Shelley, Adolphus Edward 謝利

Updated October 21, 2016

b.3/2/1821, Sussex - d.5/25/1854. India (unk.-1844). Hong Kong (1844-1847). Mauritius (1847, Assistant Auditor-General of Accounts).

HONG KONG

1844	arrived from India
1844	Clerk of the Councils
1844	Hindustani Interpreter to the Supreme Court (occasional)
1844-1846	Auditor General 查數官

3rd s/o John Shelley, 6th Baronet Shelley, and Frances Whinckley.
B/o John-Villiers Shelley (b.1808), Frederick Shelley (b.1809), Spencer Shelley, Fanny-Lucy Shelley, and Cecilia-Victoria Shelley.
m. (4/23/1836) Amelie Hinchliffe, d/o Henry John Hinchliffe.
F/o Katherine Cecilia Shelley (d.9/5/1902; m. James Bontein (b.1821-d.1884), Gentleman Usher and Clerk of the Robes to Queen Victoria), Arthur John Shelley (b.1/26/1837-d.9/7/1880), Harry Byam Shelley (b.11/14/1838-d.5/14/1865), Montagu Adolphus Shelley (b.2/11/1842).

• Honor: naming of Shelley Street 些利街


• Shelley was born into the famous Shelley family in Sussex, as the second son of John Shelley - 6th Baronet Shelley. Young man A.E. Shelley was extravagant in lifestyle and had already expended a good portion of the family fortune, so much so that his father simply wanted to send him away and not having to worry supporting him anymore. John Shelley was acquainted with Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby who was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and managed to obtain a general introduction letter from Stanley for the young Shelley to meet John Francis Davis, the 2nd Hong Kong governor. Shelley somehow misled Davis that he came to Hong Kong with Stanley’s introduction for the purpose to secure a high ranking office in the government. Without checking with Stanley, Davis appointed Shelley to the newly created position of Auditor General. Davis soon realized his mistake and accused Shelley of being "dissipated, in debt, negligent, guilty of falsehood and quite unfit for high office".
  Shelley bullied his staff and conned others into lending him money which he used on land speculation (mostly around the area of the present Shelley Street). His property investment went bad and he sold his portfolio to fellow Sussexian George Duddell before departing Hong Kong. Shelley resurfaced later in Mauritius and became the Assistant Auditor General there. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Duddell found no joy in his newly acquired land holdings as it came with a large debt in tax and levies Shelley owed to the government.

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong's First, Peculiar, Sometimes Dubious, Civil Servants [online]. Norton-Kyshe, James William, History of the Laws and Courts of Hong Kong, Tracing Consular Jurisdiction in China and Japan and Including Parliamentary Debates, and the Rise, Progress, and Successive Changes in the Various Public Institutions of the Colony from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Hong Kong: Noronha & Co., 1898, Vol. I, p.142. The Peerage [online].