Michael David Irving Gass
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Sir Michael D. I. Gass KCMG |
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|---|---|
| 祈濟時 | |
 |
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| 23rd Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong | |
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In office 1965–1969 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Edmund Brinsley Teesdale |
| Succeeded by | Sir Hugh Norman-Walker |
| 21st High Commissioner for the Western Pacific | |
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In office 1969–1971 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Robert Sidney Foster |
| Succeeded by | Sir Donald Luddington |
| 5th Governor of the Solomon Islands | |
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In office 1969–1973 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Robert Sidney Foster |
| Succeeded by | Sir Donald Luddington |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 April 1916 |
| Died | 27 February 1983 (aged 66) Somerset |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Periam Fuller Acland Hood (m. 1975) |
| Education | King's School, Bruton |
| Alma mater | Queens’ College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Colonial official |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch | Royal West African Frontier Force |
| Years of service | 1939-1945 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | Gold Coast Regiment |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Sir Michael David Irving Gass, KCMG (Chinese: 祈濟時; 1916–1983) was the penultimate High Commissioner of the Western Pacific and also in his junior days Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1965 - 1969, and the acting-Governor of Hong Kong during the riots in 1967.
Gass was educated at King's School, Bruton, and then later obtained degrees at both Queens' College, Cambridge and Oxford University. After university he entered the Colonial Administration Service. His first appointment was to the Gold Coast in 1939. During World War II Gass entered the Army and achieved the rank of Major, he served in East Africa and Burma with the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force (1939-1945); he was twice mentioned in despatches.
After the war he returned to the Service, spending three years in Ashanti and two in Ghana before being posted in 1958 to the West Pacific High Commission as Chief Secretary.
From then until his retirement in 1973 he remained in the Far East, notably in Hong Kong where he was Colonial Secretary and Acting Governor intermittently between 1965-1969. In the colonial secretary's tenure, he and Ronald Holmes and Jack Cater and other government officials had to deal with riots in 1967 against British colonial rule. During the disorder, Governor Sir David Trench happened to be absent from Hong Kong and all of a sudden there was no one fully in command of the government. As a result, Gass became acting-Governor, and therefore it was Holmes and Gass who were in charge in the crisis. During the riots, he took a tough stance against the activists, in order to effectively control the situation, but has also become one of the main targets of attack leftist camp vocal opposition.
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