Douglas Clague

Who was Douglas Clague?

Colonel The Honorable Sir Douglas Clague CBE, MC, QPM, CPM, TD was a British soldier and entrepreneur who spent most of his life in Hong Kong. He died of cancer aged 64, in 1981.

Born in Rhodesia, in 1917, Clague arrived in Hong Kong in 1940 as a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, and on the outbreak of World War II became a prisoner in the Sham Shui Po PoW camp. He later escaped, and joined the British Army Aid Group in free China. On the ending of the war, he famously took the surrender of Japanese forces in Bangkok more or less single-handedly.

After the war, he became the tai-pan of the hong Hutchison, later to become Hutchison Whampoa. He overstretched his finances, which resulted in HSBC taking over the firm, replacing Clague, and later selling Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong.

Clague was also one of the commandants of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, and a member of both the Executive and the Legislative Councils of Hong Kong. In 1950-51 he was President of the Gunners Roll of Hong Kong.

He owned a lodge at Kam Tsin in the northern New Territories alongside many other wealthy people.