HONG KONG'S FIRST

Philadelphia Quaker, Soldier of Fortune

2012-02-03T20:18:00.067+08:00

Sandwith Drinker

Updated on February 24, 2012

Sandwith Drinker (b. November 19, 1808, Philadelphia – d. January 17, 1857, Macau) came from a remarkable East Coast family whose history traced back to the 1630s. His fifth great-grandfather, Philip Drinker (b. October, 1596, Exeter, Devon – d. June 23, 1647, Charlestown, Massachusetts), a potter by profession, was among the about 220 passengers who boarded the immigration ship Abigail in various ports before finally leaving its last port in England, Plymouth, on June 4, 1635. Its destination – New England. Philip had brought with him his wife, Elizabeth (b.1603 – d. October 7, 1651), and their two boys, Edward, thirteen, and John, eight. Abigail arrived Colonial America on or about October 8, 1635 and anchored in Massachusetts Bay, reportedly with smallpox aboard. I do not know how the quarantine (I suppose there ought to be one) had affected Philip's travel plan, but it would take the family two years from the end of their sea journey to finally settling down, on May 17, 1637, at their intended place of residence, Charlestown. Philip was a much welcomed addition to the community; he was the first potter not only in Charlestown, but the entire New England. In 1638, he and a man named James Green (b.1610-d.1687, Philip would referred him as Brother James) was given half a house with a garden at the east end of the common lands, where Mystic (Mystick) River bridge of today connects Charlestown and Everett. He kept the first ferry over the Mystic River, which was later called Penny Ferry, from 1640 to 1647. He was admitted to the church on February 6, 1638 and became a Freeman, and was appointed a town officer in 1646. Philip ran his pottery with son Edward and apprentice (or servant) John Gouldsmith (Goldsmith). As his business prospered, after a time he had another house built in which he resided until he died on June 23, 1647. Philip left this house and the pottery to Edward, who continued the business until he was chased out of Charlestown by Dunkards. Edward, like his father, opposed infant baptism and the theory of infant damnation and was quite vocal about his opinion despite having been labeled as an Anabaptist. In 1665, he was jailed for forming a new church, with a small group of religious radicals headed by Thomas Gould - which was illegal, and after a brief detention, had escaped to Boston. In the same year he helped founded the First Baptist Church of Boston. Edward started a pottery and shop in Boston and continued to prosper. Their pottery in Charlestown was taken over by Edwrad's apprentice James Kettle (b.1664-d. ), who himself became a famous potter.

John, Philip's younger son, meanwhile not following his father's path, became a shipwright. Unlike his brother Edward, who was fast becoming a wealthy man (by 1687 Edward owned twelve houses, mills, and wharves, a horse, and twenty cows), John led a humble livelihood. He inherited from his father half the house given by the town and somehow also procured James Green's interest in the property (Green purchased land from a Abraham Palmer in 1647, the same year Philip died, and built his own house there), so that he and his wife, also named Elizabeth, continued to live there. The other half of the house was owned and occupied by a man named William Bicknor. John sold his interest in that property on January 10, 1655. As John's business prospered, he acquired a new house on Trumbull’s Lane, which he later sold in July 1676.

Here is the line-of-descent from John Drinker to Sandwith Drinker: John (b.1627–d. ), Joseph (b.1653-d. ), Joseph (Jr.) (b.1684– d.1742), Henry (b.1709 –d.1764), Henry (Jr.) (b.1733–d.1809), Henry Sandwith (b.1770– d.1824), Sandwith.

Joseph Drinker, son of John and wife Elizabeth was the first Drinker born in America. I have nothing on him except that he lived in Beverly. Genealogical data of his family, and those of his descendants are contained in the footnotes. Joseph Jr., son of Joseph and Ruth Balch, was probably a stonemason. He and his wife Mary Janney removed from Beverly to Philadelphia, and there he was admitted as a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends. Joseph Jr.'s son, Henry, was a scrivener by profession. As I understand it, he would either be a professional or public copyist or writer, or a notary public, or all of those. He married Mary Gottier of Philadelphia, on November 26, 1731, before a magistrate in Burlington, New Jersey, without the consent of his parents. He was 22, Mary 18.

Henry Jr. (he was never referred to as Henry Drinker, Jr., I added the Jr. suffix so not to confuse him with his father), son of Henry and Mary Gottier, was the most famous Drinker of all time. The same can also be said about his wife, Elizabeth Sandwith. Henry Jr. had been, at the age of ten or eleven, apprenticed to shopkeeper George James, and afterward formed a partnership with his son, Abel James, in the shipping and importing business, trading under the name of James & Drinker. The firm was ranked one of the top importers of the time. In 1773, the firm was appointed one of the four Philadelphia consignees for the tea that the British East India Company planned to sell in the American market. Amidst heavy public pressure, Henry Jr. and Abel resigned their appointments, but even then they could not erase the public suspicion that they were British supporters. In around 1770, Henry Jr. and Abel bought a partial interest in an ironworks in Atsion, New Jersey. During the Revolutionary War, the ironworks was engaged in supplying camp kettles, but no products relating to weaponry for the Continental army. The ironwork continued to prosper until 1815, from whence business had gone downhill. By 1832, it was in ruin and was sold to a new owner. Henry Jr's partnership with Abel James ended in 1776 when James went bankrupt after loosing out in property speculation. With the money he salvaged from wounding up the partnership, Henry Jr. bought two farms, Retreat Plantation and Mount Carmel, as well as timberlands, all in South Carolina.

In the first five days in September 1777, the Supreme Executive Council of the governing authorities of Pennsylvania issued a warrant for the arrest of forty one Tories (British royalists) and Quakers based on a list drawn up by the Continental Congress's ad hoc Committee on Spies; John Adams was one of the only three members in the Committee, for the fear that they might turn enemy collaborators or even saboteurs. The Quakers, by nature pacifists, would maintain their neutrality, therefore refused to sign non-importation agreements and other acts in support of the new government, and gave the Continental government all the reasons they need for the arrest. On September 11, twenty arrested men, including seventeen Quakers, among them Henry Jr., was sent into captivity without trail in Virginia. They remained in jail until April 24, 1778. Two had died in captivity.

Henry Jr. had completely recovered his social stature in Philadelphia a decade after being persecuted as a religious nonconformist. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society on January 20, 1786, and a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia on April 15, 1789. He was an active supporter of Westtown School and served on the Board of the “Overseers of ye publick School” of Philadelphia. Henry Jr. had an monstrous appetite for land (or in today's term, landbanking) but lacked behind in enthusiasm for their development. Soon after the Revolution, he, together with three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, George Clymer, and Robert Morris (the latter two were among the five people who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution), and Samuel Meredith, the Quaker brother-in-law of George Clymer, and several other important figures began to procure Pennsylvania wild lands by hundreds of thousands of acres. Additionally, he had purchased from the State, in the course of 1789 to 1791, twenty five thousand acres of land in what are now the counties of Lackawanna, Wayne, Pike and Sussquehanna, which was later dubbed Drinker's Beech. The development of this land would only come to fruition when undertaken by Henry Jr' grandnephew, Col. Henry Waln Drinker [1] (b. June 25, 1787 - d. October 13,1866), oddly a non-pacifist Quaker who fought in the War of 1812. The subsequent discovery of coal in the land and Henry Waln's perseverance in bringing the resources of the wilderness to the attention of the outside world had created a large fortune for this branch of the Drinker family when the land was sold to others in 1866, the year the Colonel died.

[1] Henry Jr. bequeathed the Drinker's Beech to his nephew Henry (b.1757-d.1822), son of his elder brother John (b.1733-d.1800) and father of Henry Waln, instead of any of his sons. What (there ought to be something) went wrong between Henry Jr. and his children was not mentioned anywhere I have looked. Henry, the nephew, was elected in 1800 Cashier of the Bank of North America, Philadelphia, the first bank chartered in the United States (1782, opened for business in 1783, and eventually became a part of Wells Fargo, through a number of merges and acquisitions between 1929 and 2008), a position he had held until at least 1820. The bank was founded by Robert Morris, Henry Jr.'s friend and partner in the landbanking enterprise.

Sharing Henry Jr's fame in history was his wife, Elizabeth Sandwith, daughter of William Sandwith, merchant and shipowner. She went to the Anthony Benezet's Friends school in Philadelphia, and was exceptionally well educated for a woman at that time. Elizabeth was famous for the journal that she had been keeping since she was twenty three years old (1758) and continued until the night before her last illness (1807). The Journal of Philadelphia Quaker Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker is praised as the single most significant personal record of eighteenth-century life in America from a woman's perspective. The original diary is being kept in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the time when her husband was jailed in Virginia, Elizabeth was one of the four women sent by the detainees' families in April 1778 to present their case to General George Washington and Congress. On April 6, she was invited by Martha Washington to dine with her and her husband at Valley Forge. Further negotiations continued between the captors and representative of the captured following the wives' petition. The detainees were released weeks later.

Henry Sandwith, born to Henry Jr. and Elizabeth Sandwith, was the father of our man, Sandwith – merchant ship captain-turned-importer-mercenary. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any information about Henry Sandwith other than his genealogical data and that of his family. It seems odd to me that none of Henry Jr's children became personages of any sort, given the family's wealth and stature in Philadelphia, not to mention his connections with people of prominence.

Sandwith Drinker was born in Philadelphia on November 19, 1808 to a rather big family, even for one of Quaker. He had thirdteen siblings, only eight however lived to adulthood. I found no information about Sandwith's childhood or him as a young man. The first record about him showed that he was already twenty nine years of age, by then he was a merchant ship captain and had been living in Macau since 1837. Sandwith was the first ship captain in the Drinker family, not counting his great-grandfather Captain William Sandwith (b.1700-d.1756) from whom, Sandwith got his name. William died long before Sandwith was born, so I reckon William was not the source d'inspiration to Sandwith for choosing a seafaring life.

Macau 1830, by unknown artist, Australia National Museum
View of the Praia Grende

In the 1830s, Macau was the only entrepot in China open to all foreign powers, no less importantly it was a center for spreading Christendom. It was the place to be at for anyone who wanted to make it in the Orient, Quakers including. Sandwith had no problem finding other Friends to congregate, whether they were from the United States or England. The Society of Friends had a presence in China and Macau since the Eighteenth Century, and in Hong Kong since about 1839. The most outstanding American Quakers having their presence in Canton (Guangzhou) / Macau were David Washington Cincinnatus Olyphant (b.1789-d.1851) who founded the trading firm Olyphant & Co. in Canton in 1826, and Nathan Dunn (b.1782-d.1844) of Philadelphia. Both Olyphant and Nathan were very active in opposing the illegal importation of opium into China and opiate abuse. They and some other Friends were the only foreign merchants permitted to trade with China in the lead up to the First Opium War because of their anti-opium stance. Quakers were influential at the inception of Colonial Hong Kong. When the capital of the island was to be named, "Queen's Town" was suggested and favored by many; the Friends advocated calling it Victoria, and so it was - without further hiccups. There was even a newspaper controlled by Quakers – The Friend of China. The establishment and initial operation of the newspaper, Hong Kong's first non-government paper (March 24, 1842 in Macau and later published in Hong Kong - 1859), was financed by four Quakers. James White (b.1809-d.1883) and Richard Oswald were founders/owners of the newspaper. Unfortunately, I found no records that showed they were Quakers. White was formerly an alderman of London (1837-1839 or 1841), who left Hong Kong for Shanghai in 1844. Oswald was a young merchant active in land speculation in Hong Kong, who died in London at the age of thirty eight, leaving a substantial estate. White co-edited the paper with the Rev. Jehu Lewis Shuck 淑士人 (b.1812-d.1863), a Virginia Baptist minister who arrived in Macau in 1836. I know not if Sandwith was a devoted member of the Friends, but he certainly came from a family of staunch Quakers. His grandfather Henry Jr. was one of the most prominent Quakers at his time, who served as Clerk of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. His granduncle John (b.1733-d.1800) was the Clerk of the Meeting for Sufferings whilst another granduncle Joseph (b.1737-d.1809) was the first advocate of equal admission of people to the Society of Friends regardless of their color; he opined this pioneering notion in an essay he wrote in 1795. All three were persecuted by the new government during the Revolutionary War.

So it was Macau that Sandwith called home in the late 1830s. He felt ill in 1838 and had been under medical care in Macau, and after a time he went home to Philadelphia and there he stayed temporarily to recuperate his health. While in Philadelphia, he met Susanna Budd Shober (b.1813 - d.1858, Baltimore, Maryland), daughter of Blathwaite Shober and Catharine Ann Snyder. They married on March 17, 1840. Five months later in August, Sandwith accepted a remarkable appointment to navigate the Sultana (built in 1835, also known as the Al-Sultanah), the royal ship of the Sultan Seyyid Said (b.1790-d.1856) of Oman, from New York for Muscat and Zanibar.

The Sultana arrived in New York in April 1840, and became the first vessel of African / Arabian origin to travel to America, and it carried the first Arab emissary to visit the United States. The head of the diplomatic and trade mission was the secretary to the Sultan, al Hajj Ahmad bin Na’aman bin Mushin bin Abdulla el Kaabi el Bahrani. Ahmad bin Na'aman fired the English captain, William Sleemen, who commanded the Sultana from Zanibar upon its arrival in New York. Sleeman had been drunk a lot of times during the journey and as a result, absent from his duty as captain and navigator; the crew had to consult two American sea captains they encountered for advices to set the course. Additionally, the lack of leadership on the part of Sleeman had caused the ship to arrive New York in a wretched condition. When the ship set sail again on August 7, 1840 under the command of Sandwith “Drinker”, who definitely was soberer, it was fully repaired, with the assistance of the City of New York, in pristine condition. It took Sandwith six months to reach Zanibar and another six homebound.

Townsend Harris

Sandwith's first two children were born in Philadelphia, Catharine Ann on May 1, 1841 and Robert Morton on July 1 the following year. He brought the whole family to Macau either towards the end of 1842 or the beginning of 1843. By 1845, he had abandoned seafaring life and settled down in Hong Kong [2]. Sandwith's social circle in Hong Kong was made up of mostly American, of those, Townsend Harris and Eldon Griffin were the closest. Townsend Harris (b.1804, Sandy Hill (Hudson Falls), New York – d.1878, New York) was a New York merchant who made a number of visits to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, between 1848 and 1854. He was the first U.S. Consul General appointed to Meiji Japan (1856-1858, Minister 1858-1861), and was responsible for the negotiation of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the United States and Japan (dubbed the “Harris Treaty') in 1858, which secured the commercial and diplomatic privileges for the United States in Japan and constituted the basis for Western economic penetration of Japan. Dr. Griffin, historian, was the author of the book “Clippers and Consuls: American Consular and Commercial Relations with Eastern Asia, 1845-1860”. Franklin (Frank) B. Meigs (b.1829, Philadelphia –d.1881) became Sandwith's friend when he lived in Hong Kong in 1847-48. Meigs was the son of Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs, one of the most prominent obstetricians at his time. He had been living in Philadelphia since 1817 and was closely related to the Academy of Natural Sciences, which was founded in 1812 in Philadelphia. Sandwith made a number of donations to the museum in 1850, including a Python Javanicus and a head of the Walrus, Trichecus rosmarus, from the Arctic Ocean. A fellow merchant ship captain, and Quaker, from Salem, Nathaniel Kinsman and his wife Rebecca had been friends of the Drinkers since 1843, the year, by coincident, in which the two captains' wives arrived in Macau. Kinsman commanded the Zenobia and ran tea from China to New York for its owner, the famous Bostonian merchant and shipowner Daniel P. Paker. Another old timer Sandwith befriended with was Gideon Nye, Jr. (b.1812, Fair Haven (Achushnet), Massachusetts – d. January 25, 1888, Canton), a merchant who went to Canton in 1833. He returned to the U.S. in 1845 with a large fortune, part of which he invested in a collection of paintings he acquired in London, and later exhibited in New York. Nye returned to China in 1850 and after a time he over extended his operation and upon the falling market in the U.S., his business collapsed in 1856. He was the U.S. Vice Consulin in Macau (1858-1863), and in Canton (1878-1888). He was a noted writer on China and China trade; no less than ten of his books were published. Probably at the introduction of Nye, Sandwith became a friend of Peruvian and naturalized U.S. citizen, William M. Robinet. Robinet was a Hong Kong based Merchant engaging, among other things, in the sugar trade in Fomosa (Taiwan), and in 1856 became the first “American” concern to set up shop in Takow (Kaohsiung 高雄). He was able to secure a number of exclusive concessions from the local authorities in exchange for U.S. Navy's protection against pirates (for the U.S. Navy, this was like an open invitation to station in Takow). Robinet extended his scope to include the trade of camphor from Fomosa and had at one time partnered with Nye.

[2]There was however one reference that said Sandwith was captain of British registered merchant ship Candace, which sailed in 1846 from America to China.

What some of Sandwith's friend had in common was far from being common. Nye, in 1857, laid out a scheme to annex Formosa and presented it to the U.S. government. Townsend Harris and William Robinet were actively rallying behind Nye. Unusual as it was, U.S. diplomats in the region teamed up with flag officers of the U.S. Navy's East India (Indies) Squadron (established in 1835, oddly, in Hong Kong) in giving their endorsements to the aggression plan, they included Commodore Matthew C. Perry, Commodore James Armstrong [3], Dr. Isaac Jackson Allen who was U.S. Consul to Hong Kong, and Dr. Peter Parker, a medical missionary of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, who in 1844 was appointed secretary and interpreter of the first U.S. legation to China, and between 1855 and 1857 the U.S. Commissioner Plenipotentiary to China. The annexation brief, when reached the hands of U.S. Secretary of State William L. Marcy, through Parker and with his endorsement, was outright rejected. Commodore Armstrong was ordered to stand down the task force he had already deployed, on his own authority, outside of Fung-shan (Fengshan 鳳山縣舊城). The objective of the task force was to capture the fortress in Tsoying 左營, in Takow, and from there a marine contingent would land and take possession of the island. After his inauguration as President, Franklin Pierce had Parker replaced and instructed his successor, William Reed, that on no account was the U.S. to annex Chinese territory.

Cdre James Armstrong
[3] Commodore James Armstrong (b.1794– d.1868), commander of the Hong Kong based East India Squadron (October, 1855 – January 1858), was court-martialed in March 1861 for surrendering the Pensacola Navy Yard (Florida) to Confederate forces on Janaury 12, 1861. Convicted of neglect of duty, disobedience of orders, and conduct unbecoming an officer, Armstrong was suspended from duty for five years with loss of pay for half of that period.

The social circle of Sandwith included a fraternity of people who, wishfully, were compatible and shared the same value – the Freemasonry in Hong Kong. Freemasonry reached China in 1759 with the first meeting held in Canton. The first lodge in Hong Kong, the Royal Sussex Lodge was established in September 1844, it later moved to Canton, then on to Shanghai. The second lodge, Zetland Lodge, was established in March 1846 and it has remained in Hong Kong since its formation. Early Freemasons included old fashioned yet aggressive merchants such as Samuel Rawson of Fox, Rowson & Co.; Nicolai Duus, a Danish merchant who was the Danish Consul in Shanghai and Consul for Sweden and Norway in Hong Kong; and Quaker Sandwith Drinker, who became the Worshipful Master of Zetland Lodge (1850-51). There were military and government personnel as well, such as J.H. Cook, paymaster of HMS Minden, Hong Kong's first hospital ship, who was the first Master of the Royal Sussex Lodge; Peter Harrison Spry, paymaster of HMS Wolverine, a sixteen-gun brig sloop came to Hong Kong to take part in the Frist Opium War; James F. Norman, commissariat assistant storekeeper, Royal Artillery; John Pope, a civil engineer who later became the Clerk of Work for the Surveyor-General Department (1844-1847); Alexander Lena, the Italian Assistant Harbor Master; John Wright and T.W. Marsh, both were post office clerks. Hong Kong Freemasons in the Nineteenth Century also included those who held dear a different set of values than their fraternity brothers. Daniel Richard Francis Caldwell 高和爾 (b.1816-d.1875), Registrar General & Protector of Chinese, was kicked out of government service because instead of protecting the Chinese populace, he was protecting his interest in a partnership with notorious Hong Kong-based confederate of pirates Wong Mah-chow 黃墨洲, alias Wong Akee. Cadwell, afterward, offered his service to local operators of gaming and brothel houses. Caldwell was twice elected Master of the Royal Sussex Lodge, thrice the Zetland Lodge. He was so respected that after his death, his fraternity brothers erected for him a magnificent memorial which still stands today in the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley. Camaraderie and righteousness prevailed, no such thing as questionable moral. Barrister William Thomas Bridges 必列者士 (b.1820-d. ), close friend of Caldwell, while holding the office of Acting Colonial Secretary, provided inside information to a bidder of opium monopoly, who was a client of his private law practice, for a fee. The bidder, Chan Tai-kwong 陳大光 (b.1827-d.1882), also a Freemason, was a protégé of George Smith, the first Bishop of Victoria who placed him on three years' probation before ordination. Chan, however, preferred dealing in opium than saving souls. He won the bid acting as the front man of opium syndicate Wo Hang 和興, but soon ran into serious financial difficulties and disappeared from Hong Kong. Yung Wing 容閎 (b.1828-d.1912) was the first Asian graduate of Yale, a naturalized U.S. Citizen, a pious Christian, and a holder of a LL.D. degree from Yale. Yung was not a Freemason. He had in fact applied to become one; his application was blackballed.

Please allow me with a side story. Yung Wing married Mary Louise Kellogg of Avon, Hartford, Connecticut on February 24, 1875. She was the daughter of Edward Kellogg, a doctor of homeopathic medicine, who once cared for the children of Mark Twain. Edward Kellogg was also the fifth-generation ancestor of Clint Eastwood.

Two years after he moved the family from Philadelphia to Macau, Sandwith gave up seafaring life and became a merchant / importer with Hong Kong as his domicile. He did not inherit the craft of trading from his grandfather, Henry Jr., who had mastered and prospered from it but failed to pass on to his own children. Sandwith's change of profession was probably due to health problem, the emerging business prospects created by the opening of Hong Kong as a free port, or the love of his daughter Catharine Ann (b. May 1, 1841, Philadelphia – d. July 19, 1922, Merion, Pennsylvania), then four years old, and who would lived a good and colorful life, or all of those reasons. As an agency trader, Sandwith first business dealing was nothing less than sensational. Sandwith was the Hong Kong agent for Boston shipowner, Frederic Tudor (b.1783-d.1864), nicknamed “The Ice King of the World”, who had been shipping ice cut from Wenham Lake in Massachusetts to various parts of the world since 1805. On July 17, 1845 the first shipment of Tudor ice arrived Hong Kong from Boston by the ship Lenox. The ice was sold to casual buyers for 4 cents a pound and daily delivery could be arranged from Sandwith's ice house [4].

