Hobson Holyoak|P. H. Holyoak]] |appointer1 = Sir [[Matthew Nathan]] |office2 = Chairman of the [[Shanghai Municipal Council]] |term_start2 = January 1900 |term_end2 = 25 January 1901 |predecessor2 = [[Frederick Anderson (businessman)|Frederick Anderson]] |successor2 = [[John Prentice (businessman)|John Prentice]] |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1860|9|5}} |birth_place = England |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1915|11|24|1860|9|5}} |death_place = [[British Hong Kong]] |party = |occupation = Businessman |alma_mater = |resting_place = [[Hong Kong Cemetery|Protestant cemetery]] |spouse = Ruth Jeannette, ''née'' McKendrick |signature = |footnotes = }}
'''Edbert Ansgar Hewett''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|CMG|FRGS}} (5 September 1860 – 24 November 1915) was a prominent British merchant in [[Hong Kong]] and [[China]] and member of the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong|Executive Council]] and [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong]].
==Family and early life== Hewett was born on 5 September 1860, second son of the Sir George John Routledge Hewett, 3rd Baronet., descent of [[Sir George Hewett, 1st Baronet]], and Clara von Pochammer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p31142.htm#i311417|publisher=The Peerage|title=Edbert Ansgar Hewett}}</ref> On 2 February 1893 he married Ruth Jeannette McKendrick, daughter of Quentin K. McKendrick of New York.
He was educated mainly by private tutors. At the age of seventeen he joined the [[Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company]] at their head office in London. He arrived in Hong Kong in 1880 and acted as agent for the company in Shanghai for seven-year, in Yokohama for two years, and in Kobe for six months.<ref name="Daily Press">{{cite news|newspaper=Hong Kong Daily Press|date=25 November 1915|page=3|title=Death of Hon. Mr. E. A. Hewett, C.M.G.}}</ref> He became the Superintendent of P&O Co. Hong Kong branch,<ref>{{cite book|title=Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China|editor1-first=Arnold|editor1-last=Wright|year=1908|publisher=Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub. Co|location=London}}</ref> responsible for the whole traffic in the Far East from Yokohama to Penang.
==Shanghai== Hewett was the member of the [[Shanghai Municipal Council]] from 1897 to 1901 and served as chairman in 1900 to 1901. During the [[Boxer Rebellion]] he was active in preparations for the defence of the Settlement when the naval fleet sailed to Peking leaving about 12,000 white population and nearly half a million Chinese under his charge. As civil commandant of the volunteers he enrolled all able-bodied men and had a force of nearly 1,200 whites under arms. He also organised the first company of Japanese volunteers that had ever been raised outside Japan. The highest encomiums were passed upon him by both the naval and military authorities.<ref name="Daily Press"/>
He took great interest of conservancy of the [[Huangpu River]] throughout his residence in Shanghai. He was on the committee of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce and represented the chamber at Peking in 1901 to urge for the Shanghai river conservancy as dealt with in [[Boxer Protocol|Peace Protocol]] after the Boxer Rebellion.<ref name="late">{{cite news|title=THE LATE Mr E. A. HEWETT.|newspaper=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser|date=25 November 1915|page=5}}</ref> A special committee consisting of the English, German, American, French and Dutch ministers was formed as a result and adopted Hewett's proposals as the chamber's representative which were embodied in the protocol.<ref name="Daily Press"/>
==Hong Kong== Hewett moved to Hong Kong and was elected vice-chairman of the [[Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce]] shortly afterward in 1902. He was the longest serving chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce from 1903 to 1915. Hewett represented the Chamber of Commerce in the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] from 26 April 1906 and later was appointed to the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong|Executive Council]] on 1 June 1906. He was also an unofficial member of the [[Urban Council, Hong Kong|Sanitary Board]] from 1903 and member of the Medical Board and the Licensing Board until his death in 1915. He was the chairman of the commission from May 1906 to March 1907 to inquire into administration of Sanitary and Building Regulations, enacted by the Public Health and Building Ordinance of 1903,<ref name="late"/> which report in March uncovered widespread corruption among officials.<ref>{{cite book|title=Lugard in Hong Kong: Empires, Education and a Governor at Work|page=197|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|first=Bernard|last=Mellor}}</ref>
He was also on the governing board of the [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|Queen's College]] and committee of the [[Diocesan Boys' School]].<ref name="late"/>
For his services to Hong Kong he received the [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]] in 1912.<ref name="Daily Press"/>
He died suddenly at 12:40 pm on 24 November 1915 of [[malaria]] at the age of 55 at the Government Civil Hospital. He was buried at the [[Hong Kong Cemetery|Protestant cemetery]] at [[Happy Valley, Hong Kong|Happy Valley]]. All flags in the colony were at half-mast throughout the day.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Late Mr. E.A. Hewett.|newspaper=[[The Straits Times]]|date=8 December 1915|page=13|url=http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19151208-1.2.91.aspx|access-date=22 November 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203003249/http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19151208-1.2.91.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Honours== He received the [[China War Medal (1900)|English Medal for China]], [[Order of the Sacred Treasure|4th Class Sacred Treasure of Japan]], [[Iron Crown of Austria]] and decorated as a [[Order of Orange-Nassau|Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau of the Netherlands]] for his services in Shanghai.
* [[Justice of Peace]] * [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]] (CMG) * [[China War Medal (1900)|English Medal for China 1900]] * [[Iron Crown of Austria]] (3rd Class) – 1902 – ''in recognition of services rendered during the [[Boxer Rebellion|recent Military Operations in China]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27494 |date=11 November 1902 |page=7166 }}</ref> * [[Order of Orange-Nassau|Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau]] * [[Order of the Sacred Treasure|Imperial Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure]] (4th Class) – 1902 – ''in recognition of valuable services ... during the [[Boxer Rebellion|disturbances in China in the year 1900]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27500 |date=2 December 1902 |page=8366 }}</ref> * Fellow of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] (F.R.G.S.)
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef | before = [[Frederick Anderson (businessman)|Frederick Anderson]]}} {{s-ttl | title = Chairman of the [[Shanghai Municipal Council]] | years = 1900–1901}} {{s-aft | after = [[John Prentice (businessman)|John Prentice]]}} {{s-bef | before = [[Charles Wedderburn Dickson]]}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Unofficial Member]] of the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong]] | years = 1906–1915}} {{s-aft | after = [[Ernest Hamilton Sharp]]}} {{s-par|hk}} {{s-bef | before = [[Robert Gordon Shewan]]}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Unofficial Member]]|district = [[Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce]] | years = 1906–1915}} {{s-aft | after = [[Percy Hobson Holyoak]]}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewett, Edbert Ansgar}} [[Category:1860 births]] [[Category:1915 deaths]] [[Category:British businesspeople in shipping]] [[Category:Hong Kong businesspeople in shipping]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th class]] [[Category:Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau]] [[Category:British expatriates in British Hong Kong]] [[Category:British expatriates in China]] [[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong]] [[Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] [[Category:Members of the Sanitary Board of Hong Kong]] [[Category:P&O]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]] [[Category:Chairmen of the Shanghai Municipal Council]] [[Category:19th-century British businesspeople]]