Junk Promotion

The three-masted, 800-ton, 160-ft long Chinese trading junk – Keying (耆英號) [1], set sail from Hong Kong on December 6, 1846. Her destination – London. Under the command of British captain Charles A. Kettett, and manned by a crew of 12 English and 30 Chinese, the 20-gun, teak-made junk sailed around the Cape Horn on March 6. Having paused at St Helena, April 17 to 23, they set sail for England but were blown off course and ended up visiting New York and Boston first. Since finally arriving in London on March 27, 1848, 477 days after leaving Hong Kong , the Keying had been moored in the Thames at Blackwall, where it rapidly became established as one of the most popular visitor attractions in London. Some illustrious visitors toured the junk including the Duke of Wellington and Charles Dickens, and several of the young Chinese crew visited Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. The Illustrated London News had included the arrival of Keying in London as part of the “Events of this year in the Illustrated London News”. The Keying was eventually taken up to Liverpool where she was scrapped and her timbers used in building Mersey ferry boats.

Keying had been purchased in August 1846 in secrecy by Douglas Lapraik, who braved a Chinese law prohibiting the sale of Chinese ships to foreigners. Hoping to use the vessel as a floating exhibition in London, with a view to attracting trade and tourists to Hong Kong, Lapraik and his associates in this maverick promotion invested a sum of $75,000 in the junk.

[1] The Junk was named Keying most probably for the purpose to mock a high ranking Qing official of the same name. Aisin-gioro Keying (耆英) (1787-1858), or Qiying in Mandarin Chinese, was a clansman of Manchu Plain Blue Banner and a member of the Qing imperial family. Keying was best remembered as the negotiator and signatory of the Treaty of Nanking (with Britain), the Treaty of Whampoa (with France), the Treaty of Wanghia (With USA) and the Treaty of Canton (with Sweden-Norway)pursuant to the Frist Opium War. Whilst negotiating with representatives of Britain and France in Tianjin in 1858 for a treaty to end the Second Opium War, Keying left the negotiations after being humiliated by the British interpretors who sought to expose his duplicity by producing documents the British had captured in Guangzhou, in which Keying expressed his contempt for the British. Keying was later arrested for having left his post in contravention of imperial order. He was sentenced to death but was allowed to kill himself because of his royal stature.

[2] Charles Dickens, who is not very fond of Chinese 'things', had this to say about Keying:

Compared with the "stupendous" naval anchors displayed in the outer part of the Great Exhibition, the Chinese junk seemed to Dickens a "ridiculous abortion": more like "a China pen-tray" than "a ship of any kind". The Keying was nothing but a "floating toyshop", the risible invention of a stagnant country where "the best that seamanship can do for a ship is to paint two immense eyes on her bows, in order that she may see her way... and to hang out bits of red rag in stormy weather to mollify the wrath of the ocean." Here, as Dickens had concluded, was "the doctrine of finality beautifully worked out, and shut up in a corner of a dock near the Whitebait-house at Blackwall, for the edification of men. Thousands of years have passed away, since the first Chinese junk was constructed on this model; and the last Chinese junk that was ever launched was none the better for that waste and desert of time."

Watchmaker-Turned-Ship-Owner

Updated on December 25, 2011

Douglas Lapraik (b.1818-d.1869) left Scotland at the age of 21 to pursue fortune in the Far East and arrived in Hong Kong in 1843 after spending four years in Macao. He worked for Leonard Just, a fellow Scotsman and a watch and chronometer maker in D'Aguilar Street, as an apprentice, before starting his own watch making and repairing business - the Dougals Lapraik and Company. The company has then grown to becoming a maker of fine clocks and watches and, after the final departure of Lapraik from Hong Kong, was took over by a one-time employee, a George Falconer, who later had the company name changed to George Falconer the Jewelers – a brand still exiting today.

In the early 1850s, Lapraik extended his business scope to include mercantile activities, including dealing in opium and, as a result, built his initial wealth and became a notable merchant, rubbing shoulders with the leaders in the community such as his compatriot, Thomas Sutherland, the Hong Kong Superintendent of P & O SN Co. Lapraik ventured into the docking business in 1857 and were building new docks along with a Captain John Lamont in Aberdeen (Hong Kong). He would later invite Sutherland to partake in this line of business. In 1864, Lapraik's esteem turned to yet another high point when Sutherland asked him to support the establishment of a local bank in Hong Kong. With no hesitation, Lapraik jumped on the bandwagon and duly became a member of the Provisional Committee of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company Limited.

He founded the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company in October 1865 and, by the time of his death, he owned a fleet of seven steamships. Almost exactly a year later after the establishment of the steamboat company, the Lapraik-Sutherland team struck once more, here they founded the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, which in turn purchased the dock properties these two own personally. James Whittall, the Taipan of Jardine Matheson at that time and a member of the Legislative Council, was appointed Chairman of the Board, while Lapraik became the Company Secretary. Today, the Hutchison Whampoa Limited (Whampoa was bought by Hutchison International in the mid 1960s) reports a turnover of approximately HKD348 billion, with operations in 54 countries and approximately 220,000 employees.

When the Hong Kong Hotel Company was incorporated on March 3, 1866, Lapraik was amongst the four initial members of the Board of Directors. Additionally, he was one of the 62 Founding Members of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce (now Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.)