[4] According to records in Hong Kong, the first storage for ice, the “Ice House”, was built in 1845, on the site between Duddell Street and Ice House Lane. The land was granted by the government free of charge for a period of seventy five years on conditions that ice was sold to the government at cost. The first ice importation business from America ended in or about 1850, and Hong Kong relied on ice import from Northern China for more than a decade that followed. The Tudor Company returned to Hong Kong in the 1860s through another agency (Sandwith died in 1857 and his family went home to Philadelphia) working with the Ice Association which was formed in 1862 under the initiative of opium trader John Dent, to anew the American ice supply and erect the original of the present day Ice House (opened in 1864, the same year Tudor died). Business was as usual for Tudor until Glaswegian William N. Bain, M.I.M.E. (Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, U.K.) came to Hong Kong in 1872-73 and brought with him an 540x1 ice-making machine (I am still finding out if 540x1 means the calorie output). Once here, Bain partnered with compatriot, Kyle, and ventured into the ice-making business under the name of Kyle & Bain. They began to build a plant in East Point (present day Causeway Bay) and by September 1874, they were selling locally-frozen ice. Tudor knew that was the beginning of their end as they couldn't compete with freshly made ice that was available on-demand. Four years later in 1878, Tudor & Co. sold their interests in Hong Kong to Kyle & Bain, which marked the final end of importation of American ice. Only a year later in 1879, Kyle and Bain was acquired by Jardine, Matheson & Co. The company was renamed Hong Kong Ice Works, and after 1891 - Hong Kong Ice Company, retaining Kyle and Bain, the former principals of the company, as advisers (1879 to at least 1890). William Parlane, M.I.M.E. (b.1845, Glasgow – d. ) was hired as the first manager of the ice company (1884 to at least 1907). Palane was a ship's engineer, who came to Hong Kong on one of Jardine, Matheson's steamers as chief engineer. In 1918, the Hong Kong Ice Company merged with and became a part of Dairy Farm.

Sandwith traded under the firms Drinker & Co., and was the Hong Kong adjacent-ports agent for underwriters not only at Philadelphia, but at New York and Boston. He supplied chandlers for American warships and was agent for Captains Charles Woodberry (b.1817, Beverly, Massachusetts - d.1855, Macau) and James Bridges Endicott (b.1814 Danvers, Massachusetts – d. November 5, 1870, Hong Kong), who ran a fleet of river boats which streamed Hong Kong, Macau and Canton. Sandwith also partnered with a number of American and European, at different times. Drinker & Heyl was listed in 1847, a food importer selling pickled tongues in half barrels, Kennedy's Boston water crackers in tins, sperm candles and Winchester soap among other goods. William S. Heyl, was either an American also from Philadelphia or a German national. The names of three companies co-existed in 1848, Drinker & Heyl, Drinker, Heyl & Co., Drinker & Co. He entered into partnership with a fellow Quaker, Samuel Burge Rawle (b. July 1, 1787, Philadelphia – d. September 2, 1858, Macau) in 1849 under the name of Rawle, Drinker & Co. Rawle, formerly a partner of Danish merchant Nicolia Duus (fraternity brother of Sandwith in the Zetland Lodge), was the American Consul in Macau (1858). The firm was the China agent for The Straits Times (1853) among other agency arrangements. There was also a firm named Drinker, Hunt & Co. There were a number of Hunt(s), more particularly Thomas Hunt(s). Sandwith was agent for Thomas Hunt & Co., which was also Hong Kong based, in the lease of a house from a William Scott in June 1856. Thomas Hunt & Co. employed a man named O.H. Baker. Thomas Hunt & Co. owned a building in Shanghai in 1862, which named after the firm, and which later housed the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation. Thomas Hunt was a boiler-maker at the Aberdeen Docks. Thomsa Hunt & Co. was one of the oldest ships' chandlers on the China Coast. It was based in Whampoa before moving to Hong Kong. There was also a Hunt & Co., owned by Thomas Hunt. With luck, I'll try and sort all these out. There was an American John Martin Armstrong (b. - d. July 3, 1897, Hong Kong), who was employed by Hunt & Co. in 1858 as a storekeeper. Armstrong had been employed by and associated with Sandwith for quite awhile. He had been a clerk at Rawle & Drinker since its establishment in 1849. After the dissolve of the partnership in 1854, he started a forwarding agent, Armstrong, Lawrence & Co., with partner Frederick William Lawrence in 1855, and went on to work for Hunt & Co. in 1858. By 1876, he was a government auctioneer. Armstrong married Emily Caldwell, daughter of Daniel Caldwell, Master of Sandwith's fraternity of Freemasonry, and his Chinese wife Mary Ayow, nee Chan 高三桂夫人.

Dent's verandah, by George Chinnery

William Charles Hunter (b.1812, Alexandria, Virginia - d. June 1891, Nice, France) was Sandwith's Canton counterpart as agent for the ferry service ran by captains Woodberry and Endicott. Hunter arrived in Canton as a youth of only thirteen years old in 1825, and had since lived also in Macau and Hong Kong. He had worked for Augustine Heard & Co. and Russell & Co. (in the latter he became a partner), both were leading American opium firms. By 1845, when Sandwith started his mercantile living, Hunter, although four years younger, was already an old China hand - by any standard. As a self-appointed “chronicler of early Canton”, Hunter had recorded in his writings [5], recount of events that took place among the foreign residents in Canton as well as what he had witnessed, from the epicenter, events that had led to the First Opium War and the taking of Hong Kong. Hunter was well-like and popular among foreign residents. He was, in particular, close to George Chinnery 錢納利 (b. January 5,1774, London – d. May 30, 1852, Macau), eccentric painter and Freemason who spent his last twenty seven years living and painting in Macau (including months he spent in Canton and six months in Hong Kong in 1845). Hunter was twice the subject of Chinnery's work: a portrait and Dent's verandah (as shown here), which depicted three men sharing a relaxing moment at the verandah of Lancelot Dent's house in Macau. The men were, from left to right, French merchant Durant; Captain Hall of Russell & Co.; and Hunter. I found a record about Hunter owing Thomas Hunt & Co. a debt of unknown purpose, which was then assigned, on February 22, 1862, to J.M. Armstrong, who was employed by Hunt. There ought to be only hundreds of foreign residents in early Hong Kong (not counting the garrison), how could they not entangled together, one way or the other.

[5] Those better known are: Journal of the Occurrences at Canton. He was also the author; The Fan Kwae at Canton: Before Treaty Days: 1825-1844 (using the pseudonym of “An Old Resident”), the title is known in Chinese as 廣州番鬼錄; Bits of old China, 1855; etc.

In the fall of 1854, Hunter brought a business proposal to Sandwith, of unbefitting nature.

Old map of the Pearl River Estuary,
showing the location of Shawan and Kau-Tong

The townships of Shawan 沙灣司 and Kau-Tong 茭塘司 in Canton (present day Shawan County 沙灣鎮 and Jiaotang Villages, Shilou County 石樓鎮茭塘村 respectively in the Panyu District 番禺區, Guangzhou) were located about eighty kilometers from Hong Kong up the Pearl River Estuary, on the west side of the river, after clearing the Bocco Tigris 虎門 (Humen). For centuries, people of the townships were victimized by endless pirate and bandit raids, partly because of its geographical location close to Hong Kong and Macau (for instance, the notorious Hong Kong based pirate Shap Ng-tsai 十五仔 was once active there), and partly because some of these pirates/bandits were originally from Shawan and Kau-Tong. From early Eighteenth Century, people in the townships began building forts around Kau-Tong, and rebuilding them upon destruction or damages beyond repairs, as strongholds of defense. By the turn of the Nineteenth Century, there were five, about four-story high, forts. Battles in the area during the First Opium War had caused some damage to the forts, but repairs were promptly made. In mid 1854, there was again a pirate attack upon the townships and all five forts were captured and afterward held by the pirates. The townships, however, were adamant to getting them back. Having considered that neither the local militia (more like posse comitatus) nor the Qing garrisons in the area was a matching opponent, in strength or fierceness, to the pirates, the townships' gentry had considered a different option – the hiring of mercenaries. They opined that the war-like skill and courage of foreigners, which they themselves had personally observed, in close-up, during the First Opium War, could be the answer to their problems. With that resolved by consensus, a man, named Leang King-kwa (a variant spelling - Liang Kingqua - was found in other records), who had access to, as well as experience in dealing with, foreigners was summoned and tasked to look for and hire the right soldiers of fortune (it was rather like Kurosawa Akira's Shichinin No Samurai 七人の侍, or its Hollywood clone - The Magnificent Seven). Leang was actually a good fit for the job; he immediately brought the matter to the attention of his old friend, none other than William C. Hunter, who was also a business associate, as well as an old China hand capable, generally, of reading correctly into situations involving Chinese, persons or affairs. Hunter, additionally, being amicable and well-liked, moved easily, without hindrance, in circles of foreigners of any background. The two discussed the deal; it was a business deal after all, with deliverables on one end of the equation, and payment of money on the other. With that done, Hunter set out to headhunt. I have no idea how Sandwith's name ended up on his wish list, or for that matter, how high up Sandwith was on the list. Nothing I have read suggested Sandwith had any soldiering background. Although all merchant ship captains of that time knew the basics of battling, some might even had the actual experience fighting off pirates, the leading of a fighting contingent in an amphibious combat mission seemed, nonetheless, a tall order, by any standard. On top of that, Sandwith was a Quaker, a pacifist by nature. I could see the possibility of a Quaker fighting for a cuase, fighting for wages is simply far-fetched. But I was wrong, Sandwith was interested, and interviews were then arranged and more meetings were convened in October 1854, between the potential hirers and the potential hirees – in this case, Messrs. Hunter and Sandwith.

The last standing fort in Kau-Tong (2010)
Photo by X.F. Wang

An agreement was reached before the month ended. Sandwith's mission was to assemble an assault team of men and vessels, and manage all the preliminaries including procurement of weapon, munitions and other necessary supplies; training of the assault team; and all other logistical works. He was to lead the attack and capture all five forts and surrender them to the townships. For his service, the townships would pay him 50,000 Spanish silver dollars - if and when he attained a complete victory. Additionally, the townships would assemble a posse comitatus to fight side by side with Sandwith's men. The formal instrument of agreement was drafted by Hunter's Portuguese clerk, a Mr. Fonseca, and was duly executed by all parties. Hunter was also a signatory, although I do not know exactly what his part was in the agreement. (Surely, I'd love to read the agreement, a copy of which, I believe, is kept at the State Department archive or the Congressional Library.) An advance of $20,000 was then paid to Sandwith to facilitate the preparations. The advance payment, according to Article 4 in the agreement, should be returned in full if Sandwith fail to proceed with the mission.

Pursuant to the signing of the agreement, the townships began to mobilize by calling up their militia and arming vessels intended for the imminent fighting, and wait for Sandwith's start signal. When there were no words from Sandwith for more than two weeks, Leang, and the townships' gentry, began to feel quite uneasy. Then on November 13, they finally made contact with Sandwith who told them he wanted to back down from the deal unless there was an official consent from the Qing authority, fearing that the enterprise might incriminate him and other foreigners involved since they would be fighting Chinese nationals and no doubt killing some along the way. Leang, although totally dismayed by the ill-timed afterthought, promised Sandwith that he would have an official consent arranged. And he did; a very resourceful man he was indeed. Sandwith and Hunter received from Leang, five days later, a written commission form the Canton authority which appointed Sandwith a Qing military officer. According to Lieutenant G.H. Preble [6] of the United States Navy, Sandwith was given a commission of a Chinese admiral. Sandwith and Hunter were very pleased with the extraordinary appointment, and while on the subject of government consent, Leang asked, repeatedly, the two in very explicit language (Speaking ambiguously was (or may be still is), for Chinese, particularly those of privileged upbringing or are learned, not a matter of good manners, but a course of conduct. In short, Leang was dead serious about this.) if there was anything to fear from the U.S. government for them to initiate a battle in China acting under the auspicious of a Chinese military commission. 'There was nothing to worry about', was the short and simply reply. That obstacle removed, the party again confirmed that the raid would take place in a week's time. People in the townships, subsiding their grunts for now, were again strung up for the imminent battle. The week passed, and nothing was heard from Sandwith. It wasn't until November 28 when Sandwith told Leang that he was to withdrew completely from the agreement and meanwhile not able, in any way, to assist with the retaking of the forts, owing to a prohibition issued by the U.S. Minister to Qing Empire, Robert Milligan McLane (MacLane). Additionally, he told Leang that the money advanced to him had been expended in the purchase of arms and other supplies. As soon as he had these articles dispose of , the proceeds would then be returned to the townships.

[6] George Henry Preble was put in charge of protecting American personnel and interests against Chinese pirates and Taiping rebels by Commodore Mathew C. Perry in 1853. Preble was promoted to Rear Admiral on September 30, 1876.

That was Leang's version of the story he submitted to the U.S. Consul in Canton, Oliver H. Perry, on October 24, 1855 in conjunction with his filing of a lawsuit in the U.S. Consul Court against Sandwith Drinker and William C. Hunter. Leang was claiming the refund of 20,000 Spanish silver dollars. Quaker Sandwith Drinker, the would be soldier of fortune, after all, fought no battles in China, except a legal one, in which he was named a defendant.

Stay tuned for a different version of the story.

- TO BE CONTINUED -

The line-of-descent from John Drinker to Sandwith Drinker, and the genealogical data of the families:

John Drinker (b. 1627, Exeter – d. ) married Elizabeth (b.C.1625-d.) in 1653. Elizabeth gave births to Joseph (b. March 31, 1653- d. ), Elizabeth (b. August 28, 1654 - d. ), Mary (b. October 16, 1655 - d. ), Sarah (b. February 4, 1657 - d. ) and Philip (b. May 28, 1659 - d. ). All were born in Charlestown.

Joseph Drinker (b. March 31, 1653, Charlestown - d. ) married Ruth Balch (b.1665, Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts - d.1731) on March 31, 1683 in Beverly. Ruth gave births to Joseph (b. July 13, 1684 - d. August 17, 1742), Philip (b. January 12, 1686 - d. ) and John (b. September 15, 1688 - d. ). All were born in Beverly.

Joseph Drinker (Jr.) (b. July 13, 1684, Beverly – d. August 17, 1742) married Mary Janney (b.C.1680, Cheshire, England – d. March 17, 1764, Philadelphia) on June 27, 1708 in Philadelphia. Mary gave births to Henry (b.C.1709, Philadelphia – d.1764), Joseph (b.C.1711- d. ) and John (b.C.1713, Beverly – d. ).

Henry Drinker (b.C.1709, Philadelphia – d.1764) married Mary Gottier (b.C.1713-d. ) on November 26, 1731. Mary gave births to John (b.1733 – d. July 27, 1800, married Rachel Renier on February 27, 1765), Henry (b. February 21, 1733 or 1734 – d. June 26, 1809), Daniel (b.1735 – d. November 25, 1815, married Elizabeth Hart in 1760 and Hannah Prior on April 16, 1796) and Joseph (b.1737 - d. August 23, 1809, married Hannah Hart, Elizabeth Hart's sister, on April 15, 1760 in Philadelphia ).

Henry Drinker (Jr.) (b. February 21, 1733 or 1734, Philadelphia – d.1809) married Elizabeth Sandwith (b. February 27, 1734 or 1735 – d. November 1807) on January 13, 1761. Elizabeth gave births to Sara (b. October 23, 1761 – d. ), Ann (b. January 11, 1764 – d. ), Mary (b. April 20, 1765 – d. ), William (b. January 28, 1767 – d. ), Henry (b. May 24, 1769 – d. ), Henry Sandwith (b. October 30, 1770 – d. July 3, 1824), Elizabeth and his twin sister Mary (b. November 12, 1772 – d. ) and Charles (b. March 14, 1774 – d. ).

Henry Sandwith (b. October 30, 1770, Philadelphia – d. July 3, 1824) married Hannah Smith (b. November 26, 1773 – d. January 23, 1830) on December 11, 1794. Hannah gave birth to fourteen children, only nine lived to adulthood. They were: William (b. October 14, 1795 - d. February 18, 1836, married Eliza Rodman on April 9, 1818), Henry (b. July 15, 1797 – d. January 4, 1798), Esther (b. November 1, 1798 – d. August 1856, married Israel Pemberton Pleasants), James, (b. April 1, 1800 – d. November 1, 1801), Elizabeth (b. December 11, 1801 – d. July 11, 1874, married Samuel C. Paxson on July 5, 1827), Sara (b. May 9, 1803 - d. March 31, 1841, married James Canby Biddle on April 3, 1828), Henry (b. August 11, 1804 – d. , married Frances Morton), Hannah (b. August 11, 1804 – d. ), Mary (b. March 4, 1806 – d. ), Charles (b. November 19, 1808 - d. August, 1809), Sandwith (b. November 19, 1808, Philadelphia – d. January 17, 1857, Macau, married Susan B. Shober on March 17, 1840), Charles (b. August 5, 1810 – d. ), Edward (b. December 10, 1811 - d. August 27, 1812), Edward (b. March 16, 1813 - d. May 23, 1813).

Sources:
- African Repository and Colonial Journal, Vol. XVII, American Colonization Society, 1841
- ancestry.com
- Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule in Hong Kong, 1841-1880, by Christopher Munn
- Anglo-Chinese Calendar, 1847, printed at the Office of the Chinese Repository
- The Bartholomew Family, Written and research by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska
- Bits of Old China, by William C. Hunter
- bookrags.com
- Charlestown Land Records
- China Repository, various years
- China Trade and Empire, Jardine, Matheson & Co. and the Origins of British Rule in Hong Kong 1827-1843, edited by Alain Le Pichon
- Class Matters, Early North America and the Atlantic World, edited by Simon Middleton and Billy G. Smith
- Commissioners and Commodores: the East India Squadron and American diplomacy in China, by Curtis T. Henson
- The Cornwall Chronicle, December 31, 1845
- Daniel Caldwell: Churchman, Freemason, Policeman … and Pirate Accomplice?, a lecture given by Mark MacAlpine at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch on December 8, 2006
- Dining with the Washingtons, edited by Stephen A. McLeod
- Early American Relations with Formosa 1849-1870, by Leonard Gordon
- Early New England Potters and Their Wares, by Lura Woodside Watkins
- Early records of the town of Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts
- An East India Company Cemetery: Protestant Burials in Macao, by Lindsay and May Ride
- The Executive Documents, The Senate of the United States, 1858-59
- Extracts from the journal of Elizabeth Drinker, from 1759 to 1807, edited by Henry Biddle
- Famous Descendants of Mayflower Passengers
- The 'Fan Kwae' at Canton: Before Treaty Days 1825-1844, by An Old Resident (William C. Hunter)
- findagrave.com
- The Freemasons' Quarterly Review, 1846
- Friends Hong Kong
- Friend of China, various dates
- gene.com
- Genealogical Guide to the Early Settlers of America, by Henry Whittemore
- Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New-England, by John Farmer
- Gideon Nye and the Fromosa Annexation Scheme, by Harold D. Langley
- HartfordInfo.org
- Haverford Library / Quaker & Speical Collections
- Historians of Sterling Township
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston, by Nathan E. Wood
- The History of the Society of Friends in America, Vil. 2, by James Bowden
- immigrationships.net
- Jardines.com
- The Journal of Negro History, Vol.32, No.1, January 1947, published by Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.
- The London Quarterly Review, April & July 1817
- Maritime Taiwan, Historical Encounters with the East and the West, by Shih-Shan Henry Tsai
- The Morris Family of Philadelphia, Descendants of Anthony Morris (1654-1721), by Robert C. Moon, M.D.
- New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Clarence Almon Torry
- New Jersey Marriage Records, 1666-1740
- The New York Times, July 7, 1884; March 4, 1888
- The Online Tree Genealogy / Ships Passenger Lists / Abigail 1635
- The Opening of Japan, A Diary of Discovery in the Far East, 1853-1856, by Rear Admiral George Henry Preble, U.S.N.
- Opium and the People / 'Britain's Opium Harvest' The Anti-Opium Movement, by Virginia Berridge and Griffith Edwards
- Our Man in Zanzibar: Richard Waters, American Consul (1837-1845), by Wesley Gilbert
- The Philadelphia Directory (Volume 1820), edited by Roberts Beaumont
- Philadelphia and the China Trade, by Kris Millegan
- The Pioneers of Massachusetts, by Charles Henry Pope
- Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1881 through 1890, 1934
- Rash's Surname Index
- Record of Pennsylvania Marriages Prior to 1810
- Rootsweb
- The Rose Bud, or Youth's Gazette, Charleston, August 9, 1834
- Rtree
- Shamong, by George D. Fleming
- Some Ships of the Clipper Ship Era: The Builders, Owners, and Captains, printed for the State Street Trust Company, Boston
- The Straits Times, 22 March 1853
- The Sydney Mail, October 22, 1870
- Through the Looking Glass, China's Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao, by Paul French
- The United States in Asia, a Historical Dictionary, by David Shavit
- A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise, Merchant and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia, by Thomas M. Doerflinger
- Who's Who in the Far East 1906-7, published by China Mail, Hongkong
- Who's who in Pennsylvania; a biographical dictionary of contemporaries (Volume 2), by Neville B. Craig
- 梁經國天寶行史迹, 黄啟臣, 梁承鄴編著
- 番禺縣續志
- 英國國家檔案館庋藏近代中文輿圖敘錄, 中國人民大學清史研究所, 華林甫

Earlier Settlers, The Less Known

2011-12-02T12:12:00.068+08:00

Updated on February 14, 2012

These were foreign settlers who lived and worked in Hong Kong some time between 1841 and 1850. Again, I am excluding, in this post, opium traders, civil servants, military personnel, missionaries and clergymen, and medical practitioner, for the reason that they are featured in other posts (Opium Hall of Fame; Peculiar, Sometimes Dubious, Civil Servants; Notable Doctors from the First 100 Years; etc.). I will however make some exceptions to certain government personnel who were allowed to conduct their own business affairs while serving their public offices simultaneously, which was not uncommon then. For examples, solicitors serving as prosecutors whilst carrying on with their private practices. So far I was only able to identify Europeans and Americans from limited sources, I hope I will soon be able to find people from other parts of the world who came to and be a part of the “Wild Wild East” of the 1840s.

James Adnams
Adnams probably was the first saddler (and harness maker and coach trimmer) to have set up shop in Hong Kong – he opened in 1845 in Canton Bazaar and later moved to Stanley Street. He was trained in London by Lawrie & Co. of Oxford Street. He was a partner of the Commercial Inn located on Queen's Road. Hong Kong's first ferriery was opened by George Dudell on May 27, 1848 and was situated in the corner of Wellington and Wyndham Street. The shop was manned by an English Horse Shoer and $1.5 was the cost per horse. Since Dudell was an opium dealer, I choose not to feature him in depth in this post.

D. Anderson
Blacksmith and farrier, Queen's Road.

Edward Ashworth
Edward Ashworth (b. 1814, Exeter, Devon, England – d. 1896, Exeter, buried at Higher Cemetery, Exeter) was trained under two architects who also hailed from Devon, Robert Cornish and Charles Fowler, the latter was once the Vice President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Not happy with the works he was getting as an architect, Ashworth emigrated to New Zealand in 1842 where he practiced in Aukland. In 1844 he traveled to Australia, and from there to Hong Kong. During his two-year tenure in Hong Kong, he had designed a number of commercial buildings here, but I was unable to trace them so far. He also contributed articles regarding his experience of building European houses in Hong Kong. Additionally, he drew a number of pictures of Hong Kong (one of them is shown here). Ashworth returned to England in 1846 and practiced in Exeter until he died in 1896.

Alexander Badenoch
Alexander Badenoch (b. Banffshire, Scotland – d. 1844, Hong Kong) was a shipbuilder said to have connections in Singapore, who died at the age of twenty six or twenty eight. He was survived by his wife. There was another Alexander Badenoch existing in Hong Kong around that time. He was the captain of merchant ship Herald of Light, of which he owned six shares. I do not know if the two were related.

P. Badenoch
A shipwright who ran his business from his Queen's Road shop. William Burgess was listed as an employee in 1846. There was a record of a P. Badenoch, shipwright by profession, who owned a company with the name of Badenoch & Co. in Singapore on May 1, 1855. I think these two were the same person. Also, I will be quite surprised if P and Alexander Badenoch were not related. They might also have family living in Singapore, perhaps even engaged in the same trade.

R.T. Barnes
Proprietor of a livery stables located on Queen's Road. There are other Barnes existing at the same time. Leonard Barnes partnered with Edmund Boyd in the business of farriers, keeper of livery stable, and harness and coach makers. L Barnes's wife, Sara Anne, died on January 11, 1874 at the age of fifty. A D.J. Barnes was listed as a foreign resident in Hong Kong from 1847 to 1850, no other information can be traced, however, at this time.

