Lord Patten delivers a lecture in honour of the late Sir Joseph Hotung
Mansfield College is honoured to have had Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes give a lecture in memory of Sir Joseph Hotung, who was a Bancroft Fellow, great friend and important benefactor to our College.
The lecture titled ‘Human rights, China and the international order’ was delivered on Wednesday 17 May in the Sir Joseph Hotung Auditorium, named in honour of Sir Joseph, who was a successful businessman, philanthropist to the arts, education and human rights, and knowledgeable collector of Chinese art, who died on 16 December 2021.
Lord Patten is the Chancellor of University of Oxford. He was recently appointed to the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry, by his Majesty the King. He was also the final Governor of Hong Kong before the handover to China in 1997 and has held many other public offices.
Lord Patten opened the lecture with a recollection of his first encounter with Sir Joseph in 1992:
“I know exactly when I first met Jo Hotung, I rechecked my meeting in my Hong Kong diary. It was on Thursday 16 July 1992. I had been in the city as the new and last colonial Governor for around a week and I was invited by the chairman of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank for lunch… there was one surprisingly liberal fellow there called Joseph Hotung. Apparently, he funds pro-democracy activities and other good causes...”
In attendance were Sir Joseph’s daughter, Ellen Hotung, and youngest grandson, Nicholas Murphy.
To listen to the lecture, please visit our YouTube channel here.
To view future public talks, please visit our webpage here.
Photo credits: Nicholas Posner
