Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy GCMG CB (Chinese: 堅尼地; 5 April 1809 – 3 June 1883) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of a number of British colonies, namely Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Vancouver Island, Hong Kong and Queensland.

[2] He was educated by private tutor and in 1823–24 attended Trinity College, Dublin,[2] where he met his predecessor as Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell.

[6] He served in this office until 1854, during which time he made many administrative changes in an attempt to reform the corrupt and inefficient government.

Popular opinion quickly turned against him, and in August 1856 a public meeting was held in Perth to protest against his methods.

During his tenure as governor, Western Australia flourished, essentially because of the large amount of British money that was spent in the colony under the system of penal transportation of convicts.

Facing an extremely aggressive Legislative Assembly determined to challenge his executive power, Kennedy achieved little of note in his three years in office.

Kennedy returned to London, and in December 1867 he was knighted (KCB)[11] and appointed Governor of the West African Settlements.

During his tenure, he created the Hong Kong dollar, which served as the unitary monetary unit for the territory.

Since this time, the Hong Kong dollar has (albeit with a short period of disruption) served as the single monetary unit for the entire territory.

He also developed Kennedy Town, the western end of Victoria City on the Hong Kong Island.