Source:
- China Repository 1847 through 1850
- Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim
- The Hongkong almanack and directory for 1846, by William Tarrant
- Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive

Chinam's Hong, Queen's Road, by Edward Ashworth, 1851

William Bowden
Proprietor of London Tavern, Chinam's Hong [1].

[1] Chan A-kuen 陳亞權, alias Chinam 齊南, opium trader in Canton (Guangzhou) who was one of the three partnes of the firm Tun Wo 敦和. Chan came to live in Hong Kong briefly in 1843 and afterward returned to Canton where he died in 1844.

Giovarni Cachi
Proprietor of Golden Tavern, Tai-ping-shan.

Arthur Carlin
Plumber and Glazier, Stanley Street.

Mr. Case
Proprietor of the Army and Navy Tavern

Source:
- February 2, 1843

Daniel Chrisholm
Storekeeper, Queen's Road.

L.E. Christopher
Refreshment Rooms and Storekeeper. Christopher place the following advertisement in the Friend of China on October 19, 1843, “Mr. Christopher begs to inform the inhabitants of Victoria, Hongkong: that he has opened a Billard Room, in the Queen's Road opposite the Hongkong Market, and trusts by attention to his customers that he will obtain a liberal share of public patronage. Mr. Christopher begs to inform the inhabitants of Victoria, that he undertakes funeral in all their arrangement. N.B. he has got a respectable hearse.”

J.T. Cockerell
Commercial Inn, Queen's Road. I do not know what was his role in the Inn.

C. Collier
Merchant, D'Aguilar Street.

M.D. Costa
Proprietor of Rainbow Tavern, D'Aguilar Street.

J. Cunningham
Builder, Wellington Street.

J. Delmas
Storekeeper, Queen's Road.

Fiddler Deosandrew
Proprietor of Britannia Tavern, Queen's Road, W.

Dickens and McIntyre
Dickens and McIntyre (first names unknown to me) were auctioneers and in November 1843 they became partners in a general provisions store opened opposite Alexander Moss' godown on Queen's Road. No information also about who Moss was.

C. Dupuig
Dupuig, or Monsieur Dupuig as he was referred to in the book, Forgotten Souls, was a tailor and clothier having his shop located on Wellington Street. I do not know if M. Dupuig was the name of his shop (sounds good for a tailor shop), or was he indeed a French. Since my knowledge in French names is non-existence, I have no idea if Dupuig is at all a French name, or du Puig, but Puig sounds Spanish...

Sources:
- The Chinese Repository for 1846
- Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press

Samuel Dyer
Partner of Elsworthy, Dyer & Co., listed on July 19, 1843 to have their place of business within the Fletcher's godowns on Queen's Road.

J. Edwards
Pastry Cook, Queen's Road.

Thomas Elsworthy
Partner of Elsworthy, Dyer & Co., listed on July 19, 1843 to have their place of business within the Fletcher's godowns on Queen's Road.

W. Emery
Sail Maker, Innkeeper, Phoenix Inn, Queen's Road.

Michael Gabriel
Hotelier, British Hotel, Graham Street.

W.H. Goddard
The English solicitor was admitted as an attorney on January 13, 1844 in Hong Kong. He practiced as solicitor and attorney of the court from his office on Stanley Street. On August 19, 1845, he was further admitted as a barrister.

John D. Hawkins
Contractor, Circular Buildings, West Point.

John Holmes
John Holmes was a schoolmaster sergeant in the 98th Regiment of Foot of the British Army, which arrived in China in 1842 towards the end of the First Opium War. Holmes stayed behind in Hong Kong when his regiment moved to India in 1846, and went into business as a sausage maker among the Chinese shops in the Lower Bazaar (area in present day Sheung Wan around Jervois Street 蘇杭街 (previously 乍畏街) and Bonham Strand 文咸街). He also partnered with a friend of his, Bingham (first name unknown), to operate a wine and spirit shop on Queen's Road. Worked as a clerk in his shop, at one time, was a Ninian Crawford, who would in 1850 co-found Lane Crawford, a ships chandler-turned-retailer for high-end goods.

Augustus Howell

I am breaking my rule not to feature any opium dealers, or people who worked for opium firms. There are two reasons I want to write about Augustus Howells. Firstly, it was quite rare in the 1840s for a Scottish firm, particularly a prestige firm such as Jardine, Matheson & Co., to hire an American to fill a managerial position. The usual hiring practice as I understand for British firms was that Britons were hired as managers and Portuguese as clerks or boo-keepers, while several Chinese would be contracted to work as Compradors. Secondly, Howell was the first person I've come across, who was a member of the American Art-Union (1839-1851). He was listed in the member roster in 1846, having the place of residence in Hong Kong, China. I have no idea when Howell came to Hong Kong and for what reason. He was employed by Jardine, Matheson & Co. as a godown manager. He ought to be doing quite well as he bought a track of land, a part of Marine Lot No. 10 at Victoria (in the form of Crown lease) from Alexander Matheson on October 25, 1845. In March 1856, the same property was sold to Charles Woolett Bowra (full story in “Early Settlers, Not Opium Smugglers”), who was no longer in Hong Kong, and his brother William Addenbrooke Bowra, by Jardine, Matheson & Co. acting on a power of attorney granted by Howell on September 22, 1855. The address given in the power of attorney was in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York. There were only a handful of records of Howell in Hong Kong. He was summoned to jury duty at the Supreme Court on April 11 and December 16, 1846. He was subpoenaed to appear at the Supreme Court on February 23, 1846, in the case of Thomas Larkins v Aling. Larkins probably was Captain Thomas Larkins, proprietor of the steamer Corsair, that ferried between Hong Kong and Canton (Guangzhou). I will try and find out more about this case and how was Howell involved.

I found a Augustus Howell (b. August 31, 1818, Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York or Saybrook, Connecticut - d. April 12, 1856, Sag Harbor) whom I believe to be our Howell. He was the son of Silas Howell and Bethia Post. Augustus's parents as well as his step-mother, Margaret Post, who was actually his aunt (Bethia's sister), all died in Sag Harbor. Howell went to the Clinton Academy in East Hampton and was a schoolmate and close friend of famous author, Henry P. Hedges. He married Phebe Rogers (b. October 28, 1820, Saybrook, Connecticut - d. 1902) of Deep River on February 6, 1852. The marriage was performed by the Rev. E. Cushman. Phebe gave birth to a daughter, Anna, in 1853. Howell died three years later. Anna married Lyndon M. Swan (b.1839- ) and had three children: Benjamin, Ann and Anna.

Sources:
Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule in Hong Kong, 1841-1880, by Christopher Munn
China Repository 1846
Index to Marriages and Deaths in the New York Herald, 1835-1855
Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive
Rootsweb
Saybrook Barbour Records
Tracing The Past, Writing of Henry P. Hedges 1817-1911, Relating to the History of the East End
Transaction of the American Art-Union, 1846

R. Jones
Proprietor of a livery stables. There was a Dr. Richard Jones who ran the Victoria Hospital in 1843. Could these two be the same person?

F. Langer
Langer, according to information published by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, was the first architect to have worked in Hong Kong. He came from Calcutter in 1842 to work for Jardine, Matheson & Co. to build their godowns at East Point (around today's Causeway Bay). He died on October 30, 1842, about two months after he arrived in Hong Kong. I cannot find Langer's name in the list of passengers departed from Calcutta in the Bengal and Agra annual guide and gazetteer for 1841. There were two entries under the name of F. Langer. The first, F. Langer – carver and gilder and ornamental painter, whose address was at 63, Cossitollah, Calcutta. The second, Mrs. F. Langer gave birth to a daughter on April 15. The gazetteer for 1842 is not available to me.

Januario J. Lopes
Proprietor of Waterloo Hotel which opened on March 1, 1844. The hotel was situated at 40 Queen's Road. Lopes previously owned and ran a high-class hotel (name unknown) in Macau before relocating to Hong Kong.

Robert Lowrie
Proprietor of Tavern and Storekeeper, Queen's Road.

Maclehose
Principal partner of the Commercial Inn on Queen's Road which was opened in 1844. One of the first hotels to open in Hong Kong was the Lane's Hotel (1841-1843). I still looking to find who owned the hotel.

Pieter Caulincourt McSweeny (MacSwyney)
Barrister at Law, Queen's Road. W. Fruer was listed as an employee. Proprietor of the Eastern Globe and Commercial Advertiser, which was first published on June 22, 1843.

Henry Martin
Shipper of Merchant Seamen, Queen's Road.

F.B. Moeur
Merchant, Queen's Road.

Thomas McKnight
Naval store sheds were erected in Hong Kong in April 1841 on Possession Street, West Point, as referred to as the HM Victualing Yard. MacKnight was appointed the first naval storekeeper and agent victualler on March 21, 1842 and held that position until October 1849. George Deward was listed as the 1st clerk and William Hickson the 2nd clerk in 1846.

Richard Neil

Richard Neil (b.1830, Leicester – d. May 25, 1857, Hong Kong), together with his family, was listed as owners of the Albion House, a hotel, in Hong Kong in 1850 and 1851. Neil was in the army sent to China during the Opium War conflict and in 1841 was recruited to become one of the first policemen in Hong Kong [1]. He was said to have left the police force in 1847 to run the Albion House with partner James McLaughlin. When the partnership dissolved, he became the owner of a livery stable.

Neil was married to Elizabeth (maiden family name unknown)(b.1826 – June 23, 1855, Hong Kong). Neil's sister, Annie, also lived in Hong Kong. She had three marriages: First, to a police sergeant Hogan, who died after being wounded in an attack; James Corrigan (d. October 24, 1858, Hong Kong) who was the engineer on the P&O steamer Sir James Forbes; John Patrick Martin, who was a hotelier. It was said that Annie rose from a very humble background to become a respectable manager of a family hotel, by way of these three marriages. There were a few questions remain unanswered. Was Albion House the hotel Annie Neil managed? If so, how did Richard Neil fit in to these marriages? I found no information on James McLaughlin, and no information regarding whether the Albion House was related to the hotel with the same name which was owned and run by Captain A.H. Fryer in Macau.

[1] The pre-poice force put together by Captain William Caine of the 26th of Foot (Cameronians) Regiment, who was appointed Hong Kong's first Chief Magistrate in 1841, consisted of soldiers, described by one source, unfit for regular army duties. There were several versions of the strength of the initial police force; it varied from thirty to ninety, all Europeans. A formal police force won't come into existence until 1845.

Sources:
China Repository, 1850, 1851
Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim
Friend of China, June 15, 1843; June 30, 1843
Watching over Hong Kong: private policing 1841-1941, by Sheilah E. Hamilton

Richard Oswald
The proprietor of the firm R. Oswald & Co. who once worked for the newspaper the Friend of China. Oswald was active in buying and selling land in Hong Kong. He died in London at the age of 38. He was survived by his wife, Augusta. Henry Lind and P. Marcussen were listed as employees of R. Oswald & Co. in 1846.

Christian Friederich Wilhelm Petersen
Christian F.W. Petersen (b.1832 – d.1896, Hong Kong) was an auctioneer-turned-tavern-owner. Petersen succeeded Andrew Rudigar as the proprietor of the German Tavern when the latter died in 1858. He held the license for spirits for the tavern until his death in 1896. His second wife, A Chinese named Ho Mei, alias May Ho, took charge of the running of the tavern for a while. Petersen was previously married to an English woman, who died in 1878 from overdose on cajiput oil.

John Pope
Civil Engineer, Aberdeen Street. Pope later became the Clerk of Work for the Surveyor-General Department (1844-1847). He was a Freemason.

William H. Pustau

William H. Pustau was listed in 1846 as the head of William Pustau & Co. 魯麟洋行 or 布士兜公司, with its business address situated on Wellington Street (moved to Queen's Road in 1862). It was the Hong Kong affiliate of a company with the same name (sometimes with slightly different names such as Wm. Pustau & Co. or W. Pustau & Co. or Pustau & Co. ) founded in Canton (Guangzhou) on January 1, 1843 by an Altonaer, Carl Wilhelm Engelbrecht von Pustau (1820-1879). The Pustau firm in Canton was the first Germany trading house to have been established in China. An office (or branch) in Shanghai was added some time between 1843 and 1846, and it was once housed at No.2a on the Bund.

The Hong Kong Pustau was one of the sixty founding members of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce (1861- ). It was one of the few corporate members that were not engaged in the opium trade at that time. If it wasn't opium, was it then coolie trade? Like many other European companies in Hong Kong, Pustau did jump on the bandwagon of carrying on the businesses of emigration agents specialized in acquiring Chinese immigrants to work abroad. It was in fact charged by Governor Arthur Kennedy himself with complicity in the Macau coolie trade. The company was quick in response to clear its name, but at the end received no apologies from Kennedy. The head of Pustau also sat on the HSBC Board of Directors in the 1880s and 1900s. The details I am still looking to find. So far I don't have much on William Pustau as a person, except that he was appointed Consul for Bremen in 1851 and for Hanover in 1865.

These men were listed as employees of Pustau & Co. some time between 1850s and 1880s, most of them sound German: William Ahrenbeck, Gustav Ludvig Broderson, L.S. Lutkens, Julius Menke, Hermann Louis Christian Otte, George von Polanon Petel, P. Pickenpack, A. Pustau, Kaufmann Wilhelm Pustau, G. Raynall, Paul Reimann, Alexander Ludwig Reuter, F. Schirlye. The names of non-German employees I have found are: Frederick William. Lawrence, Polycarpo Antonio Rozario (probably Portuguese), the Chinese compradoe Mok A-kune and the ill-fated George Mather Neill, a young man from Edinburgh who was killed in a nasty carriage accident in November 1867 in Hong Kong. He was twenty five.

Rowland Rees
Architect, Pottinger Street. Rees was a War Office Engineer and according to information published by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects the second architect to have practiced in Hong Kong. F. Langer was the first.

John Reid
John Reid (b. April 2, 1808, Glasgow - d. December 1843, Hong Kong) was the second son of John Reid M.D. and Jean Gavin. He was said to receive an education mostly from his father before he apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Glasgow. When the apprenticeship was over he went to London and worked for Black & Young, foreign publishers. In a few years he returned to Glasgow and there he established himself as a bookseller and publisher. While studying Gaelic in 1825 a friend asked him to catalog his Gaelic books for him. This led to the compilation of 'Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica', which he published in 1832. His other well-known publication was the 'Turkey and the Turks, being the Present State of the Ottoman Empire', London, 1840, which captured his impression of Turkey during a prolonged visit he began in 1838. With the successful launch of his book, he gave up his business and left for Hong Kong, and according to two different sources, to edit a newspaper and prepare a Chinese dictionary. The records of Reid's activities in Hong Kong that I found began in 1843 and they were of that of a troubled man. Towards the end of 1843, Reid was treated by Colonial Surgeon Alexander Anderson for delirium tremens and brain disease induced by alcohol. He was hospitalized in November/December for two weeks. The job he had with a newspaper was with the Friend of China, the position was part-time accountant. The person who found him this job was Robert Oswald (featured above) who also worked at the Friend of China at that time. Apparently, Reid had known Oswald since he arrived in Hong Kong. Reid worked satisfactorily for one or two days but thereafter got so drunk he was incapacitated, and of course lost his job. On a day I still cannot identify in December 1843, Reid was found dead on the couch in his room on the upper floor of the Eastern Globe office where he lived as a boarder. The verdict of Coroner Edward Farncomb's inquest was: Visitation of God. Reid was survived by his wife, Anne McLaren (married in 1836) and a daughter. There was a big time gap between 1840 when Reid was said to have arrived in Hong Kong and the winter of 1843 when he met his tragic end. I found a record that shows he once worked for the Hong Kong Gazette 香港公報, but it didn't say when and in what capacity.

Thomas Robert
Proprietor of Britannia Tavern.

Alexander Robertson
Proprietor of Caledonian Tavern.

George Robertson
Proprietor of Prince of Wales Tavern, Graham Street.

Anthony Rodrick
Proprietor of Eagle Tavern, Queen's Road.

Andrew Rudigar
Andrew Rudigar (b. 1832 - d.1858, Hong Kong) was the first Proprietor of the German Tavern.

M. Russel
Cabinet Maker, Queen's Road.

William Sage
Proprietor of British Queen Tavern, Queen's Road.

David Simeon
Proprietor of Crown and Anchor Tavern, Queen's Road.

George Strachan
According to the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, Strachan was the architect who designed the first generation clubhouse of the Hong Kong Club. The Club, located on the corner of D'Aguilar Street and Queen's Road, opened on May 26, 1846. The construction and outfitting cost amounted to 15,000 pound sterling. Strachan was with the Surveyor-General's Office before 1844. He was the draftman of the Government House. There were two other Strachans existing around that time. William Strachan was the captain of the barque Lady Hayes and at another time, of the ship Omega. He had been in China since 1830s and was associated with opium firm Jardine, Matheson & Co., which off and on owned Lady Hayes. Robert Strachan, captain of the merchantman Scotland, arrived in China in 1838 and became a manager of the opium firm W.T. Gemmel & Co. in Canton (Guangzhou). He later became the Canton agent for Jardine, Matheson & Co. R. Strachans bought The Register in 1849 and remained proprietor of the newspaper until 1860. The Register was founded by James and Alexander Matheson of the namesake opium house. Strachan sounds Scottish and I wonder if these three were somehow related to each other.

F.H. Tiedeman
Tiedeman's name first appeared in the June 29, 1843 issue of Friend of China which reported that his house and that of a Mr. Marzetti on Magistracy Street was burgled. It said that nine people were sleeping inside the house when the act of crime was committed. There was a Augustus C. Marzetti existing in Hong Kong around that time. I have no information about Marzetti or how was he related to Tiedeman. In October the same year, Friend of China named him one of three big grocers in town. The others two were N. Duus and Pain & Co. Tiedeman was listed in the 1846 China Repository as a key employee/partner of Vander Burg Romswinceel & Co. (it could be Van der Burg or Vanderburg, or Rommeswinkel). A P. Tiedeman Jr. was listed as the key player in the company along with a L.C. Delmarle. I was unable to find any information on these two.

S.L. Vesey
Vesey and a Mr. Milne, presumably his partner, were referred to as carpenters of Queen's Road in the February 17, 1844 issue of Friend of China. The story was about a burglary that took place at their premises. Two men were wounded, one severely. The raiding party was said to be 30-man strong. The same newspaper did not speak favorably of the carpenters/contractors, "M/s Milne and Vesey are contracted to government to fix the drains but week after week nothing is done and now the hot weather is almost upon us. They should not turn over the soil now and expose us to the noxious disease-causing fumes in the decomposing granite subsoil. We prefer instead to rely on the Police Superintendent sluicing the drains daily." The report was filed on the March 30, 1844.

Charles Weiss
Watch and Chronometer Maker, Queen's Road.

J. White
Spirit Dealer, Queen's Road.

James White
White was the first editor of the Friend of China.

D. Wilson & Co.
D. Wilson & Co. was a Calcutta based general merchant of British origin, which established itself in Hong Kong in 1841-42 mainly as a grocer. There must be a Mr. D. Wilson in the firm, but I found no trace of him existing in Hong Kong. Additionally, I was unable to find other names of persons who were employed by or associated with the firm. Here is the long-and-short of their story in Hong Kong. On November 10, 1842, the firm opened the Auckland Hotel on Queen's Road, after having established their grocery business here. Due to lack of business, the hotel was up for sale by auction only months after its opening. The auction took place in February 1843 and was handled by auctioneer C.V. Gillespie of 46 Queen's Road. Oddly enough, according to Friend of China, it was D. Wilson, the firm, who bought the hotel at the auction with the intention of turning it into “commission sales rooms for the display of goods that Wilson have for sale from London and from their office in Calcutta...”. And then in November the same year, the firm decided to pull out of Hong Kong and returned to Calcutta. They asked auctioneer P. Townsend, whose office was practically next door to the hotel/showrooms on Queen's Road, to handle the closing-down sale of stock on November 17 and 21. The came and went of people and businesses were quite common in this period of time in Hong Kong, more so than those who came and stayed; some left with less than when they arrived, some a whole lot more.

Source:
- Friend of China, November 17, 1842, February 23, August 31, and November 9, 1843

Jane Tregarthen Winniberg, née Curnow
Jane Curnow, wife of Henry Winniberg, the Polish owner of the British Hotel (one other source referred the hotel as the "Winniberg Hotel"), was the first milliner in Hong Kong. Jane (b.1826, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, England – d. after 1891) was the daughter of merchant navy captain William Curnow and wife Hannah Scadden. After Henry Winniberg died in Hong Kong in 1866, Jane returned to England and there she lived on rental income generated from the Polmennar Cottages (probably a hotel) she owned in St. Mary's while her son Frederick (b.1859, Hong Kong – d. ) attended a boarding school in Penzance, Cornwall. Jane's daughter, Annie (b.1852, Hong Kong – d.), remained in Hong Kong at lease until 1871. The Cornwall Census in 1891 listed Frederick as a resident of Penzance, along with wife Annie and sons, Frederick and Henry Joseph.

Sources:
- Cornwall Census 1871, 1891
- Forgotten Souls - A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press
- gencircles.com

Sources:
- Anglo-Chinese Calandar 1847, printed at the Office of The Chinese Repository
- The Bengal and Agra annual guide and gazetteer, for 1841, William Rushton & Co., Calcutta
- The Chinese in Southeast Asia and Beyond: Socioeconomic and Poliitical Dimensions, by Qinghuang Yan
- The Chinese Repository 1846, 1849, 1851
- Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects
- Forgotten Souls - A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press
- Friend of China, various dates
- The German Speaking Community in Hong Kong 1846-1918, by Carl T. Smith
- Historischer Überblick über die Konsularischen Beziehungen zu Kanton (Historical Overview of the Consular Relations with Canton), German Consulate General in Guangzhou
- The Hong Kong Almanack and Directory for 1846, by William Tarrant, printed by the China Mail, 1846
- Hong Kong Directory with List of Foreign Residents in China, printed at the American Press, 1859.
- The Hong Kong Institute of Architects
- Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive
- National Library of Scotland
- The Straits Times, Singapore, May 1, 1855
- Street's Indian and Colonial Mercantile Directory for 1870, G. Street and Street, Brothers, London
- Timeline of Chinese-European Cultural Relations edited by the Institute of Asian Affairs, Hamburg on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation, Gütersloh, May 2004
- The Wigtownshire Pages

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Early Settlers, Not Opium Smugglers

2011-11-25T17:08:00.022+08:00

Last Updated on December 17, 2011

I will try to feature as many early settlers to Hong Kong as I can find them, chiefly people who were existing in Hong Kong between 1841 and 1850. My interest centers on small business owners and professionals, excluding those engaged in the opium trade. Government and military personnel, missionaries and clergymen are also excluded in this post.

The Bowras

Charles Woollett Bowra,
photo courtesy of Stephen Kent

Bowra & Co., Ships’ Chandlers and Sail-makers opened its door at 13 Queen’s Road on August 31, 1843 as one of the first godowns and chandlers known to have established in Hong Kong. Owner Charles Woollett Bowra (b.1818 – d. July 11, 1856, Spencer House, Cobham, Surrey, England) was an ex-army officer who came from a family with religious and some military backgrounds [1]. Charles probably came to Hong Kong at the time of the First Opium War and was later joined by brother William Addenbrooke and sister Rosa Millicent. It was unclear to me which army unit he was with, and when and why he resigned his commission. Clearly he was too young to retire. Charles was a well respected business owner and had formed an informal society of tradesmen, among them were Thomas Ash Lane, Ninian Crawford (the founders of Lane Crawford which today remains a high-end department store), Charles Markwick, James Smith and George Duddell. Lane and Bowra were their acknowledged leaders. In 1851, Charles took charge of collecting subscriptions from among his colleagues to stage a grand display of English fireworks to take place at the Parade Ground, the first ever to be witnessed in Hong Kong. It cost 20,000 pounds sterling and had to be ordered from Britain nine months in advance. This was the highlight of the Queen’s coronation anniversary celebration.