Lapraik was community minded and served on various committees including one established for the formation of the St. Andrew School, and a fund raising committee in 1860 to erect a clock tower at the junction of Pedder Street and Queen's Road. Due to shortage of subscription, he present at his own cost the town clock. He was generous in giving to churches and other charities and the generosity continued even after his death, for example, the executor of his estate gave $10,000 to relief the famine in North China in 1877.

The fantastic voyage of 'Keying' (耆英), a Chinese Junk Lapraik bought in August 1846 in Canton in secrecy, was an audacious stunt even by his standard. Keying set sail from Hong Kong in December 1846 and finally arriving in London 17 months later, stopping over at Cape of Hope, St. Helena, New York and Boston. Lapraik and his associates hoped to use the vessel as a floating exhibition in London, with a view to attracting trade and tourists to Hong Kong,

Lapraik's country house in Pok Fu Lam, built in 1860 and dubbed the 'Douglas Castle', also features a clock tower. The Mission Etranferes de Paris acquired Douglas Castle in 1894 to operate the Nazareth Press for the monastery. In 1953, it was sold to the University of Hong Kong for use as students' residence, and re-named University Hall. Of neo-gothic style, the building is best known for the elephants at its entrance, and the spiral stairs leading from the crypt to the dining room. The Hong Kong government declared it a historical monument on September 15, 1995.

Lapraik's businesses in Hong Kong was largely succeeded by John Steward Lapraik (b.1841-d. ) who came to Hong Kong in 1858 at the age of seventeen. John was the son of Douglas's oldest brother. A record showed that both Douglas and John Steward were back in England on January 25, 1870. Dauglas was living at 126 Picadilly, Middlesex, and John Steward Glenmore House, Surbiton, Surrey. This, however, contradict with another source that stated Douglas died in 1869.

- END -

Sutherland's 13

Updated (partial) on 5/7/2010

No, not Ocean's 13. Sutherland's 13!

In 1864, Thomas Sutherland, the Hong Kong Superintendent of P&O SN Co. 大英火輪船公司 (鐵行輪船公司), ventured to establish a local bank that would better address the needs of mercantile operators in Hong Kong, Shanghai, elsewhere in China as well as in Japan. He was in the opinion that the existing branch operations of banks from Britain and India [1] weren't exactly helpful since they were controlled by directors who sat in London or Bombay and had little knowledge of or interest in the affairs of Hong Kong.

The stimulus to action came when he became aware of the definite intent of a group of Bombay financiers to launch a new bank in Hong Kong, as a local bank, to be named the Bank of China in mid July 1864, and wanted to preempt this event with the new bank he had in mind. On July 22, 1864, Sutherland drew up the prospectus of this bank he named 'Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company Limited' with his legal advisor, E.H. Pollard, and began to rally support amongst his friends and business associates. 5 days later, a Provisional Committee was formed with 13 men pledged their support and all the shares allotted to Hong Kong of the total capital $5 million were taken up. When the representative of the Bank of China arrived from Bombay several weeks latter, he could find no one to take his shares or agree to become a director. Unbeknown to Sutherland and his 13 comrades-in-wealth who wanted to establish no more than a "colonial drug bank" originally, not only had they created one of the world's most successful banking concerns transcending three centuries, but also an entity that shaped, in part, what Hong Kong is today.

Here are the Sutherland 13:


Chairman of the Committee - Francis Chomley, Chairman, Dent and Co. 寶順洋行
Thomas Dent arrived at Canton in the position of Consul of Sardinia in 1823. He entered the trading firm of Davidson and Co. in the same year and when Davidson left China the following year, Dent became the firm's senior partner and duly change the firm's name to Dent and Co.. The company was one of the three big opium merchants in China in the 1830s; the other two were the Scottish firm Jardine, Matherson and Co. and the American firm Russell and Co. Since the departure of William Jardine for England in January 1839, his rival Lancelot Dent – younger brother of Thomas - was considered the senior foreign merchant, though Dent and Co. remained secondary to Jardine Matheson. Lancelot Dent was summoned and held by Lin Zexu on March 24, 1839, Imperial Qing's Commissioner charged to rid of opium, that, and the consequential events had led to the outbreak of the Opium War. Lancelot Dent was deported from China on May 23 and went to Macao, subsequently the firm's headquarters was moved to Hong Kong in 1841. The firm collapsed during the 1866 world financial crisis and was liquidated in 1867. Francis Chomley chaired the provisional committee's first meeting, held on August 6, 1964. Chomley was the Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council from 1864 to 1866.


William Adamson, Manager, Borneo Co., Ltd. 搬鳥洋行
The Borneo Company Limited was incorporated in London in 1856 as a ship operator and general merchant, to exploit the business opportunities in Sarawak. It originated from the establishment of a branch in Singapore by a firm of Glasgow merchants - MacEwen & Co. It became closely linked with the Brooke family (James Brooke, a Scotsman who was close to the Sultan of Brunei and was appointed by the British government in 1847 as British governor of the colony of Labuan, and as consul general to the island of Borneo) which established itself as the rulers of Sarawak in Borneo - the 'White Rajahs', as they were called. William Adamson, a Scotsman, was the manager of BCL's Hong Kong branch that opened for business also in 1856 and the principal activity was to import consignments of rice from Siam.

