The One Place Named After Captain Charles Elliot

Wandering around the area formerly known as the City of Victoria, now known as the Central and Western District, or in the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula, better known as the Yau Tsim Mong District, you’ll soon realize that many streets bear decidedly British-sounding names.

From Queen’s Road, named after Queen Victoria and stretching between Kennedy Town and Wan Chai, to Nathan Road, stretching between Tsim Sha Tsui and Prince Edward, most of the men and women who have played an influential role in the city’s history have had a street, a park, a neighborhood, or a building named after them.

Yet, somehow, the man to whom Hong Kong owes its very existence as the bustling metropolis it is today wasn’t deemed worthy of that honor. Worse yet, very few people in Hong Kong, let alone in the rest of the world, have ever heard of Captain Charles Elliot, the man who obtained the cession of Hong Kong Island from the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, as of 2026, only one place in the world was named after Captain Elliot. Despite the fact that he never set foot in Australia, Port Elliot—a small town about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Adelaide—was named after Charles Elliot in 1852 by his friend Sir Henry Young, then Governor of South Australia.