Sir Samuel George Bonham
Sir Samuel George Bonham (7 September 1803 – 8 October 1863) was a British colonial governor, who became the 4th Governor of the Straits Settlements and the 3rd Governor of Hong Kong.
Bonham became deputy to the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Kenneth Murchison, in 1833. However, as Murchison was away from Southeast Asia for much of his governorship, Bonham was in effect responsible for the administration of the Straits Settlements. He took over from Murchison as Governor on 18 November 1836, a post he held until January 1843. He first governed from Penang, but later made Singapore the permanent residence of the Governor. During his governorship, Singapore grew in commercial importance as well as strategic significance as it supplied provisions for warships on their way to the Opium War in China. He was involved in the partial abolition of bond slavery, and provided a ship to combat piracy in the region. In an attempt to reduce the cost of administration, he reduced the number of senior officials from 19 to 8.
After a period of service with the East India Company, Bonham was appointed Governor of Hong Kong and plenipotentiary and superintendent of trade in China on 21 March 1848. During his tenure Bonham cut government spendings to balance the budget and also stimulated the Real Estate market in order to increase government income. His method of increasing government income eventually became the major source of income for the Hong Kong government a century later.