Who, then, was Morrison? He was a British missionary, known in the Christian church as “the first missionary in China”. He went to Guangzhou in 1807 in the employ of the East India Company and started, among other works, the study of Chinese, evangelization, and the translation of Bible, Ta Tsing Leu Lee (i.e. Penal Code of China) and A Dictionary of the Chinese Language. He died in 1834 in Macau. One of the sons of Morrison was also a missionary. He was John Robert Morrison, Ma Ruhan in Chinese. Born in China, the younger Morrison was fluent in the Chinese language, culture and affairs. He was not only the official translator for the British during the Opium Wars but also the assistant of dignitaries like Charles Elliot and Henry Pottinger. He moved to Hong Kong after its open-up, working both for the church and the colonial government. Assuming high offices, he was the first Colonial Secretary of the city (later called Chief Secretary; equivalent to Chief Secretary for Administration in HKSAR). In 1843, unfortunately, he died of epidemic.

In commemoration of Robert Morrison, the Morrison Education Society was founded in Macau and was moved to Hong Kong in 1842. Having acquired a hilltop lot at Fei Ngo Leng, the Society established a Christian school of English, a church and a hospital. Ever since the Morrison School was established, Fei Ngo Leng was known as Morrison Hill. The original object of the School was to train Chinese youth in English language and, with that knowledge, to be a missionary. It was observed later that most of its graduates were more inclined to be government officials, opium traders and foreign firm compradors. Seeing that the evangelizing scheme went awry, and that financial difficulty was looming large, the School was closed in 1849.