Because of the rice importing operation, Adamson became acquainted with Tan Kim Ching, a Singaporean who is very close to King Mongkut (King Rama IV) of Siam. When the King asked Tan's help to look for a suitable English tutor for the Royal Children, Tan upon the suggestion from Adamson recommended a yound widow who happened to be in Singapore in that time, Anna Leonowens. Yes, no joke, this is how 'The King and I' began!

Unavoidably, as it seems, for all successful trading firms in Hong Kong at that era, BCL also dealt in opium.


Robert Brand, Smith Kennedy and Co. 公易洋行
Smith Kennedy and Co., a British firm, founding member of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce, probably went done in 1966. Robert Brand, probably born ca.1837 in Montrose, Angus, Scotland, partner of SKC in Hong Kong and Shanghai from 1862, later became a partner in Brand Brothers 義源洋行 .


Rustomjee Dhunjeeshaw, P.F. Cama and Co. 順章洋行


Pallanjee Framjee, P. and A. Camajee and Co.廣南洋行

Albert Farley Heard, Augustine Heard and Co. 瓊記洋行

Augustine Heard and Co., tea and opium trader, was founded in 1840, in Canton, by Ipswich, Massachusetts businessman and former Samuel Russell & Co. [2] partner Augustine Heard, and his partners, Joseph Coolidge and John Murray Forbes. AHC becoming the third largest American firm in China in the mid-nineteenth century. The firm also introduced and imported steamships to China, and became the main trading agent for several large firms, including John Swire & Sons Limited. Photo of Augustine Heard (1785-1868).

Albert Farley Heard (1833-90), Augustine Heard's nephew, became partner of the firm from June 1, 1862 and remained in China until 1875. AHC, like many other trading operators at that time, suffered from the world financial crisis in 1866, but was fortunate enough to stay open until 1875. Because of his role as the representative the Lowell Gun Company in Russia in 1877, A.F. Heard became close to the Russian government and was appointed the Russian Consul-General in Shanghai and later as the representative of the Chinese Government in Russia. At the final stage of his career, A.F. Heard became the private secretary to William C. Endicott, Secretary of War, and later as librarian for the U.S. Army. A Yale man (graduated in 1853), Heard married Mary Allen Livingston [3], a descendant of French Admiral de Grasse, and died childless in 1890. His interest in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church led him to publish The Russian Church and Russian Dissent in 1889.


George Johann Helland, John Burd and Co. 畢洋行
John Burd and Co., general merchant and mariner, was founded by Scottish sea captain, John Burd (1794-1855) and Danish sailor, Mads Lange in C.1839 in Canton. The company was moved to Hong Kong in 1842. A former employee of the Danish East India Company, Burd became close to the Danish mariner community that also handled diplomatic affairs in the Orient and, in 1845, Burd was appointed the first Danish consul in Hong Kong. After Burd's death in 1855, the firm was headed by his Danish associate Jens Friederich Horsens Block. Block returned to Denmark in 1862 and George J. Helland, a Norwegian took over as head of the firm and as the Danish consul. Additionally, Helland was also consul for Sweden and Norway. In c.1876, he became the General Agent (China) for Det Store Nordiske Telegraf-Selskab (Great Northern Telegraph Company) of Vice Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in 1869.

Douglas Lapraik

Douglas Lapraik (1818-1869), Scotsman, came to Hong Kong at the age of 25, watchmaker, opium dealer, founder of Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Company (Arthur Sassoon was a director) 1865, co-found Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company with Thomas Sutherland in 1866.

Henry Beverley Lemann, Gilman and Co. 太平洋行


George Francis Maclean, Lyall, Still and Co. 孻也洋行

Photo of a much older
NissenWoldemar Nissen, Siemssen amd Co. 禪臣洋行

Siemssen, the second German firm to open office in Hong Kong (Pustau and Co. was the first), was founded by Hamburger Georg Theodor Siemssen (b.1816 - d.1886) in Canton in 1848. Siemssen bought a lot on Queen’s Road near the present HSBC Building in 1855 to house his Hong Kong operation. Siemseen was also present in Shanghai, Tianjin and Qingdao and became the most prominent mercantile and shipping concern from Germany in China. He left Hong Kong in 1858 to attain to his business in Hamburg leaving the Hong Kong operation to two partners: Ludwig Wiese, a Norwegian naturalized as a British citizen, and fellow Hamburger Agathon Friedrich Woldemar Nissen (a partner since 1855). Wise left Siemssen (Hong Kong) in 1863 and went to live in London; hence Nissen became the senior partner in Hong Kong and China. Nissen (b.1836 Hamburg - d.1896 Hamburg) was Deputy Chairman of HSBC in 1866 and when John Dent stepped down as Chairman in 1867 due to Dent and Co.’s bankruptcy, Nissen became the Bank Chairman, he was 31. In Hong Kong, he was Consul for the Hansa Towns of Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck as well as for Sweden and Norway. Nissen was a founding member of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce as well as a member of the Chamber’s first General Committee. Nissen left Hong Kong in October 1867 and returned to Hamburg. He became the President of the Hamburg-American Steamship Company, and a director of the Anglo-German Bank of Hamburg.