[1] His grandfather, the Rev. William Bowra (b.1747 - d. June 2, 1816, Clavering), was Vicar of Clavering, Essex (January 1, 1801 – October 15, 1816 ). His uncle - the fourth son of William - Frederick (b. - d. 1823, Albany Barracks, Isle of Wight) was a Lieutenant in the 64th Regiment of Foot while his father Robert worked as a junior clerk at the Adjutant General's Office of Horse-Guards.

Charles was never married but when he returned to the UK in 1854, moste probably due to ill health, he brought home a daughter named Alice Augusta. Incidentally, there was a record of a Miss. Bowra, identified as the daughter of the owner of a chandler, who attended a ball held on board HMS Agincourt in 1845 [2]. Charles was 27 of age in 1845, he could not possibly had then a daughter old enough to be invited to a ball. Unless, it was mistaken that this Miss. Bowra was not the daughter, but the kid sister of the chandler owner - Rosa - who turned 20 of age in 1845. And then, the daughter who went home with Charles was much much younger.

[2] The ball was organized by the officers of the Agincourt, and was probably the first such social event held in Hong Kong. Agincourt was a third rate ship of the line and flagship of the Commander-in-chief of East Indies and China Station, Tomas John Cochrane.

Associated with the family business were Charles' friend turned brother-in-law, Alfred Humphreys (b. - d. December 1, 1856) and elder brother William Addenbroke Bowra (b.1816 – d. September 4, 1866). Humphreys started a partnership business with a William Henry on September 8, 1843 - Henry Humphreys & Co. - only a week after the inauguration of the Bowra & Co. The company was housed inside Bowra & Co.'s godown at Queen's Road. I have no information if theses two companies were linked together, or if they were related merely as landlord and tenant. In 1846, Humphreys married Charles' sister, Rosa Millicent Bowra (b. September 9, 1825 - d. December 31, 1911) in Macau [3]. It was around this time that Humphreys started yet another venture, named Hemphreys & Co., with ship captain A. H. Fryer, who was a resident of Macau and owner of the Albion Hotel in the Portuguese enclave since September 1843. 1846 had proven to be an eventful year for Humphreys, as Charles and he merged their businesses on August 31 to become Bowra, Humphreys & Co. Charles, Alfred and Fryer became the principal partners of the new firm. Charles' elder brother William Addenbrooke seemed to hold a more junior position in the company. Captain Fryer started his own firm, A.H. Fryer & Co., in 1848. It was unclear to me if he remained a partner in Bowra, Hemphreys & Co. after his own firm was established.

[3] The marriage took place on February 17, 1846 and was performed by Chaplain Josiah Thompson of the Royal Navy. Thompson, promoted to Chaplain on April 12, 1843, served on HMS Minden from April 12, 1843 to June 1844 and on HMS Aligator from August 30, 1846 to December 1848. The Minden and Aligator were respectively the first and second hospital ships ever stationed in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Revenue Stamps with

firm marking of Bowra & Co.

The firm centered its activities at Whampoa, so much so that Humphreys himself lived in a house-boat (known those days as a “chop”) moored at Whampoa. A severe storm broke out on October 20, 1848 and several chops were destroyed at Whampoa including Humphreys'. He and several servants were rescued with great difficulties. There was however no mention of Rosa, his wife. Quite likely she stayed at a different residence on land. Bowra, Humphreys & Co. was listed at first in size in 1848 among the ships’ chandlers and auctioneers. The auctioneer dimension of the company would be proven an important and lucrative addition. The firm was also the first company to have its own water boat selling water to ships at anchor. By 1850 they had become auctioneers for the Royal Naval Department. The brothers-in-law partnership lasted only four years. For some reason, Charles and Humpreys split on December 31, 1850 and went on to running their respective businesses separately. Later on Humphreys, Rosa and their daughter Emily Rosette returned to the UK. After Charles died in 1856, Rosa took care of his daughter Alice Augusta. In his will, Charles left Rosa a large portion of his estate, but independent of Alfred and stipulated further that they were not be used by him at any time. I can't help but think that surely something untoward must have happened with the business partnership between the brothers-in-law in Hong Kong.

William Addenbrooke was the first child of Robert Bowra. His name started appearing in Hong Kong from 1846, although he might have arrived earlier. William brought his young wife Emily to Hong Kong, who unfortunately died on July 10, 1850 at the age of 28. William A., as in the case of Charles, was a well respected member of the community. He was appointed a juror in 1855. The appointment was clearly regarded as a symbol of status at those times in the colony. Upon returning to the UK, William settled in Durrington Lodge, Surbiton with his only son, Frederick William.

Key employees of the Bowras seemed to be choice candidates for juror appointments. Milton Adams Harsant (b. 1823 - d. June 1, 1856) and brother Frederick May Harsant, William Cunningham, William Harding and George Harper were jurors in 1850s and 1860s. F.M. Harsant were appointed for no less than ten years.

The most notable Chinese employee was comprador Wei Kwong 韋光 (b.1825 Heungshan, present Zhongshan , also birthplace of Sun Yet-sen - d.1879 Hong Kong) who joined the firm in 1843 after attending school in Singapore. Wei became a Supreme Court interpreter in 1855 and two years later went on to work for the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China as its comprador until he died. He left behind an estate valued at HK$170,000 – a substantial sum considering the whole of Tung Wah Hospital was built on a government grant of HK$115,000 in 1869. Wei had three sons. Wei Yuk 韋玉 alias Wei Bo-shan 韋寶珊 (b.1849 Hong Kong – d.1922) attended Leicester Stoneygate School in England and Dollar Institution in Scotland. He succeed his father as Mercantile Bank's comprador in 1879. He was appointed the Senior Chinese Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council in 1914, and was invested CMG in 1908 and knighthood in 1919. Wei Yuk was one of the first four Hong Kong Chinese to have become a Freemason. Both the other two sons were lawyers. The Oxford-educated Wei On 韋安 was Johnson Stokes & Master's first local solicitor. He joined the Hong Kong law firm in 1879. Wei Pui 韋培 was qualified to practice as a barrister in Hong Kong on October 22, 1888. I do not know with which firm.

I am writing down the names of some other Bowra employees that I have found and hope that one day there will be story about them I can tell. They are W. Stevenitt, J.C. Buchanan, F. Thompson, H. Rutherford and George Augustus Frederick Norris who was with another firm MacEwen & Co. in 1859 as an auctioneer. There was also the name of J.H. Bowra which appeared alongside those of Charles and William A. a couple of times in the Jardine Matheson Archive. I too hope that some day soon I will be able to find out who J.H. Was.

Humphreys sold his business interests in Hong Kong some time between 1851 and 1856 before returning to the UK where he died on December 1, 1856. I have no information what did happen to Bowra & Co. after William Addenbrooke left Hong Kong.

Two of Bowra's clients/partners stood out from the rest.

The Queen, Bowra's steamer chartered by Commodore Perry

Commodore Mathew Calbraith Perry, U.S.N., chartered a small steamer (130 tons) from Bowra, the Queen, in 1853 for $500 a month. The Queen was put under the command of Lieutenant George Henry Preble (promoted to Rear Admiral on September 30, 1876) as a part of the coalition sea forces organized by James Stirling, who headed the Royal Navy's East Indies and China Station, against the Chinese pirates and Taiping rebels. The primary purpose of the Queen was to protect American citizens in China. Armed with four four-pounder guns and one twelve-pound howitzer, the Queen must be a good looking ship, since Preble had this to say about her, “It is a little singular to have under our republican flag a vessel so styled.” The Queen was later, probably in 1855, sold to a Chinese company but put under the command of a Captain Endicott and a crew led by Europeans. She no longer served the United States Navy. In 1857, the Queen was captured by Chinese soldiers, the captain (not sure if this was Endicott) and several European were killed and the vessel burned.

A photo taken of James Erskine Murray and some

people from Kutai, a historic region in East Kalimantan

in Indonesia

James Erskine Murray (b.1810 – d. February 17, 1844), second son of the 7th Baron Ellibank, Scotland, was a barrister until he quit his practice in 1843 and afterward bought the brigantine Warlock on which he sailed to Australia and then to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, he met and befriended William Addenbrooke and soon the two decided to go into partnership and to embark on a trading expedition to Borneo. Murray sold the Warlock and together with W.A. Bowra, bought the 90-ton schooner Young Queen and the 200-ton brigantine Anna. Murray set sail to Borneo probably in January 1844 and finally arriving at Tongarron (Tenggarong) the following month, after entering the River Cote. The Sultan, who resided in Tongarron, seemed pleased with the presence of the visitors. The friendly appearance however wore off in a matter of days and on February 16, the expedition parties were treacherously attacked by masked batteries and gunboats. They slipped their cables and make attempt to fight their way out of the river. After twenty six hours (thirty six hours, according to a different source) of continuous fighting, they reached a few miles of the mouth of the river. Here they were met with a numerous fleet of boats blocking their way. It was here at the last and the most desperate attack where Murray was killed. He was struck by a two-pounder on the breast. After their escape, the expedition parties ran into the HMS Samarang and came under her protection. At Samarang's command was Captain Edward Belcher, who in 1841, then a Commander, made the first survey of the Hong Kong harbor. The engagement with the Kutai forces had killed three including Murray but wounded only four (five, according to a different source).

Here is the other side of the story. After entering Tenggarong, Murray went to Kutai and met with the Sultan, Sultan A.M. Salehuddin. Murray asked for land to establish a trading post and exclusive rights to run steamer in the waters of the Mahakam, but in return the Sultan only permitted Murray to trade in the Samarinda region alone. Unsatisfied with the results of the meeting, and after a few days, Murray fired volleys of cannon balls from his vessels towards Sultan's palace, and the Kutai troops duly returned fire. The exchange of fire led to an all out engagement. Eventually, Murray's lost the battle and fled to the sea. Five wounded and three dead (including Murray) on the part of the expedition parties were recorded, no accounts of casualty on the Kutai side was mentioned.

Sources:
- Anglo-Chinese Calandar 1847, printed at the Office of The Chinese Repository
- Chinese Christian: Elites, Middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong, by Carl T. Smith, Oxford University Press 1985
- China Directory 1862, Printed by A. Shoetrede & Co., Hong Kong
- The Chinese Repository, various year
- Clavering Online
- Erskine Murray's Fatal Adventure in Borneo, 1843-44, by B.R. Pearn
- Forgotten Souls - A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press
- Friend of China, various dates including August 31, 1843, September 8, 1843 and April 20, 1844
- The Fifth Report of the Commissioners Appointed under an Agreement, concluded on the 10th of July 1805, between the East India Company and the Private Creditors of the late Nabobs of The Carnatic, Ordered by The House of Common, 9th February 1810.
- The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, From July To December, 1823. Volume XCIII
- The Hong Kong Directory, various years
- Indonesia Tourism Blog
- Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive
- Stephen Kent, the great-Grandson of Rosa Millicent Bowra
- Dawn Miles, a descendant of Eliza de Roussiere who was the mother of Charles W. Bowra. Dawn's web page - Charles Viscount de Roussiere – should give you very helpful information about the de Roussiere and Bowra families. Dawn's genealogical research on her family is simply remarkable. Information she shared included those found in Charles W. Bowra's will as well as Eliza Bowra's death certificate.
- The Navy List, 1844-1879
- The Opening of Japan, A Diary of Discovery in the Far East, 1853-1856, by Rear Admiral George Henry Preble, U.S.N., University of Oklahoma Press
- The Pall Mall Gazette, March 16, 1867
- The Royal Navy, a History from the Earliest Times to Present (Volume 6), by William Laird Clowes

John Rickett

John Rickett (b.1801 – d. May 11, 1878, Croydon, London) was the fifth son of Joseph Rickett (b.1722- d.1819) and Rebecca Lacy (b.1768-d.1812). He came to China from Manila in 1831, most probably settled down in Canton (Guangzhou), and there he worked for the English East India Company and in 1834 was given the command the barque Austin. There was, however, an entry in the Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive that listed him as “John Rickett, owner and commander of the barque Austin”. Rickett moved to Macau in 1837 where he landed a job to survey the harbor. He was made a justice of the peace on June 30, 1843, being one of the first forty four JPs ever to be appointed in Hong Kong (in addition to Hong Kong residents, certain civilian and government/military personnel, etc. residing in major ports in China were appointed). On July 22 the same year, he was appointed British Consular Agent in Macau, after the Chief Superintendent's Office's removal to Hong Kong. In 1846 the new Hong Kong Club (1846- ) offered Rickett the position of Club Secretary and so he moved to Hong Kong. A year later he picked up a new profession of a ship surveyor, which afforded him the opportunity to, from time to time, inspect ships on behalf of the government, the Canton Insurance Office as well as Lloyd's. He joined the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) in 1851 as the Surveyor of Shipping. Rickett was one of the ninety nine Europeans who formed the original Hong Kong Volunteers in 1854.

Ricektt married Grace Eleanor Lathrop (b.1813-d.1887) in Calcutta [1] probably in January or February 1832. The newly wedded left Calcutta on February 26 traveling on the Austin, the barque Rickett commanded, for Penang and Singapore, thence Canton. Grace gave birth to their first child, Ellen, in China in 1833. Altogether they had six children. Four were born in Macau, they were John, Jr. (b.1834-d.1925), Sara Ann (b.1836 – d.1857, Hong Kong), Caroline (b.1839) and Elizabeth (b.1845). Their youngest son Charles was born in Hong Kong in 1851. Sara Ann died in 1857 at the young age of just twenty. Three years later Rickett retired from P&O and returned to England with part of the family [2]. Whilst retired, Rickett kept meteorology as a hobby; he became an ardent meteorologist. He regularly published his recordings of weather in the Croydon Advertiser until ill health prevented his taking a complete register. He was a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. He resided on the Wellesley Road for some time, but moved to Dingwall Road before his death. He died on May 11, 1878 at the age of seventy six.

[1] Although I was unable to trace the parents of Grace Eleanor, I feel it is fair to say that the Lathrops were residents of Calcutta. There was a record of a Mr. Rickett, and a child and a Mrs. Lathrop who arrived Calcutta on May 24, 1834, traveling on the Austin that left China on March 31. John Rickett, of course, was in command of the Austin. I believe this Mrs. Lathrop to be Grace's mother, who probably came to China to help out her daughter's childbirth.

[2] John Rickett Jr., who had been working for P&O as a clerk since c.1856, probably only returned to England in the early 1860s. He married Anna Cooper (b.1848-d.1934) in 1866 in Croydon. John Jr. was listed as the Yokohama agent of the London and Oriental Steam Transit Insurance Company in 1877. It was also in that year that Anna gave birth to their seventh daughter, Alice. They had eleven children in total.

Sources:
- Ancestry.com
- The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Volume 8, by East India Company
- The Calcutta Christian Observer, Volume 3
- China Trade and Empire - Jardine, Matheson & Co. and the Origins of British Rule in Hong Kong 1827-1843, by Alain Le Pichon
- The Chinese Repository – 1846
- Colonial Calendar for 1851, by Henry Capper
- Croydon in the Past, by Annesley William Streane
- Forgotten Souls - A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press
- Hong Kong Directory with List of Foreign Residents in China 1859
- Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive
- Rootsweb

Nicolia Duus

Nicolia, alias Nicholas, Duus (b. 1807, Hals, Denmark – d. December 5, 1861, Hong Kong) was a mariner and merchant who came to Hong Kong in 1837 after having spent five years in Calcutta, presumably working also as a merchant. Duus ran a trading firm and store, N. Duus & Co., at 18 Queen's Road retailing foods, wines, perfumes and hardware. Friend of China in its October 5, 1843 issue had named N. Duus as one of the three big grocers in Hong Kong: F.H. Tiedeman of an unnumbered godown and store in Queen’s Road, N Duus at 18 Queen’s Road, and Pain & Co. at 2 Magistracy Street. I found an advertisement he placed in Friend of China on September 7, 1843 that said, “For sale French cognac and English brandy in hogsheads. Manila rum and Java arrack in cases. Apply N. Duus, 18 Queen’s Road.” He bought and sold lorchas and even supplied patent toilets. The August 5, 1845 issue of Friend of China described the popular item as “a patent water closet for an upper story”. The firm was the Hong Kong agent for London book publisher - Ingram, Cooke & Co. According to Friend of China, N. Duus started supplying water to ships at their anchorages with the use of a waterboat fitted with tanks and a force pump as early as March 1844. This would put N. Duus the first company to provide this service in Hong Kong, two years ahead of Bowra, Humphreys & Co.

In 1845 Duus partnered with American merchant Samuel Burge Rawle to form a new trading firm - Rawle, Duus & Co., but moved to Shanghai a year later where he opened a ship brokerage firm – Duus & Co. Additionally, I found the name of Duus, Rawle & Co., Shanghai listed in Shanghai in 1846's China Repository. On August 4, 1846, Duus was appointed the Danish Consul for Shanghai, the first in China who was actually a Danish citizen. Duus stayed in Shanghai until 1851, whereupon he returned to Hong Kong and after dissolving the partnship with Rawle, he established his own trading firm - Nicholas Duus & Co. He was appointed Consul for Sweden and Norway in October 1855. He died in Hong Kong in 1861 and was buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley. Duus attended meetings of the Freemasons in Hong Kong; his mother lodge was the Lodge of Cape of Good Hope.

These were key employees of Rawle, Duus & Co., Hong Kong in 1846: William Hay, John Willaume, F.T. Derkheim, I.P. Pereira, J.A. de Jesus. I hope to be able to find out more about them soon. Henrique Hyndman was listed working for N. Duus & Co., in Hong Kong in 1849 [1]. He later worked for M.C. Rozario & Co. as a book-keeper, and was afterward employed by the China Sugar Refining Co. in Hong Kong.

[1] N. Duus & Co. or Nicholas & Co. might have been in existence before Duus returned to Hong Kong from Shanghai in 1851.

Duus married Sophia St. Ives Mary Jarvis in London in 1833. Both their sons John Henry and Edward Hercules [2] were born outside Denmark, but educated in Copenhagen. After Nicholas died, the family went separate ways. Sophia, together with her sister Georgeanna Charlotte, went to Cape Town to stay with their brother, Hercules Crosse Jarvis, who had just months ago stepped down as mayor of Cape Town after having served for twelve years. Sophia died in Cape Town in 1864. John and Henry moved to Japan where they lived until they died.

[2] John Henry (b. August 4, 1834, Calcutta - d. April 7, 1889) was listed working as a clerk in Hong Kong in 1859. He went to Japan in 1861 and was employed by Lindsay & Co. (the Hong Kong based British mercantile firm and opium trader). On August 25, 1867, he was appointed Danish Consul in Hakodate, Hokkaido. He was the first Danish Consul in Japan of Danish nationality. He started to run his own businesses around the same time. He became the French Consular Agent between 1870 and 1872, and Acting Consul for USA in 1879. Edward Hercules Duus (b. July 1, 1836, Macau - d. April 22, 1901, Kobe) was listed as an employee of Lindsay & Co. in Hong Kong. After Nicholas died, Edward was put in charge of closing his father's company which he did on February 28, 1862, and afterward became partner of his late father's Shanghai company - Duus & Co. He went to Japan in 1871 and work with his brother in Hakodate. In 1881 he moved to Tokyo and was employed by Mitsubishi Mail Steam Ship Co. until 1886, thereafter he worked for various mariner enterprises Tokyo. He married Shiratori Kin of Oura, Nagasaki and was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Nagasaki Club in 1888. Edward and Shiratori moved to Kobe in 1900 where he died a year later.

Sources:
- The Chinese Repository – 1843, 1846
- Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, by John W. Jordan
- Patricia Greenway, the Great-Great-Granddaughter of Nicholas Duus
- The Economist, October 27, 1855
- Forgotten Souls - A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery, by Patricia Lim, Hong Kong University Press
- Friend of China, September 7, 1843, October 5, 1843, March 5, 1844, August 5, 1845
- Hong Kong Directory with List of Foreign Residents in China 1859, Printed at the American Press, Hong Kong
- Meiji Portraits
- North China Herald, September 27, 1862
- Peace and friendship: Denmark's official relations with China, 1674-2000, by Christopher Bo Bramsen, Hua Lin, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
- The Portuguese in Hong Kong and China, by Jose Pedre Braga
- Simmonds's colonial magazine and foreign miscellany, by Peter Lund Simmonds

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Pirates in the Nineteenth Cenutry

2010-10-04T22:40:00.062+08:00

Last Updated on Ocober 17, 2010

A beautiful illustration of
a Chinese war junk

Cheng Yat 鄭一

Cheng Shi 鄭氏, alias Cheng Yat-sou 鄭一嫂, nee Shek Heung-gu 石香姑

Cheung Po Tsai 張保仔, alias Apo Tsai

Kwok Por-dai 郭婆帶

The flag reputedly used by the Shap-ng-tsai
piratical society [1]

Shap-ng-tsai 十五仔

[1] This superbly preserved painted cotton flag, believed to be dated c.1849, is being kept at the Maritime Museum in London. A splendid example of Chinese Ninwah-style 年畫 woodblock prints that gained popularity since the seventeenth century, most particularly those of auspicious elements and made available at the Chinese New Year. This colorful display is a collage of elements that together surely means something auspicious and righteous. The characters of Tin Hau Holy Mother 天后聖母 are written on the top. Tin Hau, or Majo 媽祖, is the patron goddess for all people making a living from the sea - pirates including. To the left is the red hot sun. The figure sitting on the rock is Cheung Tin-si 張天師 (Celestial Master Cheung), or Cheung Ling 張陵, alias Zhang Ling, who founded the "Way of the Celestial Masters" sect of Taoism. He is also known as the demon-buster in Chinese folklore. He is dressed in a battle robe and holds in his hands an Eight Trigram mirror 八卦鏡 in such an angle as if wanting to fend off all things evil. Behind Cheung is a Peiyau 貔貅, a mythical beast that is supposed to bring monetary benefit; it also symbolizes a ferocious warrior. Peiyau is particularly favored by people engaged in the illicit trades whereas lion and unicorn (or kirin, qilin) are by the populace. Behind the Peiyau is a totem of clouds, that helps carry messages to heaven. On the far left are six bats, a Chinese symbol for good fortune. I am quite impressed with this flag and the person who created it, not piratical anything, only for the creation of this unusual artifact.

I found no image of Cheung Po-tsai

but was able to find this drawing of

Chui Apoo. Chui looked nothing like

Chow Yun-fat’s Sao Feng, but then the

character of Sao Feng purportedly is

based on Cheung Po-tsai.

Chui Apoo 徐亞保

William Fenton - the Brit

Eli Boggs - the Yank
Remember Nick Nolte's Learoyd in Farewell to the King, or Marlon Brando's Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. The story of American renegade-sailor-turned-pirate-boss Eli Boggs certainly got that oomph expected of a Hollywood blockbuster movie script.

On January 21, 1858, the Sydney Morning Herald carried this article about Boggs, which was originally published by the Nautical Magazine.

