Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong
The Senior Unofficial Member (Chinese: 首席非官守議員), later Senior Member (Chinese: 首席議員) and, finally, Convenor of the Non-official Members (Chinese: 非官守議員召集人), was the highest-ranking unofficial member of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and Executive Council (ExCo) of British Hong Kong, which supposedly represented the opinions of all unofficial members of the council to the Governor.
Ethnic Chinese members of either council were frequently referred to as "Chinese representatives" of the council before the introduction of elected seats in the LegCo; the most senior ethnic Chinese member was dubbed the "Senior Chinese Unofficial Member" (Chinese: 首席華人非官守議員) or "Senior Chinese Representative".
The Executive Council and the Legislative Council were set up in 1843, initially composing of colonial administrators only. The councils were initially chaired by the Governor of Hong Kong. The colony's residents remained unrepresented until 1850, when the government appointed two businessmen to the LegCo, with David Jardine of Jardines as the first Senior Unofficial Member of the LegCo in the history of Hong Kong. It was not until 1896, on his appointment to ExCo, that Catchick Paul Chater became the Senior Unofficial Member.
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