Sir Vandeleur Molyneux Grayburn (28 July 1881 – 21 August 1943) was the chief manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1930 to 1943. He was the most powerful financier in the Far East in the 1930s, and took an important role in establishing Hong Kong dollar as the official currency of the colony. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II, Grayburn was arrested for providing monetary and logistics aid to military prisoners and bank employees held hostage, imprisoned, and later died at Stanley Prison.
Early life and career
Grayburn was born on 28 July 1881 in England. His grandfather was Rev. William Grayburn serving in Dublin, Ireland. He was the youngest son of William Echlin Grayburn and Margaret Ellen Markham Grayburn with three brothers and three sisters. He was educated in Jersey and at Denstone College in Staffordshire. Upon leaving school he joined the bank of Leatham, Tew & Co in Goole.
He joined the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) in 1900. He first worked as an assistant at the London office and in 1904 was transferred to the Far East. He had stationed in the Hong Kong head office, branches in Singapore, Malaya and India. In 1920 he became the chief accountant of the head office in Hong Kong and later on was appointed assistant sub-manager and sub-manager.
During his time as sub-manager he was appointed to various government offices. Between 1927 and 1928, the government issued five million Hong Kong dollars of bonds for supporting public works in Hong Kong under the Public Works Loan Ordinance of 1927. A board was set up and Grayburn was appointed as a member under the chairmanship of J. H. Kemp and C. G. Alabaster to consider application and to allot the bonds.
He was also made Justice of the Peace on 27 May 1927, member of the advisory committee of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps from June 1928 to May 1929 and member of the court of the University of Hong Kong from April 1930.
HSBC chief manager
Stabilisation of Hong Kong dollar
V. M. Grayburn acted as chief manager of the HSBC in March 1930 in succession to retiring A. C. Hynes and was officially appointed by the board in July. During his spell as chief manager, he oversaw the Hong Kong dollar abandoned silver standard and became a distinct unit of currency.
By 1935, only China and Hong Kong remained on silver standard and so the exchange rate of Hong Kong dollar declined significantly due to the fall of the international silver price after the Great Depression. The government appointed V. M. Grayburn and several local merchants, bankers and brokers to a committee of enquiry for financial advices.
Although Hong Kong's trade was benefited shortly from the decline of Hong Kong dollar, the exchange rate went up again after the pound sterling, Japanese yen and US dollar significantly devalued after they were taken off from the gold standard and Hong Kong's trade was damaged heavily.
The US Silver Purchase Act of 1934 also created an intolerable demand on China's silver coins and pushed up the global silver price. V. M. Grayburn was appointed member of the Economic Commission to advise Governor William Peel on the monetary issues in July 1934. The report of the commission in February 1935 concluded the Hong Kong government should not abandon the silver standard as China, the colony's largest trading partner remained on it.
The Chinese Nationalist government announced the abandonment of the silver standard in November 1935 due to the instability of the currency. The Hong Kong government followed China shortly afterward. The Dollar Currency Notes Ordinance of 1935 was passed by the Legislative Council on 9 November. Despite the currency coins and notes issued by the Hong Kong government, the currency notes issued by the HSBC and two other British banks in Hong Kong were also recognised as legal tenders in Hong Kong. Under the Exchange Fund Ordinance of 1935, the HSBC had to submit its silver holdings in exchange for the Certificates of Indebtedness, as the legal backing for all banknotes. In December 1935, the government appointed Grayburn a member of the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, to continue to advise the government on monetary issues. For his services for the establishment of the Hong Kong dollar as the monetary unit, Grayburn was knighted in May 1937 in honour of the coronation of George VI, which made him the second chief manager of the HSBC to receive the honour after Sir Thomas Jackson, 1st Baronet.