An Interesting Pirate - An American, named Eli Boggs, was tried at Hongkong on Wednesday, July 1st [1857], for piracy and murder. His name would do for a villain of the Blackboard class, but in form and feature he was the hero of a sentimental novel; he was a great dandy as well as cutthroat. As be stood in the dock, bravely battling for his life, it seemed impossible that that handsome boy could be the pirate whose name had been for three years connected with the boldest and bloodiest acts of piracy. It was a face of feminine beauty. Not a down upon the upper lip, largo lustrous eyes, a mouth the smile of which might woo coy maiden, affluent black hair not carelessly parted, hands so small and so delicately white that they would create a sensation in Belgravia; such was the Hongkong pirate, Eli Boggs. He spoke for two hours in his defense, and he spoke well, without a tremor, without an appeal for mercy, but trying to prove that his prosecution was the result of a conspiracy, wherein a Chinese bum-boat proprietor, and a sub-official of the colony (both of whom he charged as being in league with all the pirates on the coast) were the chief conspirators. The defense was, of course, false. It had been proved that he had boarded a junk and destroyed by cannon. pistol, and sword, fifteen men ; and that having forced all the rest overboard he had fired at one of the victims who had clutched a rope and held on astern. No witness, however, could prove that he saw a man die from a blow or shot struck or fired by the pirate. The jury, moved by his youth and courage, and straining hard their consciences, acquitted him of the murder, hat found him guilty of piracy. He was sentenced to be transported for life. There were two hundred junks lying in the harbor at the time of the trial, and every one of them armed with at least two heavy guns, - some have twelve. Probably one quarter of these are pirates who live principally by piracy, and adopting the coasting trade only as a cover to their real profession. The passage boats to Macao are little armories. There are cannon upon deck and revolvers in every belt. But so it was on board the Queen when the cannon was turned round and fired into the cabin on the passengers absorbed in tiffin. Further precautions, however, are now taken. In the Fei Ma the Chinese passengers are put down into the hold, 12 feet deep, and the ladder is taken away. A sailor keeps guard over them with a drawn cutlass. One of the Yankee ships has an iron cage on deck, into which the Chinese passengers are invited to walk, and are then locked up. The Peninsular and Oriental boat has a better but more costly precaution; she carries no Chinese passengers.

This newspaper article aside, I actually have very little on Boggs. Some said he was originally from Florida. He probably sailed to China in around 1853-54, and there he most likely committed a terrible deed and ended up a renegade. The story behind his hooking up with a pirate society in Hong Kong must be very dramatic; even more so about how he became a society boss commanding a fleet of thirty to forty armed junks. Boggs was described as youthful, fair-skinned, dandy, well-spoken, and hugely charismatic, on the one side where he appeared not very piratical; on the other where he was piratical, he was most particularly known for his cruelty. He had once had the body of a captured Chinese merchant literally cut into pieces and had them placed in buckets and sent to shore as a warming to anyone who dared to cross him.

Wong Ma-chow 黃墨洲, alias Wong Akee

Pirate-Busters

Pak Ling 百齡

William Henry "Bully" Hayes

John Charles Dalrymple-Hay
John Charles Dalrymple-Hay of Park Place, 3rd Baronet, b. February 11, 1821 Wigtown, Wigtownshire, Scotland - d. January 28, 1912 London, was educated at Rugby School (Rugby, Warwickshire) before entering the Royal Navy. John Hay, as he was quite often known, fought in the first Kaffir War (1835), the West Coast of Africa Campaign (1835-1836), the Syrian War (1840), and the Crimean War (1855-1856, as the captain of HMS Hannibal). He rose from the rank of Lieutenant (August 15, 1846), to Commander only thirteen days later, to Captain (January 20, 1850), to Rear Admiral (April 6, 1866), to Vice Admiral (April 30, 1873), and finally Admiral (March 21, 1878). Whilst as a Rear Admiral, Hay held the office of Lord of the Admiralty (1866-1869). Hay was a Member of the Parliament (Conservative) (Wakefield 1862-1865, Stamford 1866-1880, and Wigtown Burghs 1880-1885), and was invested a Privy Counselor and as a Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath (G.C.B.). His other honors included D.C.L. (honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Works) by Oxford (1872), and LL.D. by University of Glasgow (1904). Additionally, he was a fellow of the Royal Society. He married Hon. Eliza Napier, daughter of William John Napier 律勞卑, 9th Lord Napier of Merchistoun [2].

W.J. Napier
[2] Among other things, W.J. Napier was the first British Superintendent of Trade in China (1834), one who failed his mission miserably. Unable to even secure a meeting with the Chinese Viceroy after arriving in Canton, humiliated, he went to Macau and there after a few months died, having achieved nothing for his commission.

Another beautiful engraving of a Chinese Junk, but termed
as a "Chinese Pirate Boat at Canton Carrying a Small Army
of Ruffians" by The Illustrated London News, c.1857

Law to Suppress Piracy
Hong Kong’s first ordinance pertaining to piracy, or the suppression of it, was enacted on March 25, 1847, which was named Ordinance No. 3 of 1847 "An Ordinance for the Prevention of Piracy". Here is a gist of the ordinance:

1. British ship of war and other vessels duly authorized by the Hong Kong Government were empowered to board and search every Chinese vessel "reasonably" suspected of being a piratical vessel.
2. Any Chinese vessel carrying unlicensed offensive weapons were to be held and deemed a piratical vessel. Such vessels with its contents were to be forfeited.
3. All vessels belonging to Hong Kong, which had been registered with the Government, were to carry the same flag as other British merchantmen. The flag shall bear the number of registration inscribed in its center. All Hong Kong vessels were required to hoist their flag whenever they came in sight of any European vessels.
4. All Hong Kong vessels were required to register all firearms they carried on board.

The law helped little in reducing piracy activities but created the lucrative trade of bounty hunters. It was written in almost all the materials I have read that a lot of Chinese vessels, not slightly guilty of carrying piracy acts nor had they any relation to pirates, were seized and then forfeited for the sake of profit. There were even cases where pirates worked as bounty hunters claiming both the bounty and the spoils of war.

Hong Kong crime report. Tuk Kwai has been charged with piracy
I came across this bizarre anecdote published on July 24, 1842 by Friend of China about Tuk Kwai, the alleged pirate, which I wish to share:

Ah Chu says he was sailing his laden boat to Hong Kong and at Kap Shui Mun [汲水門] (north of Lantau) was attacked by pirates. He made no resistance and he was dropped on shore and the boat and cargo was sailed away by the pirates. He now accuses Tuk Kwai of being one of the pirates and proves his evidence is true by cutting off a cock’s head [I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me cock…]
Tuk Kwai denies.
Chan Shing, a shopkeeper in the Bazaar says Tuk Kwai has been his partner for four months and could not have been a pirate during that time.
Ngai Sun says I know Ah Chu was robbed and two days ago he recognized Tuk Kwai as one of the robbers.
Finding - Tuk Kwai is convicted. 100 lashes and 6 months hard labor in irons.

[Such was the quality of journalism in Hong Kong in 1842. Such was how easy a conviction was made in 1842.]

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Cartoon Paper and the Chinese Cartoonist

2010-09-12T11:22:00.010+08:00

Last updated on October 6, 2010

Part IV of Newsies in the Nineteenth Century

China Punch of May 28, 1867

1867-1876 China Punch - Hong Kong's First Cartoon Paper
In April 1867, China Punch, a fortnightly illustrated paper, was published by the China Mail, and conducted by editor W.N. Middleton and others (unfortunately, I do not know who the cartoonists were). China Punch ran on lines quite similar to its London prototype - the Punch, which was created by wood engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew in 1841. The dual got the idea for the paper from a satirical French paper, Charivari, and in fact the first issued (July 17, 1841) was subtitled 'The London Charivri'.

The China Punch featured local topics and men in a humorous and effective manner, coded, however with heavy colonial flavor making fun of local Chinese customs and assuming the superiority of British values. Such were met with almost instant popularity among the Western residents and visitors alike in Hong Kong. The paper ceased publication between May 28, 1868 and November 5, 1872, and was permanently closed on November 22, 1876 when Middleton left Hong Kong. The "Twentieth Century Impression of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China" said that since that time no paper of the kind has managed to rival its humorous and its witty caricatures and cartoons. A company named "W.N. Middleton and Co." existed in Hong Kong in the 1910s. I have no idea what the firm did for business and whether it was related to our Middleton.

This is the original print of the Shi Guk To,

a later version became full-colored.

Tse Tsan-tai - Hong Kong’s First Cartoonist
Republic revolutionist and South China Morning Post co-founder, Tse Tsan-tai 謝纘泰 was Hong Kong’s (as well as China’s) first cartoonist. The cartoon he created, "Shi Guk To" 時局圖 (The Situation in the Far East), was printed in Japan in 1899. In Tse’s cartoon, the map of China was infested by different animals and symbols that represented foreign powers that occupied territories in Qing China - Britain the dog, France the frog, Japan the sunray, German the sausage, and Russia the bear. United States the eagle was included as a potential threat. The Shi Guk To was reprinted and republished after the original publication both in China and overseas without citation of the original.

Tse Tsan-tai, alias Tse Juan-tai, James See, was born on May 16, 1872 in Sydney. He was the son of Chinese immigrant small-business-owner Tse Yat-cheong 謝日昌, alias John See, who hailed from Kaiping 開平 in Guangdong. Tse, the father, went to Sydney in late 1850s or early 1860s where he opened a general store. Tse’s mother, Kwok Shi 郭氏 was said to be Australia’s first woman immigrant from China. The family later moved to Grafton and finally to a tin-mining town named Tingha, not far from Inverell. The family was generally known under the surname of Ah See. Tse was baptized James See in 1879 in Anglican Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton. In 1888, the whole family (Tse had two brothers and three sisters) moved to Hong Kong and there Tse attended and graduated from the Queen’s College 皇仁書院.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Newspaper Founded by Drug Barons

2010-09-10T09:54:00.007+08:00

Last updated on October 24, 2010

Part III of Newsies in the Nineteenth Century
1843-1863 Hong Kong Register 香港紀錄報

The Hong Kong Register was the successor of Canton Register, China’s first English newspaper and was headed by Philadelphian merchant W.W. Wood. But Wood was only the frontman; the newspaper was in fact founded and funded by James Matheson, partner of William Jardine in the opium firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., with the help of his nephew Alexander Matheson. The princely opium house wanted a trade newspaper they can control but want to be hush-hush about their involvement, to the extent that Matheson, the uncle, purposely moved to Macau during the time when the Canton Register was launched [1]. The first issue of Canton Register was printed in 1827 and was printed every two weeks. The newspaper moved to Macau along with the exodus of British merchants in May 1839 and from Macau to Hong Kong in June 1843. It was then renamed Hong Kong Register and continued to publish until its closure in 1863. As the trade paper for the foreign mercantile community in China, the Hong Kong Register contained information such as two pages of Price Current and carried stories / editorials that tend to serve the interest of foreign traders at the risk of being incitant.

[1] This is an extract of a letter sent from Alexander Matheson in Canton to James Matheson in Macau on November 16, 1827 in which the nethew explained measures being taken to conseal the connection between the paper and the Mathesons.

“... I mean to disavow any connection with the paper, further than my having hitherto assisted Wood from motives of friendship. With regard to the Press, it will be proper to state to them (Rudi Butt notes: some people began to question if the paper was in any way connected to the Mathesons), that you made an arrangement with Wood, before the paper was established, that if he chose he might take the Press at prime cost, and that as the paper has been successful beyond our expectation, Wood has availed himself of this arrangement, so that the Press is no longer your property. This will screen you from all responsibility. I should also think it prudent to remove the press to some other place, to make it appear more evident that you are entirely unconnected with the business…”

The Hong Kong Register was published weekly and only became a journal in 1859; meanwhile, it published eight other newspapers / supplements at different time period. They were: General Price Current, Mercantle Register, and Shipping List (1843-1845); Hong Kong Register and Government Gazette (April - September 1844, 1853-1855); Overland Register and Price Current (1845-1859, July 1860 - 1861); The Register’s Advertiser (1853-1854); Hong Kong Register Daily Supplement (1859); China Chronicle, Hong Kong Register and Eastern Advertiser (January - June 1860); Overland China Chronicle (January - June 1860); and Hongkong Register Daily Advertiser (June 1860 - 1861).

The first publisher and editor of the Register William Whitman Wood (b. c.1804) arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1825 from Philadelphia. Son of celebrated actors Burke and Juliana Westray Wood, he was said to be a person of great versatility, mentally and materially. After heading and editing the Canton Register for a number of years, he worked for the American opium firm of Russell and Co. in Guangzhou. He left Canton in 1833 and settled in Manila where he managed a coffee and sugar plantation in Jala-Jala and coincidentally became the first person to introduce photograph to the the Philippines. He later joined Russell, Sturgis and Co. in Manila and there he died. Wood is remembered by his book - Sketches of China.

John Slade succeeded Wood as the Newspaper’s publisher and editor in 1831. I don’t have much information on Slade except that he was said to be a gentleman of good classic attainments and a Chinese scholar, he is well-remembered by his book - Narrative of the late proceedings and events in China published in 1839 (check my Google Library). He was one of the first land buyers in Hong Kong in 1842. A year later he moved with the newspaper and settled here, but not for long, he died from fever in August 1843, about two months after moving from Macau. Slade, essentially Hong Kong Register's first editor and publisher, was succeeded by John Cairns.

In 1847, a Lieutenant Sergeant of the 95th Royal Irish Regiment objected to a comment appeared in the Register in which he was quoted as an “informer” and assaulted and battered the editor John Cairns. Cairns brought charges against the Lieutenant and was awarded $1,000 damages. Another entry in the history I could find on Cairns was that he, together with Robert Strachan, a small business owner who later became the editor and proprietor of the Register, and Edward Farncomb, Hong Kong’s first enrolled solicitor, who styled themselves as the Trustees of the Hong Kong Theatrical Company, bought a plot of land from crooked government auctioneer and Hong Kong’s first licensee of Opium monopoly George Duddell. The land lot was situated around Wyndham Street and Wellington Street behind the old Hong Kong Club whereupon the theatrical group had erected the Victoria Theatre. The first performance in the new theatre was on November 1, 1848 under the patronage of the third governor George Bonham. The Trustee conveyed the lot back to Duddell because of financial difficulties, and the theatre then used for a mixed of performances, balls and assemblies by short-term lease. The theatre faced its final curtain in 1859 where it was up for auction. I know not who bought it and what had the new owner done with it. I could find out, but that would be material for another story. An unusual observation on Cairns as made in some material I read described him as “too kind hearted for a journalist”, that to me is surely a compliment.

The ownership of the Register changed hands in 1849. The new proprietor was originally a Scottish merchant captain, Robert Strachan, of the merchantman Scotland, who arrived in China in 1838. He worked for the opium firm of W.T. Gemmell and Co. in Canton (Guangzhou) and was one of the few Briton who stayed behind in Canton after the second exodus of British merchant in 1843. After befriended by Andrew Jardine, nephew of William Jardine, whilst in Canton he became an agent of Jardine Matheson and Co. This was what he said of Hong Kong then, "The Island of Hongkong will be one of the most considerable marts for trade in British possession in the course of a few years," He bought the Register in 1949 and became its proprietor until 1860. There was a conflicting entry in the “Hong Kong Directory 1859” that said Richard A. Long Philips was proprietor of the Hong Kong Register in 1859. Strachan edited the Register for a brief while in 1860. There was a not so flattering entry of Strachan in history - On August 19, 1851, he was fined $15 by the Chief Magistrate for thrashing (I do not know if this was only an expression of the one who wrote this, or Strachan physically beat the man with a whip) a neighboring Chinese silversmith who had disturbed him in the middle of the night on a Sunday.

William Henry Mitchell succeeded Cairns as editor in 1849. Mitchell came to China as a colonial officer. He was a clerk in the British consular office in Amoy (Xiamen) and in 1844 became a Consular Assistant. He ran a small mercantile firm in Hong Kong, the Mitchell and Co. between 1846 and 1847. After leaving the Register in early 1850, he was appointed Assistant Police Magistrate, Sheriff, Provost Marshal, Coroner, and Marshal of the Vice-admiralty Court. He was already a Justice of the Peace (official) on March 28, 1850. He was accused by the first Attorney General Thomas Chisholm Anstey QC in June 1856 of extorting money from prisoners while in the office of Sheriff and Acting Chief Magistrate.

Thurston Dale (b.1819-d.1850) was appointed editor after Mitchell left in 1850, but died a few months later. He was succeeded by William F. Bevan (b.1819-d.1858) who kept the job until his death eight years later. Bevan was responsible for the printing in 1852 of a catalogue of books kept in the Victoria Library & Reading Room, essentially Hong Kong's first library, which was established in c.1848 in the form of a club. Bevan was assisted by Andrew Dixson, who was the Secretary of the Library in 1852, and again for 1852-53. Richard A. Long Philips took over as editor in 1859 but for one year; he was also the publisher for the same period. A number of editors had come and gone in 1960. Canadian Malcolm Macleod succeeded Philips, who in turn was succeeded by Register owner Robert Strachan, and then during the second half of the year there was James C. Beecher, an American missionary hailed from Hanover, New Hampshire. Two James were appointed editors in 1861, James Jeffrey and James L. Brown. The last publisher of the newspaper, who succeeded Malcolm Macleod in 1861, was Henry M. Levy. I found no information about Levy.

James C. Beecher (b.1828-d.1886) was the youngest child of Rev. Dr. Lyman and Harriet Porter Beecher []. After graduation from the Dartmouth University, the young Beecher became a sailor and ventured to the Far East, arriving in China for the first time in 1849. He then served five years as a ship’s officer in the East India trade. Beecher returned from the sea and attended Andover Theological Seminary, and there he married Ann Morse, a widow with a young child. The couple left for Canton (Guangzhou) where they served as missionaries, and there Beecher was appointed Seaman’s Chaplain for Whampoa. He left China in 1861 to go home and fight in the American Civil War. I do not know when he came to Hong Kong and why he was appointed editor of the Register. His wife, Ann Morse, returned to the States two years earlier suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and died in 1863. During the Civil War, Beecher served in the First Long Island Regiment as chaplain, and then the 141st New York Volunteers as a lieutenant colonial. In 1863 he was appointed to recruit an African regiment, the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers. The regiment was reorganized in 1864 as the 35th United States Colored Troops and was under the command of Beecher, who was now a full colonel. After the Civil War, Beecher served as pastor at different churches in New York. In 1881, he suffered from a nervous breakdown and was admitted to Dr. Gleason's water cure sanitarium in Elmira, New York - the same institution Ann Morse spent her final years. Beecher took his own life while in Elmira. James C. was a half brother of famous abolitionist and novelist, Harriet Beecher Stowe (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896), and Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887), a prominent Congregationalist minister, social reformer, abolitionist, and public speaker.

I found no information on the Register for the period between 1861 and 1863. When I do I will write more on this topic, until then, this is all I can tell you about Hong Kong's first trade paper.

- END -

Magic Shampoo from the Philippines

2010-09-04T16:20:00.003+08:00

Last updated on September 29, 2010

The W.P. Moore Hairdressing Saloon at the Hongkong Hotel placed the following advertisement in the Hongkong Telegraph on June 16, 1881.

Mr. Moore begs to recommend his Gogo Shampoo Wash to the public as unrivalled by any preparation ever produced for promoting the growth of the hair. The basic of this compound is made of soap root; the natives of the Philippine Islands never use anything else for washing their hair; they are never found bald, and it is quite common to see the females with hair from 5 to 6 feet long. By constantly using this Shampoo Wash as directed, you will never by bald. The proprietor offers the Wash to the public entirely confident that by its restorative properties it will without fail arrest decaying hair. It completely eradicates scurf, dandruff, and cures all diseases of the scalp. It does not contain any poisonous drugs. By its cooling properties it allays the itching and fever of the scalp, which is the great cause of people losing their hair.

Mr. Moore has succeeded in being able to put this wash up in bottles without allowing it to ferment, and he will guarantee it to keep any length of time in any climate.

I just checked the shampoo I am using and was quite let down to find that it contains no soap root from Luzon… not that I am bald or going to be.

By the way, Mr. Moore was called as a witness to testify in the Smith and Bandmann Libel Case.

- END -

Newsies in the Nineteenth Century

2010-09-02T19:25:00.007+08:00

Original Post Date: August 28, 2010

1841 Hong Kong Gazette 香港公報 or 香港鈔報, first issue on May 1

1842 The Friend of China 中國之友, first issue on March 17

1843-1863 Hong Kong Register 香港紀錄報

The Hong Kong Register was the successor of Canton Register, China’s first English newspaper headed by Philadelphian merchant William Whiteman Wood (b. c.1804), but was in fact founded and funded by James Matheson, partner of William Jardine in the opium firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., with the help of his nephew Alexander. The first issue of Canton Register was printed in 1827 and was printed every two weeks. The newspaper moved to Macau along with the exodus of British merchants in May 1839 and from Macau to Hong Kong in June 1843. It was then renamed Hong Kong Register and continued to publish until its closure in 1863. As the trade paper for the foreign mercantile community in China, the Hong Kong Register contained information such as two pages of Price Current and carried stories / editorials that tend to serve the interest of foreign traders at the risk of being incitant.

The first publisher and editor of the Register W.W. Wood arrived in Canton (Guangzhou) in 1825 from Philadelphia. Son of celebrated actors Burke and Juliana Westray Wood, he was said to be a person of great versatility, mentally and materially. After heading and editing the Canton Register for a number of years, he worked for the American opium firm of Russell and Co. in Guangzhou. He left Canton in 1833 and settled in Manila where he managed a coffee and sugar plantation in Jala-Jala and coincidentally became the first person to introduce photograph to the the Philippines. He later joined Russell, Sturgis and Co. in Manila and there he died. Wood is remembered by his book - Sketches of China.

John Slade succeeded Wood as the Newspaper’s publisher and editor. I don’t have much information on Slade except that he was said to be a gentleman of good classic attainments and a Chinese scholar, he is well-remembered by his book - Narrative of the late proceedings and events in China published in 1839 (check my Google Library). He was one of the first land buyers in Hong Kong in 1842. A year later he moved with the newspaper and settled here, but not for long, he died from fever in August 1843, about two months after moving from Macau. Slade was succeeded by John Cairns.

1845-1974 The China Mail 德臣西報

First issue printed on February 20, 1845. The China Mail was founded by Scotsman Andrew Shortrede 蕭德銳, a prominent printer in Edinburgh, who learnt the printing craft as an apprentice in 1920s. He was the proprietor of the publishing house East Thistle Lane between 1830 and 1840. Judging from the large number of titles printed by Thistle Lance, Shortrede ought to be a very successful publisher. From 1841 to 1843 he owned and managed another publishing house in Edinburgh, George IV Bridge. It was said in the Scottish Book Trade Index (SBTI) that he fell into bad health in around 1843-44 and went to China although I do not know at what time he arrived in Hong Kong and whether the China Mail was the first venture he embarked on here. Being a learned but humble person, Shortrede soon became a well respected member of the community. In 1846, he drafted the by-laws of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch [1], which was then founded in February the following year. He had a keen interest in education and was one of the financiers who support the schooling of three young Hong Kong men in the United States and Britain [2]. He was a keen promoter for the establishment of the St. Andrew School, a public school opened in 1855, which was the first school in Hong Kong not run by missionaries. It was also the first school to be funded by public subscription.

Shortrede established the publishing house A. Shortrede and Co. in Hong Kong in the 1850s, which continued to publish books well after his death and into the twentieth century. A. Shortrede was famous for publishing the Hong Kong Directory, which also came with a list of foreign residents in China. The earliest edition I have read was for 1859.

[1] The first office-bearers of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch included Shortrede, second Colonial Governor John Francis Davis (as President), Lieutenant Governor Major-General George Charles D’Aguilar, Colonial Surgeon Peter Young, Colonial Treasurer William Thomas Mercer, John Charles Bowring, partner of Jardine, Matheson and Co. (1858-1864); and Thomas Francis Wade, British Envoy to China and later inventor of the Wade System of Romanization of Chinese 韋氏拼音.