Arthur Sassoon, D. Sassoon, Sons and Co. 沙遜洋行


Waldemar Schmidt, Fletcher and Co. 費禮查洋行
Fletcher and Co., formerly Innes, Fletcher & Co. - a partnership between James Innes and Mr. Fletcher (still looking up info on him), opium trader. J. Innes (1787-1841), nicknamed 'Storm Petrel of Canton' and 7th Chieftain of the Inneses of Dunkinty, Scotland, came to China in C.1825 and started as a free trader in opium before the partnership with Fletch. No information on Waldemar Schmidt was found at this time, except that his name sounds German.


And, here is the man: Thomas Sutherland, Superintendent, P&O SN Co.

________________________________

The following Statement of Intent was issued in the name of the Chairman of the Provisional Committee,

"Notwithstanding the very extensive foreign trade with China and Japan [the Hongkong and Shanghae Banking Company (Limited)] is the first Bank locally started or in which the majority of our Merchants are directly interested ... the chief inducement which the promoters had in view was to supply an absolute want arising out of inability of the Branch Banks established here to meet the varied requirements of local trade. This trade implying the business between Hong Kong and the open ports in China and Japan is now of the most extensive character and requires a more special mode of dealing than any Bank Agency can possibly supply.

In this respect the promoters of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank believe that from the experience of its Directors and the sources of information at their disposal arising from the fact of the proprietors being connected with every branch of trade in this country, they will be enabled most materially to aid the legitimate working of business."

Francis Chomley, Chairman, Provisional Committee

________________________________

[1] There are about ten banks having their branch operations in Hong Kong including:
Agra and United Service Bank (represented by Henry Noble)
Central Bank of Western India (represented by W.M. Davidson)
Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (represented by A. Hay Anderson)
Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China (represented by W. Ormiston)
Commercial Bank of India (represented by P.R. Harper)
Oriental Bank Corporation (represented by W. Lamond)
Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan
Asiatic Banking Corporation

[2] Samuel Russell & Co.

[3] I found the marriage notice of A. E. Heard from the New York City Marriage & Death Notices 1857-1868. Although this is not relevant to the post topic, but this discovery is too good to not share with you, ...

MARRIED 1868: Heard--Livingston.--On Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Callendar House, Tivoli, N.Y., by Rev. Mr. Platt, Mary Allen, daughter of Henry W. Livingston, of the Manor of Livingston, to Albert Farley Heard, of Ipswich, Mass.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Clock Tower

Updated (partial) on 9/21/2012

The Pedder Street Clock Tower (1862-1913)

Hong Kong's first clock tower was located at the junction of Queen's Road Central and Pedder Street. Designed by Rawlings & Company [1], the 80 feet high tower was the brainchild of John Dent [2] who, at a public meeting on July 28, 1860, proposed to erect by public subscription a clock tower, town clock and fire bell, the tower to be connected with a drinking fountain. A committee, composed of J. Brodersen, J.H. Beckwith, Douglas Lapraik, G. Lyall who was the co-founder of the mercantile firm Lyall Still & Co. 孻也洋行, Charles St. George Cleverly who was the second Surveyor General, was immediately formed to collect subscription, which at first flowed generously. Delay in the execution of the scheme soon caused the enthusiasm to cool down, subscription stopped, the scheme had to be curtailed, all the decorative features of the original pretty design had to be abandoned, and the result was an ugly tower obstructing the principal thoroughfare. Lapraik came generously to the rescue of the committee and provided, at his own cost, the town clock, which sounded for the first time on new year's eve of 1862, ushering in the year 1863. John Dent also stepped in and erected a drinking fountain next to the tower. A landmark for more than half a century, the Pedder Street Clock Tower became a serious obstruction to traffic as the number of motor cars continued to grow, since their first arrivals in Hong Kong in 1903-05. Work on the tower's demolition began in May 1913 and completed three months later in August. The Clock, being of no further service was sold at public auction, realizing $662.50. 

___________________________________________________

What's next, ...

Douglas Castle Clock Tower (1860- )

Built two years earlier than the Pedder Street Clock Tower, the Douglas Castle was George Lapraik's country house in Pok Fu Lam. The Mission Etranferes de Paris acquired the property in 1894 to operate the Nazareth Press for the monastery. In 1953, it was sold to the University of Hong Kong for use as students' residence, and named University Hall. I have not listed it as the first clock tower in Hong Kong for the reason that it wasn't a public building.

___________________________________________

[1] Rawlings & Company, architects, later renamed as Rawling, Medlen and Company. The chief partner of the firm is believed to be Samuel Bartlett Rawling, an officer of the British Royal Engineers who, in 1860 in response to governor Hercules Robinson's public appeal for a water-supply scheme for Hong Kong, submitted a plan that would later developed into Hong Kong's first reservoir – the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir. Rawling was an assistant engineer in Surveyor General's Office from 1862 to 1863.

[2] John Dent of Dent and Co., relative of founder Thomas Dent, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce 1863, Senior Unofficial Member of Legislative Council 1866-1867

KCR - The Early Days

I will tease you with some photos first, ... the story will follow.

Colonial Namesake

View Hong Kong in a larger map

I'll pin several a day, there are quite a number of them, ...

Check here for a full list of streets in Hong Kong, which were named after personalities from the colonial era. The first naming was made in the 1840s of Queen's Road in honor of Queen Victoria, whilst the last one was made in the 1990s of Wilson Trail in honor of the second last Governor, David Wilson.

