Austin Coates

Who was Austin Coates?

Austin Coates was a British civil servant, writer and traveller. He was the son of noted English composer Eric Coates.

Austin Coates wrote extensively on topics related to the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Hong Kong and Macau. He was first connected to the East through his service for the Royal Air Force intelligence in India, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia in the Second World War. After the war, he worked for the Hong Kong government as Assistant Colonial Secretary and Magistrate in the New Territories from 1949 to 1956. As a magistrate, he gained insight on the Chinese customs and character, and he applied Chinese laws to solve many of his cases.

After Hong Kong, he was the Chinese Affairs Officer in Sarawak from 1957 to 1959; First Secretary of the British High Commission, Kuala Lumpur and Penang from 1959 to 1962. In 1962, he left the British civil service to concentrate on writing. In 1965, he settled in Hong Kong and continued travelling and writing extensively.

Coates was the guest of many prominent Asians, among them the Tagore family, the Indian painter Jamini Roy and Mahatma Gandhi. After his visit with Gandhi, he decided that understanding between East and West was one of the most important goals in the world.