[2] All three were alumni of the Morrison Education Society School in Hong Kong and native of Xiangshan (Chungshan), Guangdong (Kwangtung) and were sent to the Monson Academy in Massachusetts. Kuan Huang 黃寬 went on to study medicine and surgery at University of Edinburgh and became the first Chinese to practice Western medicine in China. Yung Wing 容閎 went on to Yale and became its first Chinese graduate. He later became a diplomat and an educator. Wong Shing 黃勝 only spent a year in Monson and returned to Hong Kong due to poor health. After a stint working for the China Mail, he went on to established two Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. He was appointed the first Chinese juror and the second Chinese member of the Legislative Council.

These were the key people working at the China Mail in 1859: Andrew Scott Dixson, Proprietor; Andrew Wilson, Editor; and James Jeffrey, Robert Low, N.B. Bonney, Francisco C. Barradas, J.J. da Silva e Souza, A.J. da Silva e Souza.

The May 1, 1855 issue of Chinese Serial carried a story
about Joan of Arc written in Chinese.1853 遐邇貫珍 Chinese Serial

1857 The Hong Kong Daily Press, or simply known as the Daily Press 香港孖剌西報, first issue on October 1

1866 The Hong Kong Mercury and Shipping Gazette

1871 The Daily Advertiser

1873 The Hong Kong Times: Daily Advertiser, and Shipping Gazette

1874-1947 循環日報Tsun-wan Yat-po or Universal Circulating Herald

1881-1951 The Hongkong Telegraph 士蔑報

First issue appeared on June 15, 1881. The Telegraph was founded by Robert Fraser-Smith (d. February 9, 1895 Hong Kong) to whom the newspaper owed its Chinese name, 士蔑 simply Smith. I was unable to trace Fraser-Smith’s background before he became the proprietor, publisher and editor of the Telegraph. Fraser-Smith was often referred to as atrabilious and scandalous and had been jailed several times for libel. When Fraser-Smith died in 1895, his interest in the Hong Kong Telegraph was acquired by John Joseph Francis Q.C. [3] (b. 1839, Dublin - d. September 22, 1901, Hong Kong) his more than once prosecutor in the court-of-law. Francis was said to be a sparring partner of Fraser-Smith, in-and-outside of the court-of-law. Francis retained the controlling interest of the newspaper until 1900, whereupon the newspaper company was formed into a limited liability company by Francis, the company was registered on February 22, 1900. Robert Ho-tung and several of his Chinese associates became the principal shareholders of the newspaper company, which they felt would serve as an organ in which to give expression of their views. The shares were held under the name of the Chinese Syndicate 香港華商公局, predecessor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

In 1916 or 1917, American dentist Joseph W. Noble acquired a majority interest in the newspaper company and took on the role as publisher. Noble was the second dentist to practice in Hong Kong and one of the keen supporters for the establishment of the Hong Kong’s medical school. He was also the Chairman of the South China Morning Post (1907-1911). For a period of time, SCMP and the Telegraph jointly published an evening paper, named Evening Edition South China Morning Post and The Hongkong Telegraph. The Hong Kong Telegraph merged with the South China Morning Post in the beginning of 1941. The two were split after the Pacific War and five years later in 1951 the Hong Kong Telegraph closed.

[3] J.J. Francis was a leading legal professional at his time and was the third barrister in Hong Kong to become a Queen’s Council.

Chesney Duncan 鄧肯 was the second editor of the Telegraph, who succeeded Fraser-Smith in 1895 and continued until 1899. Duncan was an active republican revolution sympathizer, who had met Sun Yat-sen on several occasions and was listed as a supporting member of the Hsing Chung Hui 興中會. In fact, the English version of the declaration and mission statement of Hsing Chung Hui was drafted by Duncan and Thomas Reid of China Mail. The Telegraph and the China Mail were the first newspapers to openly champion the republic movement in China. On one occasion, Duncan was called before the Colonial Secretary James Lockhart, who reprimanded him for what the paper published, claiming it amounted to incitement of the Chinese to revolt against a government with which Britain was on friendly terms. Despite the warning, the newspaper's pro-revolutionists attitude has not swerved.

E.F. Skertchly replaced Duncan as editor in 1899 and left in 1901. He moved to Penang and later became the editor of the Penang Gazette and then chief editor of the Straits Echo, and there he died, the year unknown to me. His wife remarried a Samuel Bonnett Darby of Rugby and Brighton.

E.A. Snewin became the editor in 1901 at a time when Robert Ho-tung and his colleagues at the Chinese Syndicate became principal shareholders of the Telegraph. Snewin sat in the inaugural committee of the first Journalistic Association in Hong Kong. He left the newspaper in 1906.

A.W. Brebner was appointed editor in January in 1906 and continued until 1910. Brebner hailed from Aberdeen, Scotland and received education at the Robert Gordon’s College. After graduation he joined the Aberdeen Free Press at a editorial staff. In 1895, he went to Jamaica and became the sub-editor of the Daily Time, and from there he proceeded to Hong Kong in 1906.

Three more names appeared as editors of the Telegraph but no information on the time period in which they held the position can be found. They are: E.B. Helme, F.L. Pratt and A. Hick. I found nothing about Helem and Hicks.

Frederick Lionel Pratt (b.1872-d.1940s) was an Australian who was famous as co-owner-publisher of the Who’s Who in the Far East. The other owner was another Australian William Henry Donald (b.1875-d.1946), the managing director of the China Mail. The book (1906, 1907 editions are known to me) was printed by the China Mail.

Jose Pedro Braga 布力架 (b. 1871 Hong Kong - D. 1944 Macau) was the manager of the Hong Kong Telegraph between 1902 and 1910 who also succeeded Francis as the publisher. Braga came from a Portuguese family with long standing in Macau. His maternal grandfather Delfino Noronha ran a printing press in Hong Kong since 1844, Noronha and Co., a quasi-government printer, which eventually became the Hong Kong Government Printer. Braga studied at the Italian Convent School (predecessor of the Sacred Heart Canossian College) and St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong and went to India afterward, and there he graduated from the University of Calcutta. On his returned to Hong Kong in 1899, Brada worked for his grandfather until Noronha’s death in July 1902. Thereafter Braga joined the Telegraph at the invitation of Robert Ho-tung. After having spent eight years (1902-1910) with the Telegraph, Braga went on to become the Hong Kong correspondent for Reuters. He was succeeded as publisher by the new proprietor Joseph Noble. In c.1920, he gave up journalism and ventured into the business domain. He was appointed Chairman of China Light and Power Company in 1934 (and again in 1938) after the founding chairman Robert George Shewan was oust by the principal shareholders the Kadoorie family. Braga also sat on the board of several prominent companies which were managed by Shewan, Tomes and Co., a firm controlled by Shewan.

Braga was a member of the Sanitary Board between 1927 and 1930. He was appointed the first Portuguese member of the Legislative Council in 1929, he continued to serve in the council until 1937. He was created an OBE in 1935 and was honored with the naming of Braga Circuit 布力架街. Braga married Olive Pauline Pollard (b. January 16, 1870 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia - d. February 13, 1952) 1884 in Calcutta. She was the pianist and violinist with the Pollards Lilliputian Opera Copmany, her father James Joseph Pollard was the founder. Jose and Pauline Brada had five children. One of their sons, Jose Maria (Jack) Braga (b.1897-d.1988) was a famous writer.

1895 香港華字日報 The Chinese Mail

1895 The Hong Kong Weekly Press

Tse Tsan-taiEpilog

At the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

None of these newspapers and periodicals remains today. The oldest surviving newspaper is the South China Morning Post, which was founded on February 6, 1903 by republican revolutionist and collaborator-turned-rival of Sun Yat-sen, Tse Tsan-tai 謝纘泰, and Briton Alfred Cunningham. A republican revolution sympathizer who had become an active participant, Cunningham was an editor for China Mail and Hong Kong Daily Express as well as a correspondence for New York Sun prior to joining SCMP. The newspaper, which was named South Qing Morning Post 南清早報 rather than SCMP before the establishment of the China Republic, had its first issued printed on November 6, 1903. Cunningham assumed the post of Editor-in-Chief.

Hong Kong's First Press Association

The first journalistic association in Hong Kong, and in the East, was formed on December 16, 1903 and inaugurated on January 6, 1904. These were the first office-bearers: President, Thomas H. Reid of China Mail; Chairman of Committee, P.W. Sergeant of Daily Press; Committee, Douglas Story of South China Morning Post, W.H. Donald of China Mail, and E.A. Snewin of the Telegraph. The object, as shown in the constitution of the association was "the elevation and improvement of the status of journalists in the Far East." It was said that the association did not last long but I have no information when the association was dissolved.

The modern day journalist association, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club was formed in Shanghai during the 1940s. The FCC moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and has resided at its current quarters of the historic ice house since 1982. The club, as its name suggests, functions more as a social club than a press association. The Hong Kong Journalist Association, which comprises mainly local journalists, was established in 1968.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

King of Libel Suits

2010-08-28T19:02:00.002+08:00

Last updated on October 18, 2010

Part II of Newsies in the Nineteenth Century
1881-1951 The Hongkong Telegraph 士蔑報

First issue appeared on June 15, 1881. The Hongkong Telegraph was founded by Robert Fraser-Smith (d. February 9, 1895 Hong Kong) to whom the newspaper owed its Chinese name, 士蔑 which was simply "Smith". I was unable to trace Fraser-Smith’s background before he became the proprietor, publisher and editor of the Telegraph. Fraser-Smith was often referred to as atrabilious and scandalous and had been jailed several times for libel. When Fraser-Smith died in 1895, his interest in the Hong Kong Telegraph was acquired by John Joseph Francis Q.C. [1] his more than once prosecutor in the court-of-law. Francis was said to be a sparring partner of Fraser-Smith, in-and-outside of the court-of-law. Francis retained the controlling interest of the newspaper until 1900, whereupon he reorganized the newspaper company into a limited liability company and had it registered on February 22, 1900. Robert Ho-tung and several of his Chinese associates became the principal shareholders of the newspaper company, which they felt would serve as an organ in which to give expression of their views. The shares were held under the name of the Chinese Syndicate 香港華商公局, predecessor of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

[1] J.J. Francis was a leading legal professional at his time and was the third barrister in Hong Kong to become a Queen’s Council.

Surely Fraser-Smith ought to be crowned the king of libel suits in the nineteenth century Hong Kong, taking into consideration the number of lawsuits brought against him as well as the diversity in backgrounds of the people he attacked. That I know of, he defended himself without counsel in all cases and he was very good in it, unlike the Tarrant Caine Libel Case in 1859 in which the defendant - William Tarrant, proprietor and editor of The Friend of China, had to defend himself without counsel since the plaintiff - William Caine, Hong Kong’s first Magistrate and later Lieutenant-Governor, hired all the barristers in town before the lawsuit was served. Tarrant lost the case and was sent to jail where he spent the next twelve months. Incidentally, Fraser-Smith also logged nearly a year’s jail time, in total, serving sentences from libel suits brought against him. Here is an account of some of the more famous cases.

I was unable to find a photo of
Fraser-Smith, but here is a 1863
photo of Bandmann in the role of
Shylock in Merchant of Venice- July 1882: sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for libeling the German tragedian, Daniel Edward Bandmann.

Bandmann (b. November 1, 1839 - d. 1905), son of a Hess-Cassel Jewish factory owner, made his name known in the operatic world not in Germany but in New York as a promising young actor in the Altes Stadt Theatre in 1857. His first English-language performance was also in New York in the Niblo’s Garden on January 15, 1863. The Bandmann Opera Company he later established became a prominent establishment and many famous American artists were at one time or another members of the company. A Shakespearean actor, Bandmann’s most popular roles included Hamlet, Shylock, and Richard III. Bandmann gave up acting in 1884 and settled in Missoula, Montana and became a rancher. The libel suit took place when the troupe was performing in Hong Kong during its Far East and Australia tour that started in 1879.

The Hongkong Daily Press followed the pre-trial hearing and the trial of the Smith and Bandmann Libel Case that started on July 18, 1881 quite diligently. To view these reports, go to this Hong Kong Public Libraries Page; check 'Old HK Newspaper; in the text box, type 'bandmann' 'libel', then check 'Keyword' and in the following box select 'Content'; and press Search. Enjoy, if you are people of the "lower class" as I am as described by the Singapore Straits Intelligence. A brief and clear report can be found in the October 5, 1882 edition of The Wanganui Herald (of New Zealand) entitled The Bandmann Libel Case.

- June 25 1883: sentenced to pay $100 and costs to James Bulgin, publisher and editor of China Mail, whom he attacked in the Telegraph on June 5; Bulgin sued for $1,000. Bulgin had been in the Far East for a long period time; in addition to Hong Kong, he had stationed in Yokohama and Shanghai.

- November 1883: sued by John Macneile Price, Surveyor-General, who was accused by Fraser-Smith of jobbery and corruption; the case was won by Fraser-Smith. J.M. Price, FGS, FRGS [2], Surveyor-General from 1873 to 1889, was also remembered by the schematic design of the Hong Kong Observatory that he proposed to the home government in London in 1882. The plan was approved in May and construction started the followoing year in 1883.

[2] FGS - Fellow of the Geographical Society; FRGS - Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

- February 1890: sentenced to pay $250 and costs to Oscar Grant; I was unable to find out who Grant was.

- December 1890: convicted of criminally conspiring with a Telegraph reporter George William Ward to bring a charge of rape against John Minhinnett, a foreman of the Public Works Department. The two were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment with damages to Minhinnett of $3,000. The case showed that Fraser-Smith and a man called Webber; I have no idea who he was, borrowed $7,000 from Minhinnett for some time and had not returned the money. Minhinnett had, therefore, initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the two. Fraser-Smith intended to force Minhinnett out of Hong Kong or put him under a circumstance he could no longer be in a position to press forward the bankruptcy proceedings. Ward, as instructed by his boss, met Minhinnett and threatened him to give up the proceeding. When Minhinnett did not respond to the threat, Fraser-Smith and Ward then accused him of rapes. The alleged victims were two young girls: the Eurasian (half-German) daughter of the Chinese woman Minhinnett lived with, and a Chinese girl the couple adopted. J.J. Francis QC, appeared for the prosecution. Unbeknown to both at that time, I suspect, Francis would one day take over from Fraser-Smith as owner of the Telegraph.

The China Mail gave the trial proceedings two third of a page coverage in its October 10, 1890 edition. The report can be viewed at the Hong Kong Public Library Page, simply follow the instructions written above, but type ‘minhinnett’ in the search text box.

- 1892: sued by John Mitchell of Butterfield & Swire for libel, who obtained $250 damages from Fraser-Smith.

The Singapore Straits Intelligence gave these harsh comments about Fraser-Smith in its August 8, 1882 edition following the sentencing of the the Smith and Bandmann Libel Case

“… This has been done in Hong Kong, where Press privileges have been rankly abused by a person named Fraser Smith, and he has suffered one of the consequences - legal punishment. This person having a printing office at his disposal, started a newspaper, called the Hong Kong Telegraph, and commenced operation by abusing all who differed from him. His hand was against everyone, and every man’s hand was against him, though many were frightened to repel his attacks. In the coarsest of language he assaulted individuals and institutions alike, and when argument failed he had recourse to the last resource of lampoonists - that of raking up unpleasant incidents of a private nature, and throwing them in the face of the party he attacked with unblushing effrontery. The man was a perfect nuisance. He was like a mad dog, snarling and frothing at everyone, and running “amok” through the place, and biting the first man he met, and by some he was held to be a perfect terror. By the lower class he was admired. There is always a class who mistake Billingagatism for fine writing, and continual journalist swearing as exhibition of talent, and such people were supporters of the Telegraph …”

Editorial office of the Hongkong TelegraphIn 1916 or 1917, American dentist Joseph W. Noble (b. 1839, Dublin - d. September 22, 1901, Hong Kong) acquired a majority interest in the newspaper company and took on the role as publisher. Noble graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883 with a dentistry degree, and joined alumnus Herbert Poate in Hong Kong in 1887. Poate and Noble were the first two dentists to practice in Hong Kong. Their firm, Poate and Noble, provided free dental service at the Alice Memorial Hospital. Noble was one of the keen supporters for the establishment of Hong Kong’s first medical school and was involved in realizing the plan to incorporate the Hong Kong College of Medicine into the University of Hong Kong. He was the college’s lecturer in Dental Surgery from 1896 to 1912. His interest in newspaper began at the turn of the century (but I don’t know what were the reasons) with the establishment of the South China Morning Post. Nobel became a member of SCMP’s board of directors in 1904 and steered the newspaper company through a number of financial crises in 1905-06. He was elected chairman of the board in 1907 and held on to the chair until 1911. Noble, however, kept quite a low profile; he was listed in the Who’s Who in the Far East for that period of time simply as a dental surgeon, and there was no mention of his name at all in the "Twentieth Century Impression of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China".

For a period of time, SCMP and the Telegraph jointly published an evening paper, named Evening Edition South China Morning Post and The Hongkong Telegraph. The Hongkong Telegraph merged with the South China Morning Post in the beginning of 1941. The two were split after the Pacific War and five years later in 1951 the Hongkong Telegraph closed.

I was able to find the following personalities who worked for the Telegraph either as editors or managers.

Chesney Duncan 鄧肯 was the second editor of the Telegraph, who succeeded Fraser-Smith in 1895 and continued until 1899. Duncan was an active republican revolution sympathizer, who had met Sun Yat-sen on several occasions and was listed as a supporting member of the Hsing Chung Hui 興中會. In fact, the English version of the declaration and mission statement of Hsing Chung Hui was drafted by Duncan and Thomas Reid of China Mail. The Telegraph and the China Mail were the first newspapers to openly champion the republic movement in China. On one occasion, Duncan was called before the Colonial Secretary James Lockhart, who reprimanded him for what the paper published, claiming it amounted to incitement of the Chinese to revolt against a government with which Britain was on friendly terms. Despite the warning, the newspaper's pro-revolutionists attitude has not swerved.

E.F. Skertchly replaced Duncan as editor in 1899 and left in 1901. He moved to Penang and later became the editor of the Penang Gazette and then chief editor of the Straits Echo, and there he died, the year unknown to me. His wife remarried a Samuel Bonnett Darby of Rugby and Brighton.

E.A. Snewin became the editor in 1901 at a time when Robert Ho-tung and his colleagues at the Chinese Syndicate were principal shareholders of the Telegraph. Snewin sat in the inaugural committee of the first Journalistic Association in Hong Kong. He left the newspaper in 1906.

BrebnerA.W. Brebner was appointed editor in January in 1906 and continued until 1910. Brebner hailed from Aberdeen, Scotland and received education at the Robert Gordon’s College. After graduation he joined the Aberdeen Free Press at a editorial staff. In 1895, he went to Jamaica and became the sub-editor of the Daily Time, and from there he proceeded to Hong Kong in 1906.

Three more names appeared as editors of the Telegraph but there is no information on the time period in which they held the position. They are E.B. Helme, F.L. Pratt and A. Hicks. I found no information relating to Helme and Hicks.

Frederick Lionel Pratt (b.1872-d.1940s) was an Australian who was famous as co-owner-publisher of the "Who’s Who in the Far East". The co-owner was another Australian William Henry Donald (b.1875-d.1946), the managing director of the China Mail. The directory (1906-07, 1907-08 editions are known to me) was printed by the China Mail. Donald moved to Shanghai in 1911 and became the editor of the Far Eastern Review from 1911 to 1920. Additionally, he was an adviser to Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.

Jose Pedro Braga 布力架 (b. 1871 Hong Kong - d. 1944 Macau) was the manager of the Hong Kong Telegraph between 1902 and 1910 who also succeeded Francis as the publisher. Braga came from a Portuguese family with long standing in Macau. His maternal grandfather Delfino Noronha ran a printing press in Hong Kong since 1844, Noronha and Co., a quasi-government printer, which eventually became the Hong Kong Government Printer. Braga studied at the Italian Convent School (predecessor of the Sacred Heart Canossian College) and St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong and went to India afterward, and there he graduated from the University of Calcutta. On his returned to Hong Kong in 1899, Brada worked for his grandfather until Noronha’s death in July 1902. Thereafter Braga joined the Telegraph at the invitation of Robert Ho-tung. After having spent eight years (1902-1910) with the Telegraph, Braga went on to become the Hong Kong correspondent for Reuters. He was succeeded as publisher by the new owner of the newspaper Joseph Noble. In c.1920, Braga gave up journalism and ventured into the business domain and there he attained a much higher station in life. Among other achievements, he was appointed Chairman of China Light and Power Company in 1934 (and again in 1938) after CLP's founding chairman Robert George Shewan was oust by the principal shareholders - the Kadoorie family. Braga also sat on the board of several prominent companies which were managed by Shewan, Tomes and Co., a firm controlled by Shewan. I found no personal relations between Braga and Shewan, or any between he and the Kadoories.

Braga was a member of the Sanitary Board between 1927 and 1930. He was appointed the first Portuguese member of the Legislative Council in 1929, he continued to serve in the council until 1937. He was created an OBE in 1935 and was honored with the naming of Braga Circuit 布力架街. Braga married Olive Pauline Pollard (b. January 16, 1870 Launceston, Tasmania, Australia - d. February 13, 1952) 1884 in Calcutta. She was the pianist and violinist with the Pollards Lilliputian Opera Copmany, her father James Joseph Pollard was the founder. Jose and Pauline Brada had five children. One of their sons, Jose Maria (Jack) Braga (b.1897-d.1988) was a famous writer.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

The Famous and Infamous Freemasons

2010-08-12T18:20:00.000+08:00

Last updated on September 29, 2010

What makes secret societies so attractive is that they are not completely secretive. If they were, you and I won’t know about them and therefore they cannot exist as secret societies. Catch-22. Anyways, we know the Freemasonry exists and has been in Hong Kong as early as the beginning of the British reign. I might try and explore the trail of the Masonic Order in Hong Kong, but not right now. Here I wish only to highlight some of the early Freemasons who were prominent citizens in Hong Kong, meanwhile not letting up on the infamous ones. I probably will never find out what were the admissions policies for membership, as obviously, it ought to be secretive. The membership roster certainly contained people highly incompatible.

Chan Tai-kwong 陳大光 - b.1827-d.1882; a protégé of the first Bishop of Victoria, George Smith; trained to be an evangelist (1850); while placed under probation before being ordained as a priest, licensed by the Bishop to peach to prisoners in the Victoria Goal; appointed assistant tutor in the St. Paul’s College where the Bishop served as the warden, despite the fact that Chan was deficient in both Chinese and English languages; quitted working for the church and took a job as a government interpreter (1856); became an Opium Farmer, a term used at the time to refer to the holder of the Opium Monopoly of the right to prepare and sell opium (1858); implicated in the corruption investigation of Acting Colonial Secretary William Thomas Bridges; caught in financial problems and disappeared from Hong Kong (1858); reappeared in 1867 and took over from Ng Choy 伍才as the Chinese Clerk and Shroff to the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, a position he held until his death in 1882; member, General Committee of the Tung Wah Hospital; Chan Tai-Kwong would very likely be the first Hong Kong Chinese to be initiated a Freemason

P.H. Holyoak - Chairman, HSBC (1918/19); merchant, head of Reiss and Co. and later Holyoak, Massey and Co., Ltd.; Chairman (1917/18, 1920/21, 1925), Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce; Member, Legislative Council (1915-1926); Captain, Royal Hong Kong Golf Club (1921); President, Royal Society of St. George Hong Kong Branch (1918/19); President, Aero Club (1920)

Daniel Richard Caldwell 高和爾
Dr. Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres
Dr. Gregory Paul Jordan
Dr. David Hunter Ainslie
Dr. Ma Luk 馬祿臣
Dr. Ho Kai
Wei Yuk
Paul Chater
Hormusjee Mody
Dr. Francis Clark
Charles Cleverly - Surveyor-General
William Thomas Bridges
Richard Charles Lee 利銘澤

As you can see there are more doctors listed here than people of other professions; the reason being I recently gave a report about doctors in Hong Kong and in the process gathered plenty of information on them including who were Freemasons. What is shown here may or may not be the true composition of the membership in terms of members’ occupations.