Drug Money To Fund Printing Of Bible

Updated on November 25, 2009

There are only two streets in Hong Kong that are named after Protestant clergies. Morrison Hill Road (摩理臣山道) in Wanchai is named after the first Christian Protestant missionary to have come to China – the Scottish missionary Robert Morrison (馬禮遜) [1]. Gützlaff Street (吉士笠街) in Central, between Lyndhurst Terrace and Gage Street, is named after the first Lutheran missionary to China (1831-1851) – the Prussian born Karl Frederick August Gützlaff (郭士立 later on 郭實腊) (1803-1851).

As if still living in the era of the
Spanish Conquistador, Gutzlaff
had no problem, as it seemed,
helping a foreign invading army
against the very country he was
sent to assist on an unjust cause,
and proliferating opium to people
whose souls he vowed to save.The legacy of Gützlaff: He translated, together with three other collaborators, the Bible into the Chinese language [2]. He assisted in the negotiations during the Opium War and in the British occupation of Chinese territories fallen into British forces. In the fall of 1832, he accepted an arrangement with William Jardine, the medical-doctor-turned-agency-merchant-turned-opium-smuggler, to interpret for Jardine's opium transactions up and down the China coast in exchange for being permitted to proselytize after hours and, for money he would use to print the Chinese Bible he translated. He would continued this arrangement until April 1833.

_______________________________

►  Gützlaff learned Chinese when he was in Java in 1826, sent there by the Netherlands Missionary Society. Before landing in China, he was in Singapore and Siam. Incidentally, he was the first Christian Protestant missionary to have worked in Siam.

►  Gützlaff had been associated with Henry Pottinger since the later arrived in China and took charge of the armed conflict with China, later know as the Opium War. Gützlaff was appointed civil magistrate in Chusan (Zhoushan, 舟山) following the British occupation of the island. Gützlaff anglicized himself as Charles Gutzlaff.

Gützlaff was the first Missionary
to have dressed as a Chinese►  Following the establishment of the Hong Kong Government in 1843, Gützlaff became the Chinese Secretary. There were records that show Gützlaff was appointed to a commission in 1844 to consider and recommend compensation to villages whose ancestral burying ground were to be relocated to facilitate a major drainage improvement project for Happy Valley. Gützlaff did most of the work interviewing the villages and attempting to ascertain current values.

► European living in Hong Kong in the early years were accustomed to hiring watchmen to guard their residences and warehouses because robberies were very common. From March 15, 1844, Gutzlaff spent two hours each day in the morning to provide a service to potential employers to enquire into the character of any watchman and to issue his certificate in respect of those he believes to be honest.

►  Gützlaff founded the Chinese Evangelization Society (中國傳教會) for the purpose of sending religious workers to China. In 1853, Hudson Taylor (戴德生), from England became the first missionary to be sent to China by the Society. The society was disbanded in 1865. Gützlaff was honored the name "The Apostle of China".

►  Gützlaff died in 1851 and was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery.

►  Books written by Gützlaff:

- Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China in 1831, 1832 and 1833, with notices of Siam, Corea, and the Loo-Choo Islands
- A Sketch of Chinese History, Ancient and Modern
- China Opened
- Life of Tao Kwang
_____________________________________

[1] Robert Morrison was the father of John Robert Morrison (馬儒翰) (1814-1843). Born in Macao, the young Morrison lived a celebrated, though short life. He published the first English newspaper circulated in Hong Kong – The Hong Kong Gazatte – in May 1841 and the first English newspaper published and circulated in Hong Kong – Friend of China – in 1842. He was the chief translator for Henry Pottinger during the negotiations of the Treaty of Nanking. He became Pottinger's secretary when the later assumed governorship in Hong Kong. He was appointed the first Colonel Secretary in June 1843, and the first Official Member of the Legislative Council in August of the same year. Days after the Legislative Council appointment, Morrison died from sickness at the young age of 29. Gützlaff worked under Morrison in all affairs relating to the British and Hong Kong governments.

[2] Cooperating with Walter Henry Medhurst, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, and John Robert Morrison, Gützlaff set out to translate the Bible into Chinese in 1840. The translation of the Hebrew part was done mostly by Gützlaff , with the exception that the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua were done by the group collectively. This translation, completed seven years later, is quite remarkable due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全) of the Taiping Rebellion (太平天國) as some of the reputed early doctrines of the organization.

_____________________________________

"When we sold the Heathen nations rum and opium in rolls,

And the Missionaries went along to save their sinful souls."

The Old Clipper Days
-- Julian S. Cutler

Consul From the Dixieland

Last Updated on November 15, 2011

Frederick Busch [1] arrived in Hong Kong in 1843 and opened the US Consulate in his capacity as the first American Consul. This is the same year when Henry Pottinger took up office as the first governor. Not much information on Busch surfaced to this point, except that he complained time and again that very few American ships had stopped in Hong Kong and all the business was in China and Shanghai. In fact, American merchants in Canton in those days described Hong Kong as a "dog's hole" where no business was transacted.

Then, 35 years after the opening of the consulate, a Civil War legend took up the Consul position and stayed here in Hong Kong for seven years and, his name is John Mosby, or “Gray Ghost” Mosby.

