{{Short description|British Hong Kong businessman, civil servant and legislator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Robert Kotewall | image = Robert Kotewall.png | caption = Robert Kotewall | alt = Head-and-shoulders portrait of a Eurasian gentleman in a suit | birth_name = Robert Hormus Kotewall | birth_date = {{birth year|1880}} | birth_place = | death_date = 23 May {{death year and age|1949|1880}} | death_place = [[British Hong Kong]] | occupation = Businessman | spouse = Edith Kotewall (nee Lowcock) |office=[[Senior Unofficial Member]] of the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong|Executive Council]] |term=1946 |governor=[[Cecil Harcourt]] |appointer= |predecessor=[[John Johnstone Paterson]] |successor=[[Arthur Morse]] }} {{Infobox Chinese |order= |showflag= |t=羅旭龢 |j=Lo<sup>4</sup>, Juk<sup>1</sup>wo<sup>4</sup> |y=Lòh, Yūk-wòh }} '''Sir Robert Hormus Kotewall''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CMG}} ({{zh|t_hk=羅旭龢}}; 1880–1949) was a [[British Hong Kong]] businessman, civil servant and [[legislator]].
== Early life == Kotewall was born in 1880. He was the son of Hormusjee Rustomjee Kotewall, an [[Parsees|Indian Parsi]], and Cheung A-cheung.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26572397 | jstor=26572397 | title=Hong Kong's Eurasian "Web" Viewed through the Lens of Inter-Asian Studies | last1=Teng | first1=Emma | journal=The Journal of Asian Studies | year=2017 | volume=76 | issue=4 | pages=943–951 | doi=10.1017/S0021911817000948 | s2cid=165172420 | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thechinastory.org/ritp/r-h-kotewall-lo-kuk-wu-%E7%BE%85%E6%97%AD%E9%BE%A2/ |title=R. H. Kotewall (Lo Kuk-wu) |publisher=thechinastory.org |accessdate=19 June 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810072500/https://www.thechinastory.org/ritp/r-h-kotewall-lo-kuk-wu-%E7%BE%85%E6%97%AD%E9%BE%A2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> He obtained his early education at the [[Diocesan Boys' School|Diocesan Boys School]] and [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|Queen's College]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Prominent Chinese in Hong Kong (1937) |date=16 April 2019 |publisher=Sunyata |isbn=9789888582655}}</ref>
== Career == In 1913, Kotewall was named Clerk to the Magistracy and JP. By 1919, he was in trade as the manager of the Hong Kong Mercantile Company. In 1923, he was invited to join the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] as an unofficial member, a position he held until 1935. In 1936, he joined the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong|Executive Council]].
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Kotewall served as the chairman of the Japanese military government's Chinese Representative Council and assisted the Japanese Army in governing Hong Kong. After Sir Mark Young was restored as the governor of Hong Kong, Kotewall submitted a 66-page report explaining the causes and consequences of his actions as a Chinese representative during the Japanese occupation period, but it was not accepted by the British government. Although he was not prosecuted for treason, he was still blacklisted by the Hong Kong government and for the rest of his life would never again be appointed to official positions. At the same time, he was also listed as one of the traitors sought by the Guangdong government of the Republic of China, so he rarely subsequently participated in public life. Kotewall died in 1949.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hahn |first=Emily |title=China to Me |publisher=Open Road Media |year=1944}}</ref>
He was decorated the insignia C.M.G by [[George V|King George V]] in 1927.
== Personal life == Kotewall's wife was Edith (nee Lowcock) Kotewall (b. 1889). She was the daughter of George Lowcock and granddaughter of [[Henry Lowcock]], an English businessman in Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://webb-database.com/dbpub/natperson.asp?p=68246 |title=Kotewall, Edith |publisher=webb-database.com |accessdate=7 May 2026}}</ref> They had 11 children. His great-grandson is actor [[Max Minghella]]. His great-granddaughter is former Olympic swimmer [[Robyn Lamsam|Robyn Lamsam Convery]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.doga.org.hk/index.php/doga-news/conversations/old-girls-profiles/112-interviews/old-girls-profiles/136-the-fentons|title = The Fentons}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.doga.hk/index.php/112-interviews/old-girls-profiles/144-mrs-cicely-kotewall-zimmern|title = MRS Cicely Kotewall Zimmern}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://webb-database.com/dbpub/natperson.asp?p=32448|title = Webb-site Who's Who: Kotewall Fenton, Patricia}}</ref> and his grandson is cricketer [[Roy Lamsam]].
=== Legacy === [[Kotewall Road]], in [[Mid-Levels]], [[Hong Kong Island]],{{cn|date=September 2021}} and Sir Robert Kotewall Hall in the campus of [[St Paul's Co-educational College]], are named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mingpaocanada.com/van/htm/News/20150921/HK-gma1h_r.htm|title=「聖保羅男女」百歲 傳承義教路 一場戰爭 成全港首間男女校}}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery> Northcote Executive Council.jpg | Robert Kotewall (2nd right) as part of the administration of [[Geoffry Northcote]] (centre) Robert_Kotewall_2.png | A portrait of Robert Kotewall on a newspaper in 1947 HKPL CWB 2 Sir Robert Kotewall.jpg | Statue of Robert Kotewall in [[Hong Kong Central Library]] </gallery>
== See also == * [[St. Paul's Co-educational College]] *[[Kotwal]], an Indian title
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.thechinastory.org/ritp/r-h-kotewall-lo-kuk-wu-%E7%BE%85%E6%97%AD%E9%BE%A2/ R. H. Kotewall (Lo Kuk-wu) 羅旭龢] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810072500/https://www.thechinastory.org/ritp/r-h-kotewall-lo-kuk-wu-%E7%BE%85%E6%97%AD%E9%BE%A2/ |date=10 August 2018 }} from ''Biographies of Prominent Chinese'' c.1925.
{{Commons category|Robert Kotewall}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|hk}} {{s-bef | before = [[Ng Hon-tsz]]}} {{s-ttl | title = Chinese [[Unofficial Member]] | years = 1923–1935}} {{s-aft | after = [[Lo Man-kam]]}} {{s-bef | before = [[Chow Shou-son]]}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Senior Chinese Unofficial Member]] | years = 1923–1935}} {{s-aft | after = [[Ts'o Seen-wan]]}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef | before = [[Chow Shou-son]]}} {{s-ttl | title = Chinese Unofficial Member of the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong]] | years = 1936–1941}} {{s-non | reason = [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotewall, Robert}} [[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong]] [[Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] [[Category:1880 births]] [[Category:1949 deaths]] [[Category:British collaborators with the Empire of Japan]] [[Category:Hong Kong collaborators with the Empire of Japan]] [[Category:Hong Kong people of Indian descent]] [[Category:Hong Kong people of Parsi descent]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:People from British Hong Kong]] [[Category:People educated at Diocesan Boys' School]]