Names and Ranks of the Force
When the Force was established in 1844, Hong Kong became a Crown Colony the year before. As the colonial government did not see the need of rendering official names in Chinese despite the fact that it ruled over a predominantly Chinese populace, the official designations of the Force and its ranks were rendered only in English.
In government-issued orders, the Chinese name for the Force was not consistently rendered and differed considerably among translators. For instance, in the early issues of the Government Gazette, the Force was sometimes translated as 總緝捕署 (Chung Chap Po Chue) or sometimes as 差役 (Chai Yek). In private writings, the Force was known in Chinese as 巡捕廳 (Chun Po Teng) and 大館 (Daai Gwoon). The Head of the Force was known in Chinese as 總緝捕官(Chung Chap Po Gwun), 總差役(Chung Chai Yek) and so on.
Among the artefacts in the Police Museum collection is a night pass bearing a bilingual departmental stamp, which was issued in 1860s. On that stamp, the Chinese name for the Force was 香港差頭 (Heung Kong Chai Tau) showing the inconsistency of Chinese renditions of the Force.
However, according to the Hong Kong Civil Service List kept in government archives, the official Chinese designations for the Force and the Head of the Force began appearing at the beginning of the 20th century. It was recorded in the 1909 Hong Kong Civil Service List that the Head of the Force was known as 香港巡警道 (Heung Kong Chun Keng To), and then changed to 警察司 (Keng Chat See). The English title "Captain Superintendent of Police" remained unchanged in 1917.
In 1930, the English name of the Head of the Force was changed from Captain Superintendent to Inspector General, with a corresponding change in its Chinese name to 警察總監 (Keng Chat Chung Kam). For a while in 1933, the Head of the Force was known as 公安局長 (Kung On Kuk Cheung) in Chinese. In 1935, the English name of the Head of the Force was changed yet again to Commissioner of Police, while the Chinese name was changed to 警務處長 (Keng Mo Chue Cheung), and both names remain in use until today.
According to the 1904 Hong Kong Civil Service List, the Force was then known as 總緝部署 (Chung Chap Po Chue). In 1938, the Chinese name was changed to 香港警務處 (Heung Kong Keng Mo Chue). In 1969, in recognition of the Force's outstanding performance during the 1967 riots, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the prefix "Royal" to the Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force, an honour shared only by few police forces within the Dominions and other Colonies.
At the stroke of midnight on July 1, 1997, the "Royal" prefixes were dropped and the Royal Hong Kong Police Force and the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force are known as the Hong Kong Police Force and Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force.
Hong Kong Civil Service List for 1910 indicating that the Chinese title for the head of the Force in Chinese was "香港巡警道"
Hong Kong Civil Service List for 1904 indicating that the Chinese name for the Force was "總緝捕署"
The Chinese translation for the Force was "巡捕廳" in the Chronicle and Directory for China, Japan and the Philippines for 1877