John Singleton Mosby (b.1833-d.1916) was born in Powhatan County, Virginia, and grew up on a farm near Charlottesville in the Virginia Piedmont. After studying at the University of Virginia, and reading law while serving a jail sentence for shooting a fellow student, he was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1854. In the election of 1860 he was a Douglas Democrat and a supporter of the Union, but upon the secession of Virginia he entered the Confederate military service under cavalry Colonel J.E.B. Stuart. With the consent of Stuart and R.E. Lee he subsequently formed an independent cavalry unit – the 43rd Battalion Virginia Cavalry, Partisan Rangers - which operated behind Union lines in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, which region became known as "Mosby's Confederacy." The unit was noted for its lightning quick raids, partisan or ranger-like tactics and Mosby's ability to successfully elude his Union Army pursuers and disappear with his men, blending in with local farmers and townspeople, hence the “Gray Ghost” nickname.

The history of his war experiences in found in the Memoirs, finished near the end of his life and published in 1917. Always of an individualist temperament, Mosby became a friend of Ulysses Grant after the War, and a Republican. He had several U.S. Government posts, including a consulship in Hong Kong. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1916.

Mosby and his men carried out the Greenback Raid and attacked Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's wagon train at Berryville in 1863.

________________________________

Reference Books:

• The Memoirs of John Singleton Mosby, by John Singleton Mosby, edited by Charles W. Russell
• Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby, by Kevin H. Siepel/ Peter A. Brown (INT)/ Benjamin F. Cooling (INT)/ Eugene McCarthy (FRW)
• Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby by James Ramage

[1] Not be mistaken with America’s most prolific writers of fiction long and short under the same name. Frederick Busch, the writer, was born more than a century later than the diplomat Busch and is the father of Major Benjamin Busch, US Marine. The young Busch is famous for his portrayal of Anthony Colicchio on the HBO original series 'The Wire'.

________________________________

The notes put forward by the Great-Great Grandchild of Frederick Busch, whom I have mistaken as the first US Consul stationed in Hong Kong, had me working again on the matters relating to the early US diplomatic agents sent to Hong Kong. Here are some updates:

Thomas Westbrook Waldron (b. May 21, 1814, New Hampshire - d. September 18, 1844, Macau) was indeed the US Consul in Hong Kong in 1843. He was tabled as Consul in Hong Kong in the 1843 “Register of All Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in The Service of the United States”, prepared by the Department of States. There was, however, no mention of his place of birth in the table. It was further remarked that he was to be paid by “fee” (meaning reimbursement of expenses he incurred on consular affairs) rather than a fixed salary. This is what I interpreted: Waldron, a ship captain’s clerk in his own right, happened to be in Hong Kong right at the time a Consul was needed. The appointment was most probably a marriage of convenience. As can be seen in a story carried in the Friend of China of February 3, 1844, Waldron arrived in Hong Kong without the official diplomatic credentials.

We notice the arrival in Hong Kong of Thomas W Waldron, U S Government Agent, with stores for the U S Squadron.
We understand he is to be Consul in Hong Kong and only awaits the arrival of his credentials to take up the office.

Waldron died on September 18, 1844 after contracting cholera in Macau where he was said to travel to on official business. Considering that he had not had his official papers in February that same year, his short-lived tenure as US Consul lasted no more than six months. Son of Nathaniel Sheafe Waldron and Virginia Riggs, Thomas W. came from an old New Hampshire family. His Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Col. Richard Waldron (b.1650-d.1730) of the New Hampshire militia married Hannah Cutt, daughter of John Cutt, the first President of the royal Province of New Hampshire. Cutt married the daughter of  Dr. Comfort Starr, a founder of the Harvard University.

Here are information on some of the US Consuls and Consul Generals appointed to Hong Kong up until the collapse of the Qing China.

May 24, 1853- January 22, 1862 James Keenan
1862-1865 Horace N. Congar (b.1817 - d.1893)
1869 - Col. C.N. Goulding
1871 - David H. Baily
1879 - John S. Mosby
1886 - R.E. Withers
1890 - Oliver H. Simons
1893 - William E. Hunt
1897 - Rounsevelle Wildman, Consul General
1901 - William A. Rublee, Consul General
1902 - Edward S. Bragg, Consul General
1906 - Amos P. Wilder
1909 - William A. Rublee, Consul General
1911 - George E. Anderson, Consul General

Beauty Queen Goes To Hollywood

Update August 16, 2016

N.B. In connection with the recent discovery (and restoration of) the presumed lost 1927 Chinese film – Cave of the Silken Web 盤絲洞 at the National Library of Norway, the management of the Library is now desirous in making contact with Miss Judy Dan or members of her family. I've been asked by the Library to assist and hence the posting of this appeal. Will anyone, please, who knows the whereabouts of Miss Judy Dan, or how she could be contacted, including members of her family, email me at rudibutt@hotmail.com . Any and all information will be redirected to the National Library of Norway instantaneous. Thank you. Lost Cave of the Silken Web (1927) was directed by Dan Duyu 但杜宇 and featured Yan Mingzhu 殷明珠as lead actress. They were the parents of Miss. Judy Dan. (11/15/2013)

After achieving an incredible third runner-up title at the very first Miss Universe beauty pageant [1], 1952 Miss Hong Kong, Judy Dan 但茱迪, went to Hollywood and became the first actress from Hong Kong to appear in a US blockbuster production. She played the role of a Royal Wife in the 1956 Twentieth Century Fox musical 'The King and I' that starred Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner. Her acting career in movies and on television continued for more than a decade, but no longer in a blockbuster film.

