John Walter Hulme

Hulme was offered the very high salary of £3,000 per annum to go to Hong Kong; in return, he agreed to give up his right to a pension.

[3]: 157–8 In November 1846, Hulme refused to uphold a guilty verdict against a Mr Compton that had been handed down by the British consular court in Canton.

Compton, an English merchant, was fined HK$200 for causing a riot by kicking over a Chinese stall and beating its owner with his stick, and appealed to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong.

Sir John Davis, the Governor of Hong Kong wrote to Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, stating: "Some fresh ordinance will inevitably be required to prevent such mischievous interference in international cases.

"[4] In February 1857, Hulme presided at the trial of ten Chinese men who had been charged in connection to a mass poisoning of Europeans in Hong Kong known as the Esing Bakery incident.

Hulme replied that "hanging the wrong man will not further the ends of justice", and later accepted the jury's acquittal of Cheong.

He left Hong Kong on leave in early 1859 and in England was offered a handsome pension of £1,500 per annum which he accepted.