David Fortune "Taffy" Landale, JP (; 7 November 1905 – 15 December 1970), was a British-Hong Kong entrepreneur and politician who was chairman and managing director of Jardine Matheson & Co. from 1945 to 1951, during which he was appointed by the Hong Kong government as an unofficial member of the Executive Council from 1946 to 1951, as well as the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council from 1946 to 1950. Later in his life he settled in the United Kingdom, where he was chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland between 1955 and 1965.
Landale had a close connection with Jardine Matheson. His father, David Landale, was also chairman and managing director of the firm, and the Landales were distantly related to the family of Dr William Jardine, who was the founder of the Jardine trading house. Landale's chairmanship of Jardine Matheson coincided with the outbreak of the Chinese Communist Revolution that followed the end of the Second World War. The turbulence prevented the firm from reviving the profitable China business that it had enjoyed in the past. In 1947, he founded the Hong Kong Airways with a hope of developing the firm's civil aviation business. The attempt, however, was hit by the growing instability of the region.
As the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, Landale was an active critic of the Hong Kong government who was noted for his unsuccessful attempt to oppose the government's plan of re-introducing income tax after the war in 1947. Besides, he moved a motion in the Council in 1949 to debate the "Young Plan". The plan, which proposed for the idea of setting up a Municipal Council, was highly questioned by him and other unofficial members, who believed that reforming the Legislative Council would be a better alternative. Nevertheless, having considered the regional instability and the lukewarm response from the general public, the British government announced in 1952 that no major constitutional reform would take place in Hong Kong.
Biography
Early years Landale was born in the Jardine Matheson office in the Shanghai International Settlement, China, on 7 November 1905."Births" (11 November 1905)"LANDALE, David Fortune" (1996) He was the son of David Landale (1868–1935) of Dalswinton, Dumfries, Scotland, and Mildred Sophia Fortune (1880–1965). He had two sisters and one brother, namely Margaret Winifred Landale (1903–1989), Veronica Grizel Kinloch Landale (1911–1985) and Peter Wellwood Fortune Landale (1915–1941)."Mildred Margaret Sophia Fortune" (retrieved on 18 April 2014) His brother, a pilot of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, died in a plane crash in the North Sea when he was flying to Hanover, Germany, on a military mission in 1941."Whitley P4953" (retrieved on 18 April 2014) His body was never found.
The Landales were closely connected to Jardine Matheson & Co., the Far Eastern trading firm. Landale's father, David Landale, was the son of the Rev David Landale and Margaret Helen Hassels Jardine, who was a daughter of Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet."Obituary: Mr. David Landale Passes in London" (8 September 1935)Keswick (1982), pp. 254–255. Sir William belonged to the Applegirth branch of the Jardine family and he was a distant relative of Dr William Jardine, the founder of the Jardine trading house. Landale's father had a long career in Jardine Matheson, serving for a time as chairman and managing Director of the firm. He was also chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council as well as an unofficial member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong. Landale Street in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, was named after him."Roads and Railways - Road Names Series V: Roads named after British officials" (retrieved on 18 April 2014)
Early in his life, Landale, who was also known as "Taffy" by his relatives and friends, attended Eton College, and later studied at Balliol College, Oxford.Keswick (1982), p. 46. While at Eton and Oxford, he was a keen sports player, serving as a member of the cricket team of Eton and captain of the university rugby team."David Landale" (retrieved on 18 April 2014)
Far Eastern career After graduation and a short stint working in London, Landale followed the footsteps of his father to join Jardine Matheson in the Far East."Personality Parade No 5 - Ruler of the Princely Hong" (3 April 1950) He started from the cash desk, spending his time mainly in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and was eventually appointed a director of the firm in 1936, a position that he held until his death in 1970.Bosanquet (1983), p. 17.Keswick (1982), pp. 264–265. As a member of the board, he was also appointed to the directorships of a number of subsidiary and affiliated companies of Jardine Matheson, such as the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd."Wingsang Launched at the Kowloon Docks" (3 June 1938) He was appointed an unofficial Justice of the Peace by the Hong Kong government in 1937. At that time, the future prospect of the firm was shadowed by uncertainties arising from the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and the increasing instability in the Far East.Feng (1996) When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he