The Not-so-Famous Ones

Sandwith B. Drinker - b. November 19, 1808, Baltimore; ship's captain; settled with wife Susanna in Macau since 1837; moved to Hong Kong in 1845 and started agency trading firms in Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong; Worshipful Master of Zetland Lodge, Hong Kong (1850/51); appointed United States Consul in Hong Kong (years unclear); reportedly killed on January 15, 1857 eating poisoned bread from the E-sing Bakery [1], but nobody actually died from that incident; buried at the (Old) Protestant Cemetery in Macau, the date of death written in the memorial was January 18, 1858

[1] E-sing was the bread supplier to all army barracks and almost all European households in Hong Kong. The incident happened amidst the Second Opium War and caused a panic in the city as rumors spread of a plot to kill the entire Westerner population. Nobody actually died from eating the poisoned bread. The owner of the bakery, Cheong Ah-lum, was charged with administrating poison but was eventually acquitted due to lack of evident. Cheong was defended by a Freemason - William Thomas Bridges!

Not Resident, but Connected to Hong Kong

John Jacob Astor - b.1763-d.1884; a Jewish butcher from Waldorf, Germany who went to the United States penniless in 1784; miraculously became a member of the prestigious Holland Lodge No.8 of the Freemasonry in New York soon after arriving in the city, rising to become the Worshipful Master in 1788; engaged in fur trade and then moved up to international mercantile, financing and real property businesses; rumored to be a member of an even more secret society- the Illuminati (yes, the same Illuminati that Dan Brown and Tom Hanks were theatricalizing in their two movies); secured rights to cargo shipping under questionable circumstances during a time when the U.S. government had placed an embargo on all U.S. ships; became the first American, as well as Westerner, to ship opium to China as a free trader, off-loading in Hong Kong; Astor’s opium business stopped abruptly in 1819 in the same fashion as it began three years before (as if he were given a 3-years license to handle the opium trade); he was, according to Forbes Magazine’s study in 2006, the fourth all-time wealthiest American; his great-grand daughter married James Roosevelt, the half-brother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt [2]

[2] The middle name of President Roosevelt came from his maternal grandfather, Warren Delano, Jr., who was the United States Consul to Hong Kong and a prosperous opium trader (1830s and again in 1860s). The President was initiated into Freemasonry on October 11, 1911 at none other than Holland Lodge No.8 in New York. Am I to believe all these were nothing more than co-incidents?

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Ho Fuk-tong, Father of All Doctors

2010-07-16T22:21:00.003+08:00

Last updated on October 6, 2010

When Ho Tsun-shin 何進善 (alias Ho Fuk-tong 何福堂, Ho Yun-yeung 何潤養) was ordained a London Missionary Society [1] priest in 1864, he knew he had just become the first Chinese Protestant minister in Hong Kong [2]; what he didn’t know was that his name would one day be placed atop (on the Chinese side) a family tree, one that depicts the origin and the early evolution of the Chinese medical community in Hong Kong.

[1] (LMS) 倫敦宣道會

[2] Ho was the second ordained minister in China after Liang Fa 梁發 (b.1789-d.1855) who was ordained by Robert Morrison of LMS in 1823. Ho and Liang were colleagues at the Anglo-Chinese College printing press in Malacca; both of them were woodblock cutters

The Father

Son of a second generation immigrant worker in Malacca, the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong was born in Xiqiaoshan, Nanhai, Guangdong 廣東省南海縣西樵山 in 1817. In his teens, Ho was sent to Malacca to join his father and grandfather who worked at the Anglo-Chinese College, later to be known as the Yang Wah College 英華書院, both as woodblock cutters (one who carves woodblocks for use in printing) in the school printing press.When Ho turned twenty years of age, he was admitted to the College, which was established and run by LMS for the purpose to scout bright ethnic Chinese as missionary candidates and prepare them for evangelistic works. Ho was baptized the following year. Always an eager and quick learner, Ho was well liked by the school headmaster Scottish missionary James Legge 理雅各 (b.1815-d.1897) who went on to teach Ho theology and the languages of Hebrew and Greek. At times, Ho would assist Legge in teaching as well as preaching at the College. Following the British occupation of Hong Kong in 1841, the College was moved from Malacca to Hong Kong in 1843. Ho moved with Legge and there he continued to study theology while working for the college and preaching. In 1864, he was ordained and in stages was put in charge of the Union Church 香港愉寧堂 [3]. Meanwhile, the Rev. Ho traveled quite extensively to Guangzhou (Canton), Dongguan and Foshan doing missionary work and building new churches. Ho narrowly escaped death when an anti-Christianity riot broke out in front of the new LMS church in Foshan on the very day it was scheduled to open in 1870. Survived but a broken man – both physically as he was quite badly beaten and mentally, he suffered a stroke upon arriving back in Hong Kong and died on February 15, 1871 in Guongzhou, at the age of 53.

[3] Established by the Rev. Legge in 1844, the church was physically situated on Hollywood Road and was opened in 1845. The church was moved to its present address at No. 22A, Kennedy Road in 1889 and is known today as the Union Church Hong Kong 香港佑寧堂

The Rev. Ho’s was not only a fast leaner when coming to gospel and ancient languages, evidently, in wealth management as well. He started buying and selling properties as early as in 1846 – three years after he landed in Hong Kong, at which time he purchased a lot in the Lower Bazaar [4], for HK$150. Two years later, he included money lending in his earthly extracurricular activities. In such first transaction he lent HK$400 on a security of a Lower Bazaar lot charging an interest of five per cent per month. His business appetite, which grew as successful deals replicated themselves, reached yet another benchmark when in 1862 – two years before he was ordained - he paid LMS a sum of HK$26,325 for a portion of the Society's original properties. By then, his business dealings went beyond Hong Kong and became well-rooted in his native county of Nanhai. When he died in 1871, his estate was sworn at over HK$100,000, which amounted to about a quarter of the annual profit of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for the same year. This wealth afforded his children a good education and further enabled them to move in the right circle in the society.

[4] area in present day Sheung Wan around Jervois Street 蘇杭街 (previously 乍畏街) and Bonham Strand 文咸街

Ho Fuk-tong had five sons and six daughters.

The sons were:
Shan-chee 神賜 - died in Ho's native village in 1890
Shan-tim 神添 - Hong Kong Government interpreter (1873-1875); independent real estate broker (1875); became a big-time speculator (1881); went bankrupt when the property market collapse and moved to Guangzhou; returned to Hong Kong where he died in c.1907
Shan-po 神保 - alias Wyson Ho 何衛臣; read law and was called to the bar in the U.K.; admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong (August 23, 1887) and became Hong Kong’s first Chinese solicitor; died in 1891
Shan-kai 神啟 – alias Ho Kai 何啟
Shan-yau 神佑 - worked for Wyson as an article clerk; accompanied his brother-in-law Ng Choy 伍才, alias Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳, to the U.S. - Ng was the Qing Minister (head of the legation) to U.S.; appointed Qing Consul-General in San Francisco (1900)

No information was found on the daughter’s of the Rev. Ho, except Ho Miu-ling 何妙齡 who married Ng Choy, and after whom the Ho Miu Lin Hospital was named. Another daughter, name unknown, married Dr. Kuan Huang 黃寬 who was the first Chinese to have studied abroad and qualified as a physician

The Son-in-Law

Huang Kuan sculpture at the
University of Edinburgh’s
Abden House.Dr. Kuan Huang - first Chinese to study abroad in a University; the first Chinese to qualify as a doctor of medicine

Kuan Huang 黃寬, alias Wong Fun, Wong Foon, Huang Jiechen 黃傑臣, Huang Chuoqing 黃綽卿, was born in 1829 and hailed from the same county as Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Xiangshan in Guangdong 廣東香山縣 (Sun would be born, however, 37 years later than Huang). Having both parents died when he was very young, Dr. Huang was raised by his paternal grandmother until he left for Macau in 1941, at the age of twelve, and there he attended the Morrison Education Society School. When the Yale-trained school headmaster Samual Robbins Brown decided to move the School to Hong Kong, Huang along with ten other students moved with the Brown on November 1, 1842 to the newly established British colony. Five years later in January 1847 the Rev. Brown and his wife returned to the United States and along they brought three students. The purpose was to expose them to Western education and ways of living [5]. They were Kuan Huang; Yung Wing [6] and Wong Shing [7], all of them were from the Xiangshan County - as were most of students in the School. Huang, as were the other two, was placed at the Monson Academy [8] in Massachusetts where he graduated in 1849 with a degree in literature. From Manson he went to read medicine at the University of Edinburgh and graduated with the M.B. qualification in 1855. He continued with postgraduate work in pathology and anatomy and obtained M.D. in 1857. Dr. Huang set the records as the first Chinese to study abroad in a university, to qualify as a physician and to attain the M.D. qualification.

[5] The education of the boys in the West were sponsored by several foreign residents in Hong Kong including Andrew Shortrede, a Scot and founder / publisher of the newspaper China Mail; A. Campbell, another Scot and a merchant; and American businessman A.A. Ritchie. Free passage from Hong Kong to New York (via Shanghai) was offered by David, Talbot and Robert Olyphant, the three brothers who owned the New York based The Olyphant Brothers, a mercantile and shipping operator that also had offices in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Canton). I take my hat off to these warm-hearted persons. They did make something out of these young men who in turn inspired so many others in Hong Kong and China.

[6] Yung Wing 容閎 - b.1828-d.1912; graduated from the Yale College (1854) (the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887) and became the first Chinese student to graduate from an American university; worked as an interpreter for missionaries in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Canton); held positions in the opposite camps of Qing government and the court of the Taiping rebels; naturalized as an U.S. citizen (October 30, 1852), citizenship revoked in 1898 in response to the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882; married Mary Kellogg of Avon, Connecticut, a school teacher and daughter of a Yale professor (February 24, 1875); LL.D., Yale College (June 29, 1876); publications: My Life in China and America

[7] Wong Shing 黃勝, alias Wong A-shing, Wong Tak-kuen 黃達權 – b. 1827 – d. August 5, 1902; attended Monson Academy for only one year (1847-48) and returned to China (Hong Kong) because he had been ill since arriving in America; learned printing and editing at China Mail in Hong Kong; Superintendent, Printing Press of Ying Wah College (1853); appointed a juror (1858) and became the first Chinese juror in Hong Kong; partnered with Ng Choy and established Hong Kong's first newspaper published solely in the Chinese language - Chung Ngoi San Po 中外新報 (1858); established The Chinese Mail 香港華字日報 (1872), the second Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong; naturalized as a British subject (within the limits of Hong Kong) (December 28, 1883); succeeded Ng Choy as the second Senior Chinese Member of the Legislative Council (1884-1890)

[8] Manson Academy in Manson was established in 1804 and in 1847 it became the first American school to enroll Chinese students. Monson Academy and Wilbraham Academy merged in 1971 and became Wilbraham & Manson Academy, which is still running today.

It was said in some sources that Dr. Huang came to Hong Kong and worked for a LMS hospital after finishing school in Edinburgh but according to my notes, there wasn’t any LMS hospital operating at that time – the Hospital of the Medical Missionary Society 傳道會醫院 was closed in c.1853 and the Alice Memorial Hospital would not open until some 30 years later. He did however open a dispensary in Hong Kong, possibly connected with LMS, which he closed after one year. This was, probably, how he met and later married the Rev. Ho's daughter. Anyways, Dr. Huang moved on to Canton (Guangzhou) to work at the Kam-li-fau Hospital 惠愛醫館 in 1858. The hospital was founded by medical missionary Benjamin Hobson who opened the Medical Missionary Society Hospital in Hong Kong. After a two-year stint at Kam-li-fau, Dr. Huang left and started his own practice, while providing pro bono service to the Canton Hospital, also known as the Pok Tsai Hospital 博濟醫局. In the same year, 1860, Dr. Huang conducted an embryotomy in 1860, the first in China. He left behind his private practice in 1862 for Beijing to become Li Hongzhang’s medical advisor – Li would became the patron of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (HKCMC) from 1889 until de died in 1901. Dr. Huang found himself not suitable being surrounded by bureaucrat day in, day out and quitted his commission only after six months and returned to Canton to resume private practice. He continued to render assistance to the Canton Hospital where in 1867 he was appointed acting Superintendent of the Hospital when John Kerr went on furlough, during which time he conducted the Hospital’s first autopsy. He also taught Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry and Practical Medicine at its medical school. In 1863, Dr. Huang became the only Chinese doctor, among seventeen doctors, appointed to the Canton Customs Medical Service which was organized by Robert Hart, the Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (1863-1907). When the Cholera epidemic broke out in Canton in 1873, he made important contributions to the diagnosis of the disease. Dr. Huang became a Joint Chairman of the West-South Medical Bureau 西南施醫局主任 in 1875, the last official position he held before he died on October 12, 1878 from brain necrosis. The marriage between Dr. Huang and the daughter of the Rev. Ho didn’t work out; they divorced soon after the passing on of Ho. Dr. Huang never married again.

The Son

Ho Kai - the greatest of doctors who had never practiced

Ho Kai had sixteen children with second wife Lily Lai Yuk-hing, nine sons and seven daughters. None of them were doctors.

The Daughter-in-Law

Little was known about Alice Walkden, the English woman Ho Kai married in London in 1881, ten years after the passing on of the Rev. Ho. Alice Walkden, born February 3, 1852 at Blackheath, south-east suburb of London, near Greenwich, was the eldest daughter of John Walkden, a member of the Lower House. Ho Kai began his clinical studies at St. Thomas’s Hospital in 1879 and lived in Wimbledon and must have met her around that time. She was seven years older than Ho Kai. I have no idea how they met, but suspect that they might go to the same church or had common friends in the church-going circle. For Victorians, the Walkdens were extremely liberal-minded to allow a cross cultural marriage. In fact, theirs was the first Anglo-Chinese marriage ever to take place. Being liberal alone was not sufficient, in my view, to seal the marriage. There ought to be a high-placed patron who was guiding and helping Ho Kai along the way. Has the Freemasonry had something to do with it, very likely, although I do not know when Ho Kai was raised as a Freemason.

One year after the marriage, the couple returned to Hong Kong, joined with them were siblings of Alice Walkden. Alice Ho Kai died on June 8, 1884 from typhoid shortly after given birth to a daughter, whose name was not known to me. Alice Ho Kai had a considerable fortune but after her death Ho Kai gave most of it to her siblings so that they could return to England. They brought with them the infant daughter of Alice and Kai Ho. She died young without having been married. Ho Kai later remarried American Chinese Lily Lai Yuk-hing 黎玉卿.

Alice Memorial Hospital and Alice Memorial Maternity Hospital

Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese

The First Borns

These were the first batch of made-in-Hong Kong doctors; all with relations or backgrounds that traced back to the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong. They were among the first batch of students admitted to the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (HKCMC) in 1887, and were the diligent ones who graduated with the qualifications of Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery, Hong Kong (L.M.S.H.).

Dr. Sun Yat-sen 孫中山, enrolled 1887, graduated 1882
Dr. Kong Ying-wah 江英華, enrolled 1887, graduated 1882
Dr. Kuan Sum-yin 關心焉, enrolled 1887, graduated 1883
Dr. Wong Sai-yan 王世恩, enrolled 1887, graduated 1895
Dr. Wong I-ek 黃怡益, enrolled 1887, graduated 1895
Dr. Lau Sei-fuk 劉四福, enrolled 1887, graduated 1895
Dr. U I-kai 胡爾楷, enrolled 1887, graduated 1895

Nethersole Hospital

The Daughter

Rose Ho Mui-ling 何妙齡, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong, was not a doctor, but had a hospital named after her - the Ho Mui Ling Hospital. Born in 1847, twelve years ahead of Ho Kai, she was described as intelligent, well-educated and a devout Christian. I have yet found information on school(s) she went to other than that she finished schooling (high school level, I presume) early and married, at the age of seventeen, Ng Choy 伍才 – a twenty-two-years-old Magistrate's Court interpreter who hailed from Malacca [] and was educated in Hong Kong. At the time of their marriage, Ho Kai was six years old and his father forty six. In 1874, Ng, now thirty two years old and having worked at the Magistrate's Court for thirteen years, wanted to go to England to study law. The plan was supported by wife, Ho Miu-ling, who not only met all the expenses but also accompanied Ng to London where he enrolled at the University College London. This happened three years after the death of the Rev. Ho; Ho Kai was now fifteen. Three years later, he was called to the bar at the Lincoln’s Inn and became the first Chinese to qualify as a barrister. In May the same year, Ng was admitted at the Supreme Court to practice in Hong Kong. He went on to becoming a prominent member of the society including appointments as the first Chinese Justice of the Peace in 1878 and the first Senior Chinese Member of the Legislative Council in 1880 [9].

[9] Representation of the Chinese contingent, which made up of 98% of the population of Hong Kong, in the Legislative Council in the nineteenth century and at the dawn of the twentieth century came almost solely from a single Christian family – that of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong. Son-in-law Ng Choy was appointed the first Senior Chinese Member (1880-1882). He was succeeded by family friend Wong Shing (1884-1889). Wong was a business partner of Ng Choy as well as a classmate and life-long friend of Dr. Kuan Huang, another son-in-law of Ho. The Rev.'s fourth son Ho Kai succeeded Wong in 1890 and continued to hold office until 1914. Dr. Ho Kai was succeeded by Wei Yuk 韋玉 (1914-1917) who was the son-in-law of Wong Shing. Wei Yuk’s father Wei Kwong 韋光, the head comprador of the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China 有利銀行, bankrolled some of the property transactions of the Rev. Ho. They went on to become close friend.

His life took a sharp turn when he left Hong Kong in 1882 with almost no fuss, and reappeared under the alias of Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳 in Tientsin (Tianjin) assuming the all important post of the secretary of Li Hongzhang []. For two periods of time from 1896 to 1902 and from 1907 to 1909, Wu was the Qing Minister to USA, Spain and Peru. Following the collapse of the Qing Empire, Wu became the Minister of Justice of the Nanjing Provisional Government of the Republic of China in 1912. He held the two most important portfolios – Foreign Affairs and Finance – as a Minister in Sun Yat-sen’s military government in Canton in 1917; for a short while later in the year he became the acting Premier. His last official position was the Governor of Guangdong which he assumed in 1922; he died in office in the same year. After Wu’s death, Ho Miu-ling returned to Hong Kong and here she lived until she died in 1937.

The Successor

The Rev. Wang Yuchu of the Daoji Church and his collection of Professors

In 1862, two years before the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong was ordained, the Chinese congregation had formed a new society within the Union Church 愉寧堂 and called themselves the Chinese Independent Society (or Chinese Independent Church, still unable to find the exact English name of the Society if there was one) 華人自理會. The Society handled all its affairs independent of the Western missionaries although it was still physically located within the Union Church property. The Rev. Ho was in the center of a substantial property transaction involving the property holdings of the Union Church in this very year, paying the church a sum exceeding HK$25,000. How were these two events linked together, if they were at all linked, I do not know at this point of time. When the Rev. Ho was put in charge of the Union Church, he also took care of the Chinese Independent Society. After his death in 1871, a decade-long standoff between the society and LMS took place over who was to replace him; each was to refute candidates fielded by the other. It wasn’t until 1884, that the Rev. Wang Yuchu 王煜初 was appointed and the society finally had its own pastor for the first time. The appointment was keenly supported by the children of the Rev. Ho, particularly, Ho Kai and his sister Ho Miu-ling. Two years after the Rev. Wang’s appointment, the Society moved out from the Union Church and settled into the new church house named Daoji Mission House 道濟會堂. The church house occupied a part of the land that previously housed the Caldwell residence (at present, No.75, Hollywood Road); while the remaining part (at present, No.77 to 81, Hollywood Road) would be occupied a year later in 1887 by the Alice Memorial Hospital. The land was own by a member of the congregation, Mary Ayow Caldwell, nee Chan Ayow, also known as 高三桂夫人 [10]. The two land lots were valued at over HK$75,000; Mrs. Caldwell took only HK$14,000 from the church. The Society, now known as the Daoji Church (also known as To Tsi Church), would made further substantial contributions towards building schools and hospitals including the Ying Wah Girls’ School 英華女校 (1888) and the Nethersole Hospital (1893). In 1921, the Daoji Church became a member of the Church of Christ in China 中華基督教會; in 1926, it was moved to No.2 Bonham Road and was renamed Hop Yat Church 中華基督教會合一堂.

[10] Chan Ayow was the widow of corrupted civil servant, Daniel Richard Caldwell 高和爾 who was a Justice of the Peace, Police Detective, Magistrate, Registrar General & Protector of Chinese, member of the Masonic Order of Hong Kong and, scandalously, protector of pirates and partner of notorious Hong Kong-based pirate Wong Ma-chow 黃墨洲, alias Wong Akee. Caldwell was eventually kicked out of government service in 1861 but remained in the colony offering his service to Chinese operators of gaming and brothel houses. He died in 1879. Chan Ayow was baptized in 1850 as it was required in order for her marriage to Caldwell to be sanctified by the Anglican Church. They married in 1845 following traditional Chinese custom and the marriage was sanctified one year after she was baptized and six years after they were actually married. She became a pious Christian before long.

Born in 1843 in Dongguan, Guangdong, Wang Yuchu was son of the first Chinese evangelist of the Rhenish Mission, Wang Yuan-shen 王元深. Wang Yuchu went to the Rhenish evangelist school in Huizhou 惠州 and studied under the guidance of its founder, the Rev. Ferdinand Genähr 葉納清 [11]. Wang Yuchu graduated from the evangelist school in 1866 and was then appointed as a preacher of the Rhenish church in China. In 1874 while being treated for a repeated case of lung disease in Hong Kong under the care of doctors of the Berlin Missionary Society 巴陵信義會, he was offered a teaching job at the orphanage run by the Society which he took and kept for ten years. He was ordained a Rhenish Church minister in 1884 and towards the end of year was seconded to the Daoji Church as its first pastor. He was well liked by the church’s congregation, amongst them Ho Kai, Ho Miu-ling and Sun Yat-sen.

[11] The Rev. Genähr was a Prussia missionary of the Barmen Mission (later known as the Rhenish Mission Society), who was sent to China in response to Karl Gützlaff’s appeal to the Prussia missionary societies for more evangelist to work in China. After arriving in China in 1847, he initially worked under the guidance of Gützlaff, who was the mentor and baptizer of Wang Yuan-shen. Karl Gützlaff, a Prussian missionary worked independently in China, was a controversial character at his time who aided the proliferation of opium in China as well as spying for the British Forces during the First Opium War.

With the 1887 opening of the Alice Memorial Hospital and the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (HKCMC), which was funded largely by the Daoji Church congregation (Mrs. Caldwell for the land, Ho Kai and others for the construction and fitting out), the Rev. Wang took charge of all the religious affairs in these institutions. He was quite involved in the running of HKCMC despite the fact that Dr. J. Chalmers [12] of the Union Church was appointed Chairman of the College’s Senate. This involvement might have inspired his sons and nephews in taking up medicine studies; there were five of them:

[12] Chalmers took charge of the LMS mission in Hong Kong in 1880. A linguist and a prolific writer about China, its culture and language, Chalmers learnt the Chinese language from a young Chinese Christian named Hung Jen-kan 洪仁玕 (b.1822-d.1864), alias Hong Rengan, who would later become Prince-Gan 干王, generalissimo, and premier of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom 太平天囯.

