Sir Donald Collin Cumyn Luddington, KBE, CMG, CVO - 1920-2009
From Wikipedia: “Sir Donald Collin Cumyn Luddington, KBE, CMG, CVO , 18 August 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a British colonial government official and civil servant who served firstly in the Hong Kong Government and became District Commissioner, New Territories and the Secretary for Home Affairs successively, during which he had also served as an official member of the Legislative Council. He was later promoted to Oceania and was High Commissioner for the Western Pacific and afterwards, Governor of the Solomon Islands during the period from 1973 to 1976. He returned to Hong Kong in 1977 to replace Sir Ronald Holmes as chairman of the Public Service Commission. He was the second person, after Sir Jack Cater, to hold the post of Commissioner of ICAC from 1978 until his retirement in 1980.” You can read more from Wikipedia here.
From the Daily Telegraph: “Luddington joined the Hong Kong administration in 1949 and rose through its ranks to become secretary for home affairs from 1971 to 1973. In that role he was a key lieutenant to the newly arrived Governor, Sir Murray (later Lord) MacLehose, who was full of ideas for social reform and development, particularly in relation to the huge influx of refugees from mainland China.
Legend among younger civil servants had it that if the Governor asked the secretary for home affairs to do something that made little sense, Luddington, who took a very practical approach to policy and problem-solving, would simply send the instruction back. After several such incidents (so it was said) Luddington found himself being nominated by MacLehose for the faraway Solomon Islands post.” You can read more from the Daily Telegraph here.
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