Matthew Nathan

The Right Honourable Sir Matthew Nathan GCMG, PC
20th Governor of the Gold Coast
In office 17 December 1900 – 9 February 1904
Preceded by	Frederick Mitchell Hodgson
Succeeded by	John Pickersgill Rodger
13th Governor of Hong Kong
In office 29 July 1904 – 29 July 1907
Preceded by	Sir Henry Arthur Blake
Succeeded by	Sir Frederick Lugard
7th Governor of Natal
In office 2 September 1907 – 23 December 1909
Preceded by	Sir Henry Edward McCallum
Succeeded by	Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen
13th Governor of Queensland
In office 3 December 1920 – 17 September 1925
Preceded by	Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams
Succeeded by	Sir John Goodwin
Personal details
Born	3 January 1862(1862-01-03) Paddington, London, England, UK
Died	18 April 1939(1939-04-18) (aged 77) West Coker, Somerset, England, UK
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Profession	Soldier, colonial administrator
Religion	Judaism

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan GCMG, PC (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and civil servant, who variously served as the Governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland. He was Under-Secretary for Ireland from 1914 to 1916, and was responsible, with the Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell, for co-ordinating the British response to the Easter Rising in Ireland.

Early life and career

Nathan was born in Paddington, England. He was of Jewish descent and the second son of businessman Jonah Nathan and Miriam Jacob Nathan. His brothers were Major F. L. Nathan, R.A. an officer of the Royal Artillery and Superintendent of Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, and Sir Nathaniel Nathan, a colonial judge in Trinidad and Tobago.

Nathan was educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst and Royal Engineers' School, Chatham from 1880 to 1884. He was gazetted to Royal Engineers in 1880.

Nathan was sent to military expeditions to Sudan (1884–1885) and to Lushai, India (1889–1894). He was promoted to the position of Captain in 1889 and became the secretary to the Colonial Defence Committee between 1896 and 1898. Nathan was promoted to Major in 1898.

Colonial Service

Nathan was appointed acting governor of Sierra Leone from 1899 to 1900. In the same year, he was appointed as Governor of Gold Coast, a position he occupied until 1903. In 1902, Nathan imported into the Gold Coast a £543 French Gardner-Serpollet, paraffin-fired, steam-driven car for his use on the roads around Accra.^[1]

In 1903, Nathan was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, a position he would serve until 1907. During his tenure, Nathan was credited with the establishment of a central urban planning and reconstruction policy, which regulated the growth of Hong Kong and built major thoroughfares in the Kowloon Peninsula. The construction of Kowloon-Canton Railway started under this period.

In 1907, Nathan was made Governor of Natal (until 1909). In that same year, he was raised to a higher rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1909 he returned to England and took up an appointment as secretary to the General Post Office, a position he served until 1911. He was Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue between 1911 and 1914.

Under-Secretary for Ireland

Nathan was appointed Under-Secretary for Ireland in August 1914, just after the outbreak of World War I and the signing into law of the Home Rule Act 1914.^[2] His immediate superior was the Chief Secretary, Augustine Birrell. At this time the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was largely a ceremonial position, and the Chief Secretary spent much of his time in London where he was a member of the cabinet, so the Under-Secretary was effectively the head of the administration in Ireland.^[3] Nathan's job involved liaising with the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) to prepare them for self-government. He was also concerned with recruiting in Ireland, and received regular reports from the police and military about anti-recruiting and pro-independence activity, including the threat of a German invasion or arms landing in support of an Irish rising.^[4] Alarmed at the growing numbers of separatists in the Civil Service, Nathan wrote to the authorities to have them transferred to England, and eventually got cabinet approval for a letter warning civil servants that they would be dismissed if they continued as members of the Irish Volunteers.^[5] He used the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 to suppress newspapers he considered seditious, against the advice of the IPP^[6] In general, however, he avoided any action that might provoke violence.

On Good Friday, 21 April 1916, Nathan was informed that a German boat had been stopped off the coast of County Kerry carrying arms and ammunition, and that a man had been arrested after coming ashore from another vessel. The man arrested was subsequently identified as Sir Roger Casement^[7] A mobilization of the Irish Volunteers fixed for Easter Sunday was cancelled the day before. Nathan, believing that a rising had been averted, discussed with the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Wimborne, the necessity of raiding premises associated with the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army and arresting their leaders.^[8] Nathan cabled Birrell, the Chief Secretary, in London to obtain authorisation for these actions. On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, while he was in his office in Dublin Castle awaiting Birrell's response, the Easter Rising broke out and Dublin Castle itself was attacked.^[9] The Castle gates were closed and the rebels did not press the attack, but Nathan was a virtual prisoner until troops arrived from the Curragh Camp on Monday evening.^[10] Nathan remained in the Castle for the rest of the week (being moved to the stables to accommodate the military) where he kept in contact with London, keeping the government up to date with the situation and helping to answer questions in Parliament.^[11] The Rising was finally brought to an end on 30 April. The same day Birrell offered his resignation, and on 3 May, at Birrell's request, Nathan also resigned.^[12] The Royal Commission on the 1916 Rebellion (the Hardinge commission) was critical of Birrell and Nathan, in particular their failure to take action against the rebels in the weeks and months before the Rising.^[13]

Later career

After his resignation Nathan was appointed as secretary to the Ministry of Pensions, a position he held until 1919. In 1920, he was appointed Governor of Queensland and served in that position until 1925. It was to be his last post in the Colonial Service. During his tenure, Nathan actively promoted British migration to Queensland. In 1922 he founded, along with Henry Caselli Richards, the Great Barrier Reef Committee. After his appointment expired, Nathan left Queensland for retirement in Somerset, England.

Personal life

Nathan was a lifelong bachelor, and rumours were rife at the time about his alleged affairs with a number of women. Nathan died in England in 1939.

Honours

• K.C.M.G., 1902
• G.C.M.G., 1908

Places named after him

Nathan Road, the main commercial artery in the Kowloon Peninsula (otherwise known as the Golden Mile), was named after him. In Australia, Nathan and Nathan Heights in Brisbane (the capital city of Queensland) and Nathan Street in the Canberra suburb of Deakin were named after him.

See also

• History of Hong Kong

Footnotes

1. ^ Simon Heap, 'The development of motor transport in the Gold Coast, 1900-39', Journal of Transport History, 1990, pp. 19-37
2. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970, p. 12
3. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 21
4. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, pp. 19-23
5. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, pp. 32-34
6. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, pp. 38-42
7. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 81
8. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, pp. 82-86
9. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 91
10. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 94
11. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 100
12. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 117
13. ^ Ó Broin, Leon, Dublin Castle & the 1916 Rising, p. 161

References

• Paul D. Wilson, 'Nathan, Sir Matthew (1862 - 1939)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 667–668
• Sir Matthew Nathan at the Jewish encyclopedia

External links

Government offices
Preceded by Frederick Mitchell Hodgson	Governor of the Gold Coast 1900–1903	Succeeded by John Pickersgill Rodger
Preceded by Sir Henry Arthur Blake	Governor of Hong Kong 1904–1907	Succeeded by Sir Frederick Lugard
Preceded by Sir Henry Edward McCallum	Governor of Natal 1907–1909	Succeeded by The Lord Methuen
Preceded by Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams	Governor of Queensland 1920–1925	Succeeded by Sir John Goodwin

Persondata
Name	Nathan, Matthew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 January 1862
Place of birth	Paddington, London, England, UK
Date of death	18 April 1939
Place of death	West Coker, Somerset, England, UK