was enlisted to the Hong Kong Defence Reserve.The Bankers' Who's who (1964), p. 253. Yet, he was permitted to quit the Reserve in the following year to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve."No. 760" (4 July 1940) He was stationed on HMS Queen Elizabeth and saw active service until 1943, when he retired from the Volunteer Reserve as a lieutenant and was appointed as the Minister of War Transport Representative in the Middle East. His role was to help co-ordinate logistical support and transportation for the Allied Forces in that region. He held that position until the war ended in 1945. In the same year, he returned to Hong Kong, where he served briefly as the first Honorary Air Commodore of the Air Arm of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps."Hon. Air Commodores" (retrieved on 18 April 2014)
In 1945, Landale succeeded J. J. Paterson to become chairman and managing director of Jardine Matheson with a view to re-establishing the firm's business interests in Hong Kong, China, Japan and other places in the Far East. In that capacity, he was also appointed a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce as well as director of a number of private companies, including the Hongkong Electric Company.Coates (1977), p. 180. His chairmanship, however, coincided with the outbreak of the Chinese Communist Revolution that followed the end of the Second World War. During the turbulence, the Canton branch office of Jardine Matheson was burnt down in an anti-British protest in 1948.Keswick (1982), pp. 260–261. Despite that, by the time when the People's Republic of China was founded by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the firm still managed to maintain its China head office in Shanghai as well as its branch offices in Hankou, Fuzhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Canton and Shantou, employing some 20,000 employees and having a total asset of around 30 million pound sterling in the mainland. After 1949, the firm's businesses continued to be severely hit by the political instability in China. And when the Korean War broke out in 1950, Landale was forced to move the headquarters of Jardine Engineering Corporation from Shanghai to Hong Kong in face of the worsening relationship between China and the Western countries. By 1955, Jardine Matheson had to abandon the China market completely following a number of anti-capitalist political campaigns staged by the Communist Party, most notably the "Land Reform Campaign" and the "Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns". The retreat was a bitter blow to the firm.
Having experienced the turbulence in China, Landale tried to explore new business opportunities in Hong Kong during his chairmanship of Jardine Matheson.Flight International (1949), p. 713. In 1947, the firm reached an agreement with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) to establish Hong Kong Airways as an attempt to develop Hong Kong's civil aviation business.B.O.A.C. Review (1946), p. 219. At first, the airline was a subsidiary of BOAC and Landale was appointed to chair the board of directors. Further agreement was made between BOAC and the firm in 1949 to formally transfer the ownership of the airline to the latter, with Landale continuing to chair the board of directors.The Aeroplane (1950), p. 612. Nevertheless, like the firm's other businesses in China, the airline was badly hit by the instability in China and Korea as its flight services to the two countries, which formed the major network of the airline, were forced to be either discontinued or suspended. The airline was subsequently sold to its main local rival Cathay Pacific Airways, which was controlled by Butterfield & Swire Co., in 1958.Wu & He (2007), p. 36.
Political career Apart from his business interests, Landale was appointed an unofficial member of the Executive Council, from 1946 to 1951, and the senior unofficial member of the Legislative Council, from 1946 to 1950, by the Hong Kong government, being one of the first unofficial members appointed when civilian government resumed after the war in May 1946."Plaque of Senior Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1850-1985)" (9 May 2009)"The Hong Kong Government appointed members of the Legislative Council yesterday" (12 May 1946)"All members of the Executive Council have been appointed" (30 May 1946) As an active critic of the government, he openly criticised the government in the Legislative Council meetings for a number of times, such as to blame the government for the perfunctory way it compiled the annual Budget and for its failure to maintain effective communication between Hong Kong and Whitehall in London, of which he thought was a key factor to achieve good governance."Unofficials' Budget Criticism" (28 March 1947)"Council Debate on the Budget" (31 March 1948) In 1947, the government started to require an increase in the extent of developments on some of the Rural Buildings Lots in offering re-grants to landowners, as a measure to cope with the influx of refugees from mainland China and the housing shortage.Webb (7 October 2010) The measure was complained by Landale as oppressive to the landowners due to the higher construction costs that they had to bear.