Yan Minzhu

Born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, Dan is the daughter of Chinese film director Dan Duyu 但杜宇 and actress Yan Mingzhu 殷明珠 (b.1904-d.1989). She worked for Cathay Pacific Airlines (not as a flight stewardess) prior to part taking in the Miss Hong Kong Beauty Contest.

Miss Hong Kong Beauty Contest, as it was known at its debut in 1946, was organized under the auspicious of the Hong Kong China Amateur Swimming Club 香港中華業余泳團 and the Royal Air Force Club, no more than 10 months after the Imperial Japanese Army surrendered to the Allied Forces in Hong Kong. The contest was staged at the Ritz Garden Nightclub 麗池花園夜總會 in North Point for the reason that club owner, Lee Choi Fat 李裁法, was in fact the organizer of the event. Lee, a protégés of Shanghai crime boss Du Yuesheng 杜月笙, was acquitted after being charged in 1945 for the crime of collaborating with the enemy during the Japanese occupation. He was well connected in the political circles in China.

At the Miss Hong Kong pageant 1952, Judy Dan was crowned by Prof. Wong Ching-Ting 王正廷 (man standing behind Dan in the photo). Prof. Wong is a very distinguished diplomat and statesman: Ph. D. from Yale University, Foreign Minister of the Nanjing Republic Government, Chinese Ambassador to USA, Chairman of Red Cross China, Life Member of IOC, etc. I have as yet found out what his relation with Lee Choi Fat was, but incidentally, Du Yuesheng was the Chairman of Red Cross Shanghai around the same time Prof. Wong was countrywide.

[1] Miss Universe was held the very first time in 1952 in Long Beach, California, USA. Number of entrants: 30. The results:

Miss Universe 1952: Armi Kuusela from Finland
1st runner-up: Elza Edsman from Hawaii
2nd runner-up Ntaizy Mavraki from Greece
3rd runner-up: Judy Dan from Hong Kong
4th runner-up: Renate Hoy from Germany

Here are some of the modern-day beauty pageants and the years when they got started:
1940	Miss Shanghai, organized and held at DD’s Night Club on July 5, 1940
1946	Miss Hong Kong
1951	Miss World held in London and created by Eric Morley
1952	Miss Universe
1952	Miss USA, started off as a local “bathing beauty” competition organized by swimwear maker Catalina in Long Beach, California
1960	Miss International, held in Long Beach, California after Miss Universe moved to Miami Beach

[2] Judy Dan's Filmography
Year	Title	Type	Role
1956	The King and I	movie (21CF)	Royal Wife (uncredited)
	Flight to Hong Kong	movie (Rorvic Prod.; Sabre Prod.)	Stewardess (uncredited)
	Matinee Theater: The Lighted Window (June 25, s1e168)	TV (NBC)	unknown
	The Lone Ranger: The Letter Bride (November 15, s5e10)	TV	Mah Lin Soong
1957	The Seventh Sin	movie (MGM)	Mrs. Tim Waddington (uncredited)
	Pal Joey	movie	Hat Check Girl
1958	G.E. True Theater: The Cold Touch (s6e27)	TV	Airline Clerk
1960	Wake Me When It's Over	movie	Geisha Girl
	Hawaiian Eye: Services Rendered	TV	Kelly Chou
	Hawaiian Eye: Services The Bequest of Arthur Goodwin	TV	Secretary
	Pete and Gladys: No Man Is Japan	TV	Fumiko
	The Barbara Stanwyck Show: The Miraculous Journey of Tadpole Chan	TV	Miss Kow
	Hong Kong: Blind Bargain	TV	Model
	77 Sunset Strip: The Wide-Screen Caper	TV	Lotus Lee
	Richard Diamond, Private Detective: East of Danger	TV	Sally Fong
	Johnny Ringo: Single Debt	TV	Lisa Lu Chung
	Rescue 8: Ti-Ling as Kim	TV	Kim
	Sugarfoot: The Highbinder	TV	Ah Yung
1961	Bachelor Father: Peter's Punctured Wedding (November 21; s5e9)	TV (ABC)	Lu San
	Adventures in Paradise: Queens Back to Back	TV	Mei Ling
1962	The Spiral Road	movie (Universal Pictures)	Laja
	Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock	movie (Gray-Mac Prod.)	Loi Yan Wu
	War Is Hell	movie	Yung Chi Thomas
	Perry Mason: The Case of the Weary Watchdog (November 29; s6e9)	TV (CBS)	Trixie Tong
1963	My Three Sons: Honorable Grandfather (January 3; s3e16)	TV	Mai Pah
1967	Kill a Dragon	movie (Aubrey Schenck Prod.)	Chunhyang
1969	Get Smart: And Baby Makes Four Part 1 (November 7; s5e7)	TV (NBC)	Nurse Suzie Hayakawa
	Get Smart: And Baby Makes Four Part 2 (November 14; s5e8)

Appendix I

Miss Hong Kong, 1946 - 1973 (U/C)

	Miss Hong Kong	1st Runner-up	2nd Runner-up
1946	Lee Lan 李蘭, born  梁淑真	Betty 白光, born 黃金鳳	潘江楓
1947	吳丹鳯	陳安妮	朱麗妍 and 白麗蓮 (dual winners)
1948	鄧波兒, born 司馬音
1952	Judy Dan 但茱迪
1954	Virginia Lee 李慧珍	桑蓮宜	張慧珠
1959	莫萍貞	羅懿如	王麗貞, alias 莫愁
1960	張慧云	葛愛賢	李德
1962	龐碧光
1965	杜約克	趙莉莉
1966	馬嘉慧
1973	Deborah Lee, born 李敏儀, alias 李嬙, alias 狄波拉

Appendix II

Miss Hong Kong Organizaed by TVB, 1973 - 2012

	Miss Hong Kong	1st Runner-up	2nd Runner-up
1973	Elaine Sung 孫泳恩	Judy Yung 容朱迪	Ethel Lau 劉慧德
1974	Jo Jo Cheung 張文瑛	Judith Dirkin 杜茱迪	Judith Dirkin 李錦文
1975	Mary Cheung 張瑪莉	Teresa Chu 朱翠娟	Conny Kwan 關淑芬
1976	Rowena Lam 林良蕙	Christine Leung 梁靜文	Margaret Tsui 徐美玲
1977	Loletta Chu 朱玲玲	Lui Shui-yung 呂瑞容	Dorothy Yu 余綺霞
1978	Winnie Chan 陳文玉	Faustina Lin 連惠玲	Regina Tsang 曾慶瑜
1979	Olivia Cheng 鄭文雅	Mary Ng 吳美麗	Maria Chung 鍾慧冰
1980	Wanda Tai 戴月娥	Julia Chan 陳鳳芝	Janet Wong 黃靜
1981	Irene Lo 勞錦嫦	Winnie Chin 錢慧儀	Deborah Moore 狄寶娜摩亞
1982	Anglie Leon Leung 梁韻蕊	Cally Kwong 鄺美雲	Isabella Kau 寇鴻萍
1983	Cher Yeung 楊雪儀	Maggie Cheung 張曼玉	Eve Lee 李月芙
1984	Joyce Mina Godenzi 高麗虹	Margaret Ma 馬倩衡	Joan Tong 唐麗球
1985	Shallin Tse 謝寧	Aleen Lo 羅錦如	Ellen Wong 王愛倫
1986	Robin Lee 李美珊	May Ng 吳婉芳	Patty Ngai 倪萱彤
1987	Pauline Yeung 楊寶玲	Elizabeth Lee 李美鳳	Wing Lam 林穎嫺
1988	Michele Monique Reis 李嘉欣	Sheila Chin 陳淑蘭	Cynthia Cheung 張郁蕾
1989	Monica Chan 陳法蓉	Donna Chu 朱潔儀	Isabel Leung 梁佩瑚
1990	Anita Yuen 袁詠儀	Helen Yung 翁杏蘭	Noel Leung 梁小冰
1991	Amy Kwok 郭藹明	Valerie Chow 周嘉玲	Ada Choi 蔡少芬
1992	Emily Lo 盧淑儀	Patsy Lau 劉殷伶	Shirley Cheung 張雪玲
1993	Hoyan Mok 莫可欣	May Lam 林麗薇	Middy Yu 余少寶
1994	Halina Tam 譚小環	Annamarie Wood 活麗明	Theresa Lee 李綺虹
1995	Winnie Young 楊婉儀	Sofie Rahman  李嘉慧	Shirley Chau 周婉儀
1996	Lee San-san 李珊珊	Chillie Poon 潘芝莉	Fiona Yuen 袁彩雲
1997	Virginia Yung 翁嘉穗	Vivian Lee 李明慧	Charmaine Sheh 佘詩曼
1998	Anne Heung 向海嵐	Jessie Chiu 趙翠儀	Natalie Ng 吳文忻
1999	Sonija Kwok 郭羡妮	Marsha Yuan 原子鏸	Myolie Wu 胡杏兒
2000	Vivian Lau 劉慧蘊	Margaret Kan 簡佩堅	Maree Lau 劉嘉慧
2001	Shirley Yeung 楊思琦	Gigi Chung 鍾沛枝	Heidi Chu 朱凱婷
2002	Tiffany Lam 林敏俐	Victoria Jane Jolly 左慧琪	Cathy Wu 胡家惠
2003	Mandy Lee Cho 曹敏莉	Rabee'a Yeung 楊洛婷	Priscilla Chi 戚黛黛
2004	Kate Tsui 徐子珊	Queenie Chu 朱慧敏	Fu Sze-sze 符思思
2005	Tracy Ip 葉翠翠	Sharon Luk 陸詩韻	Carrie Lam 林莉
2006	Aimee Chan 陳茵媺	Janet Chow 周家蔚	Koni Lui 呂慧儀
2007	Kayi Cheung 張嘉兒	Grace Wong 王君馨	Loretta Chow 周美欣
2008	Edelweiss Cheung 張舒雅	Skye Chan 陳倩揚	Sire Ma 馬賽
2009	Sandy Lau 劉倩婷	Germaine Lee 李姿敏	Mizuni Hung 熊穎詩
2010	Toby Chan 陳庭欣	Sammi Cheung 張秀文	Lisa Ch'ng 莊思明
2011	Rebecca Zhu 朱晨麗	Hyman Chu 朱希敏	Whitney Hui 許亦妮
2012	Carat Cheung 張名雅	Jacqueline Wong 黃心穎	Tracy Chu 朱千雪

- TO BE COMPLETED -