Prof. Wong Sai-yan* 王世恩; nephew; admitted (1887), classmate of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and close friend of Dr. Kwan Sun-yin;; graduated with L.M.S.H. (1895); practiced in Hong Kong, Selangor and later in Guangzhou; founded the Guangzhou Guonghua Medical College 廣東光華醫學院, which was the first medical college in China independent of any support from the West. A cradle of medical professionals in South China, the medical college turned out 658 graduates during its existence between 1908 and 1953.

Wang Chung-hing 王寵慶; son; admitted (1901), went to University of Edinburgh to read medicine (1902)

Prof. C.Y. Wang* 王寵益; son; admitted (1903); L.M.S.H. (1908); B.Sc., M.D., University of Edinburgh; Professor of Pathology, HKU (1920-1930), Hong Kong’s first Chinese professor

Wong Gat-manProf. Wong Gat-man 王吉民

Alias Wang Jimin; b.1889-d.1972; nephew; admitted (1905); L.M.S.H. (1910); ship’s surgeon for a foreign ocean carrier; moved to Shanghai and was appointed Chief Medical Officer, Shanghai Hangzhou Ningbo Railways Administration 滬杭甬鐵路管理局; Medical Officer, Zhejiang Postal Administration (1931); Vice President, China Medical Association (1937); Lecturer of Medicine, National Central University; Professor of Medical History, Shanghai Medical College; Member, Committee of Medical Terminology under the Education Department, China; prominent medical historian in China; Chairman, Committee of Medical History (1935); President, Institute of Medical History in China (1937); Curator, Museum of Medical History in China 中華醫學會醫史博物館 (1938), located in Shanghai, the museum was reorganized as the Shanghai Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine 上海中醫學院醫史博物館 (1958), Dr. Wong continued to be its curator; died in Shanghai

Wan Ho-lok 溫可樂; nephew; admitted (1905)

The Student

The Thirty Doctors of Kwan Yuen-cheong and Lai A-mui

Among the most pious members of the congregation of the Union Church and later of the Daoji Church were elder Kwan Yuen-cheong 關元昌 (originally Kwan Jang-yung 關振容, b.1832-d.1912), and his wife Lai A-mui 黎亞妹. Kwan’s father, Kwan Yat 關日, was one of the very first batch of ten converts baptized by Robert Morrison in Guangzhou (Canton). Kwan Yat later moved to Malacca and worked for the LMS mission there. Ho-Fuk-tong’s father and Liang Fa would follow his footsteps. Nothing much was written about the childhood of Kwan Yuen-cheong except that he and his brother Kwan Yuet-fat were students of the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca. When the college moved to Hong Kong in 1843, they came along (naturally together with James Legge and Ho Fuk-tong). Kwan Yuen-cheong was eleven years old. In Hong Kong, the brothers studied under the tutorship of, among others, Ho Fuk-tong. After graduated from the college, Kwan stayed on and worked briefly at the college press. He then met an American dentist named Collins who practiced in Hong Kong. Kwan left the college press and learnt dentistry from Collins as an apprentice. Kwan became the first Chinese dentistry practitioner in Hong Kong [13] and in 1874 he moved his practice to Guangzhou (Canton) but returned to Hong Kong only after a few years. He continued to practice in Hong Kong until his retirement.

[13] Kwan Yuen-cheong was best known as the first Chinese dentistry practitioner in China and Hong Kong. The first university-trained Chinese dentist would not appear until the next century. He was Hong Kong-born Chaun Moon-hung, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1901.

There was a small ring of people in the Daoji Church who regularly met and discussed current topics -- mostly relating to the appalling state of the nation and ideas for remedial actions. They included Kwan Yuen-cheong, deacon Au Fung-chi 區鳳墀, the Rev. Wang Yuchu, his first son Wang Chung-hui 王寵惠 [], Dr. Wan Man-kai 尹文楷* (son-in-law of Au Fung-chi; inaugural Chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association 1920-1922), Wong Wing-seung 黃詠商 (second son of Wong Shing; active revolutionary; founded Hsing Chun Hui - the Revive China Society - 興中會 in 1894), property developer Lee Gei-tong 李紀堂, Dr. Ho Kai and his favorite student Sun Yat-sen.

Lai A-mui, b.1839-d.1902, was born into a wealthy family in Xiqiaoshan, Nanhai, which was also the birthplace of the Rev. Ho Fuk-tong. The family took refuge away from Nanhai at a time when heavy fighting occurred between the Qing army and the Taiping rebels. Her mother died while on route to Guangzhou (Canton). She was abandoned by her father once they arrived in Guangzhou. Lai was found wondering the streets by Mary Ayow Caldwell (yes, small world!) who took her in and raised her like a daughter. Lai attended the Daoji Church’s Ying Wah Grils’ School and was well versed in the English language. She took up a teaching job at her alma mater - teaching Chinese language - after her graduation. She was at one time hired as a court interpreter and would therefore be Hong Kong’s first woman interpreter. When the Alice Memorial Hospital and the Medical College opened, she was appointed an interpreter, later worked as a nurse or even headed a team of nurses. I have no information on where and by whom she was trained, but her existence at the hospital was confirmed in a report made by Helen Stevens, the matron appointed by LMS to the Alice Memorial Hospital in 1891. She said that when she arrived at the hospital, there was already a Chinese matron by the name of Kwan Lai-si 關黎氏 (this wasn’t her alias; the name can be best translated as Mrs. Kwan, nee Lai, which was a very common way a married woman was addressed at those days), who although knew not much about nursing had even trained another woman as her assistant. Lai A-mui impressed Stevens as a very intelligent person. This would place Lai A-mui as Hong Kong’s first nurse or even matron.

This amazing photo of Kwan Yuen-Cheong and his family
was taken on his 80th birthday on December 30, 1911

Kwan and Lai had fifteen children. Four out of the ten boys became doctors, while three of the girls became nurses or midwives. No less than thirty doctors would emerge from this family in the following four generations. The most famous son and doctor surely was Kwan Sun-yin 關心焉*. A far more famous one was quasi-godson Sun Yat-sen. Kwan junior and Sun enrolled at the Hong Kong Medical College for Chinese (HKCMC) together, they were roommates throughout Sun’s tenure at the HKCMC. Sun introduced to Kwan the latter’s future wife and performed as a witness at their marriage ceremony. The wedding was held at the Daoji Church, and the other witness to the marriage ceremony was Dr. Wong Sai-yan, nephew of the Rev. Wong Yuchu. Kwan, although graduated one year after Sun in 1893, became the first HKCMC licentiate to practice in Hong Kong. He was appointed a house surgeon at the Nethersole Hospital following his graduation.

* Read post “Notable Doctors from the First 100 years” for further descriptions

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Licentiate but not Licensed

2010-05-30T17:16:00.005+08:00

Updated on October 2, 2010

Since Dr. Sun had never practiced medicine or surgery in Hong Kong and he had not been qualified anywhere as a doctor of medicine, I have therefore not written about him in the post "Notable Doctors from the First 100 Years". I will try and do that here. My respect for this great man notwithstanding, I have always wondered what was the doctorate degree so often connected to the name of Sun Yat-sen. This, possibly honoris causa, must be a non-medical degree as has been just pointed out that he was not a M.D.; further more he was quite often referred to in Chinese as "孫中山博士" (Sun Yat-sen, Ph.D.). I hope one day, soon, I will be enlightened with the answer.

Exam paper of Sun at HKCMC

Medicine wasn’t Sun Yat-sen’s first choice of occupation. It was military, and then followed by the legal profession. But these, by and large opened only to sons of upper class families, were not to be for him because of his humble farming background. Clearly, it was the same with the noble profession of medicine practice. But, the situation was to be quite different once he became baptized and proclaimed a Christian. The medical community in China and Hong Kong at that time was dominated by Christian medical missionaries and it wasn’t difficult for the missionaries to open doors for one of their bright new converts, poor family background notwithstanding. Sun studied medicine and surgery for six years including one year in Canton and five more years in Hong Kong. He was one of the first students to enroll in the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese when it opened in 1887, and became Hong Kong’s first medical school graduate in 1892 --- with distinctions. All his life, he but practiced medicine for two years, and it wasn’t in Hong Kong. In spite of the fact that the college staff had included the Colonial Surgeon, the most senior medical and health officers in the colony, as well as founders of the British Medical Society Hong Kong and China Branch; and the fact that Sun’s Licentiate of Medicine and Surgery certificate was handed to him by Governor William Robinson, Sun was denied a license to practice in Hong Kong. There might be a hidden agenda of the political sort as Sun was becoming more vocal about his discontentment toward the Qing government, but the official reason for not licensing his professional attainment was that L.M.S.H. holders are not qualified to register as medical practitioners under the Medical Registration Ordinance 1884.

John David Humphreys and Sun Yat-sen

If not for the following story, Dr. Humphreys’ legacy would simply be that he was an operator of A.S. Watson in the 1870s and 80s. The pharmacy firm was leased in 1871 to Dr. Humphreys and his partner, Dr. Arthur Hunt, by the Watson family for their operation.

1887 touched-up photo of Sun Yat-sen (seated,
second right), Kong Ying-wah (seated, first left)
and several other students of HKCMC

Then, about eighteen to nineteen years after he took over the operation of A.S. Watson, Dr. Humphreys felt gravely ill in Hong Kong and was attended to by Dr. James Cantile, who was at that time the Dean of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese. Dr. Cantile saw that the patient required overnight attendance and had therefore arranged two of his best students, who were also in need of some financial aids, to do the job. The two were Sun Yat-sen and Kong Ying-wah 江英華. Kong came from a poor family in Hong Kong and needed to work to pay for the tuition while Sun depended on his brother, financially, who lived in Honolulu and periodically wired money to Hong Kong. The remittance from Hawaii wasn’t always in time. Upon Dr. Humphreys recovery, he made a sizable donation to the College that would be used as scholarships. More particularly, he named Sun and Kong the recipients for scholarship; additionally, there was a monthly allowance of HK$12 to be paid to each of them. Twelve students enrolled in the college when it opened in 1887, only two graduated with L.M.S.H. (the "H" stands for Hong Kon) in 1892; they were Sun Yat-sen (twenty eight years of age) and Kong Ying-wah (twenty-one).

Another exam paper

Sadly, when Sun and Kong graduated in 1892, they found no jobs in Hong Kong. To start with, as L.M.S.H, they were not permitted to practice because this qualifiaction was not recognized by the British Central Medical Council as well as the Hong Kong government unless the service was provided on a pro bono basis (this is only my guess as the Medical Registration Ordinance 1844 only regulated doctors who collect money for rendering their medical services). It was quite surprising that not even the Alice Memorial Hospital, where the college was housed, offered any positions to these two young medical college grads, say something of a supporting or researching nature. The obvious question here is what is the purpose of training these medical professionals if they are not permitted to practice. It took the government, the Legislative Council including, and the medical community that was so gung-ho in getting the college established at the first place, thirty years to sort this one out. In 1923, the Medical Registration Ordinance was revised to include the following provision:

Clause 3.2
Notwithstanding anything in this Ordinance contained every present and every future licentiate of the Hong Kong College of Medicine shall be entitled to practice medicine and surgery and to demand and recover reasonable charges in respect of such practice: Provided that no such licentiate shall be entitled to sign any certificate required for the purposes of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, 1896, unless he has been authorized thereto by the Governor.

L.M.S.H. finally became a qualification to practice medicine and surgery in Hong Kong, ironically, eleven years after the closure of the medical school (absorbed into the Hong Kong University in 1912); but it did happen, if it means anything at all, before the passing away of the first licentiate – Sun Yat-sen by a margin of two years. During the twenty five years of its existence, the college had admitted 128 students, resulting in 51 licentiates. I have no information how many actually practiced in Hong Kong. In 1914, just two years after the transformation of the medical college into the medical faculty in the University of Hong Kong, the British Medical Council gave recognition to the HKU medical program and as such its graduates were eligible to practice in Hong Kong after completing the registration with the Medical Board. (note: Certain licentiate of HKCMC were allowed to practice in Hong Kong, particularly at the Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals. Further research, I trust, will reveal what was the background of their permissions.)

And then, there was the Robinson arrangement. William Robinson 羅便臣 (b. 1836 - d. 1912) was the eleventh governor of Hong Kong (1891-1898) and when he learned that Sun and Kong could find no jobs in the Colony, he wrote to Nicholas Robert O' Conor, the British Minister Plenipotentiary in Peking and asked of him to recommend the two young medical college graduates to Li Hongzhang 李鴻章 (b. 182 3- d. 1901), Qing Imperial Minister of Beiyang 北洋大臣 (1871-1895). In O’Conor’s recommendations, the two were praised as diligent and outstanding students and that they would be good men to work for Li. The response from Li’s office was both quick and favorable: the two were to report to Peking immediately and wait for actual appointments; meanwhile, they were to receive a monthly allowance of HK$50; and finally they were to receive each a Military Badge of the Fifth Grade of Imperial Commission 欽命五品軍牌 so that these young men would command a much higher level of respect from others normally not accorded to people of their age. With no delay, Dr. Cantile took the two to Canton to see British Consul General Chaloner Alabaster, who then arranged a meeting with De Shou 德壽, Viceroy of Liangguang 兩廣總督 (Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi) to receive the Military Badges. The Viceroy required the two to submit their resumes to include information pertaining to their fathers, grand- and great grandfathers. Sun, somehow, rationalized this an impediment laid by Qing officialdom and promptly returned to Hong Kong with great irritation. Kong had no choice but to follow suit. Such was a critical episode of the modern Chinese history. If Sun did go to Peking, would the republican movement be the same, or would it not?

Some explanations may be needed as to why Robinson, a busy man himself, intruded upon a man many times busier than he was – the most powerful Han officials in the Qing government - to find jobs for two young Chinese from Hong Kong? There are two reasons. First, Li was the Patron of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese from 1889 until he died in 1901. Second, Li was building his team of medical doctors of Western discipline, persons of Chinese descent including; Robinson would be doing Li, and himself, a favor by sending the “first crop” of the college. It was an excellent opportunity to show off what British Hong Kong was capable of.

Li’s patronage was procured by Dr. Patrick Manson, co-founder of the college. In 1887 Dr. Manson visited Li who was said to be suffering from cancer of the tongue. Luckily it was only a sublingual abscess, which was successfully opened. In accepting the patronage, Li wrote a letter toned with great enthusiasm. Here is the English translation of the letter:

To the Authorities of the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese

Gentlemen,—I am in receipt of your letter informing me that I have had the honor of being elected Patron of your College. I also thank you for your desire to perpetuate my name on your College walls.
I wish every success to your benevolent design. I learn that there are between 20 and 30 students in the College studying medicine, and consider it most proper that they should also pay attention to the sister subject of chemistry and understand how to compound and how to analyze, thus ensuring greater accuracy in the diagnosis of disease and the preparation of remedies.
I remark that your countrymen devote themselves to practical research and base their scientific principles on the results of investigations, thus differing from those who rest content with theories.
The happy results which ever attend the treatment of disease on scientific principles are evidence of the advantage to be derived from the constant study of anatomy and chemistry and the consequent illumination of the dark path of knowledge.
There is no doubt that when your admirable project is achieved it will be appreciated and imitated, and that it will, through your students, be a blessing to China.
Trusting that you will prosecute your scheme with unflagging energy, and wishing you my compliments,

I subscribe myself on the accompanying card,
(Sgd.) Li Hung Chang. (Li Hongzhang)

Although I may never find out exactly what caused the mishap between Sun and the office of De Shou in Canton, there is no reason why I can’t make assumptions about what might or might not be the reason behind the incident. On the part of the Viceroy office, there is nothing wrong to ask for a detailed resume from each of the young men, particularly because they were sent by Robinson, and because both had untraceable background: Kong was born outside China while Sun had been absent from the country for five years. It is a simple matter of background check; doctors do make good spies after all…There is also the possibility that De Shou was not happy about Robinson going over his head and wnt to Li directly; a good reason to make life a little difficult for Sun and Kong. The situation might be very different if it was Dr. Manson, in stead of Robinson/Alabaster, who contacted Li. It would then be a friendly arrangement between Li and his one-time physician Mansion, and therefore De bore no responsibility of letting the two pass through on his watch.

Inquiring into one’s family tracing back to three, four generations were quite common in China, a custom that under normal circumstance should arouse no resentment; unlike what happened with Sun who went to the extreme of outburst by walking out and forfeiting the engagement. Sun may be a firebrand, but he wasn’t a reckless youth - not anymore (he was twenty eight); and he certainly received good counseling from Dr. Cantile who was with him in Canton. Nothing I read suggested that he didn’t want to go to Peking, or see Li Hongzhang. In fact, during the following years Sun had made numerous attempts to write to and ask for an appointment to see Li, but to no avail. Was his reaction primed by some other reasons? Was he hiding something from the past that he feared exposed? I have no information that points this direction. Having said that, there are some discrepancies over his birth place and date that I managed to find information on; unlike his doctorate degree that was untraceable so far. According to official records, Sun was born on November 12, 1866 in the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan, Guangdong 廣東省香山縣翠亨村. Kong Yang-wah, his fellow licentiate, pointed his age to twenty eight the year they graduated from the college, which would put his year of birth to 1964. Additionally, on March 14, 1904, upon his application, the Office of the Secretary of the Territory of Hawaii issued Sun a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth that stated that he was born on November 24, 1870 in Waimano, Ewa, Oahu. The date and place of birth were provided by Sun, supported by evident and witnesses he produced. Sun lived with his brother and went to school in the Ewa and Honolulu areas in between June 1878 and July 1883. It came to me later that Sun might need an Hawaiian identity to move more freely evading Qing government persecution.

A Kiang Hu Hospital flyer that hailed Sun
as having "amazing Skills"

Back to 1892 and as Peking was no longer an option, Sun, on return from Canton, made plans to open a pharmacy in Hong Kong. He shared his thoughts with Cantile and his mentor advised him to focus in finding a position where he could practice. Later in they year, Sun was invited by the Kiang Hu Hospital 鏡湖醫院 in Macau, where only Chinese medicine practitioners were available, to establish a Western medical section. His service at the hospital was on a pro bono basis initially (as I imagine he was not permitted to practice in the Portuguese enclave, but got bolder later on). Dr. Cantile continued to give whole-hearted support to Sun and would travel to Macau to assist when major operations had to be done. This is what his mentor said of Sun’s surgical ability, “he performed important operations requiring skill, coolness of judgment and dexterity.” In 1893, he opened a dispensary, named China-Western Dispensary 中西藥局, from where he also practiced while selling both Western and Chinese herbal medicines. Towards the end of 1893 Sun left Macau either voluntarily or had become a persona non grata since he could on longer practice without a license.

From Macau, Sun went to Canton where there was no licensing barrier for any medical practice, Chinese or Western. A new dispensary was opened using his established brand of China-Western Dispensary, from where he treated patients uneventfully. Came 1894, and after the brief he sent to Li Hongzhang outlining his concept to reform Qing China known in Chinese as the 上李鴻章書 (June 1894) was rebuffed, Sun became completely convinced that any act to revive the dynastic regime at that point of time was futile; and that a revolution, may it be bloody, resulting in a new republic state was the answer. In November 1894, he made a trip to Hawaii and whilst there he founded the Hsing Chun Hui 興中會 (the Revive China Society whose objectives had included the overturn of the Qing government) and formally became a rebel and a fugitive. Sun thenceforth ceased to practice medicine.

- END -

Notable Doctors from the First 100 Years

2010-05-13T16:19:00.014+08:00

Last updated on December 28, 2011

By the first 100 years, I mean the years beginning 1841 and ending 1941. This actually covers 101 years, but I thought the inclusion of the year 1941 would make complete the period in question, which will now start from the year when British troops landed in Hong Kong to take possession of the Island and end in the year when Hong Kong fell to the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army during the Pacific War.

I found no record that shows who was the first physician to practice in Hong Kong, that aside, the first record breakers are plentiful:

1855 – Dr. Kuan Huang became the first Chinese resided in Hong Kong to study abroad in a university, the first to qualify as a physician with the M.B. qualification and a M.D. in 1857
1879 - Dr. Ho Kai became the first Hong Kong-born Chinese to read medicine in an university and qualify as a physician with the M.B., C.M. qualifications
1880s - Dr. Herbert Poate became the first dentist to practice in Hong Kong
1892 - Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Dr. Kong Ying-wah became the first licentiates of Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
1893 - Dr. Kwan Sun-yin became the first locally-trained doctor to practice in Hong Kong
1901 - Dr. Chaun Moon-Hung became the first university-trained (University of Pennsylvania) Chinese dentist
1904 - Dr. Alice Deborah Sibree became the first woman doctor (obstetrician) to practice in Hong Kong
1912 - Dr. George H. Thomas became the first non-Chinese student and licentiate of the Hong Kong College of Medicine (1912), he was also the first M.D. graduate of the University of Hong Kong (1920) and the first locally born acting Director of Medical Services (1947)
1927 - Dr. Chau Sik-nin became the first Chinese Otolaryngologist to practice in Hong Kong (1927)
1927 - Dr. Eva Ho Tung, daughter of Robert Ho Tung, became the first woman graduate of the Faculty of Medicine, HKU
1952 - Prof. Sze Tsung-sing became the first Chinese appointed a WHO Medical Officer
1952 - Dr. K.C. Yeo became the first Chinese appointed to the top medical post in the government - Director of Medical and Health Services

Scotland and Christendom ruled the first hundred years. This was partly because of the success of medical missionaries from the U.K., and partly due to the lack of government funding for public medical care.

1840s

Henry Holgate
Acting Medical Chief

Holgate was said to be a surgeon on a merchant ship who came to China in the 1830s. He was one of the first surgeons to work at the British Seaman's Hospital in Whampoa (Huangpu) when it opened in 1836. He was appointed by Charles Elliot, Administrator of Hong Kong, to the position of Acting Colonial Surgeon in August 1841 to establish a Colonial Surgeon's Department. The appointment was, however, quickly disallowed after Elliot was sacked by Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. I do not know why his appointment remained in a government notice given in the March 31, 1842 issue of Friend of China.

A report on the Canton Register, dated October 12, 1841, cited by the New-York American of February 7, 1842, carried Holgate's comments on health conditions in Hong Kong. Might this be Holgate's only official act as the Acting Colonial Surgeon?

"Macao had suffered much from sickness, many of the inhabitants and Chinese having fallen victims to a kind of influenza which was travelling about.

The accounts of sickness at Hong Kong are contradicted. A Mr. Henry Holgate, writing from Hong Kong, under date of the 4th, states that there is no malaria, and that health of the troops has been gradually improving, not any having been ordered on board of the transports. The crews of vessels are very healthy, and in a population of 12,000 Chinese, there have been but 10 deaths in the last four months.”

After his short tenure as a medical official in Hong Kong, Holgate returned to his old job in Whampoa and became the head of the British Seaman's Hospital on November 28, 1842. He moved to Macau in 1849, and went back to Whampoa in 1851. There was a company existing in Macau in 1842 went by the name of Holgate & Co., which was a ships' agent. Has this to do with Dr. Holgate, I have no idea. Henry Holgate was listed as a member of the Chinese Medico-Chirurgical Society (founded on May 13, 1845) in 1846.

Sources:
- The Chinese Repository, 1836/37, 1842, 1849
- Europe in China; the History of Hong Kong from the beginning to the year 1882, by Ernest John Eitel
- The Friend of China, March 31, 1842
- Janus, Jardine Matheson Archive
- New-York American, February 7, 1842

Lunn
Pathologist who preformed Hong Kong’s first autopsy

The first autopsy done in Hong Kong was on a woman named Nga Lok Po who died suddenly causing her relatives to suspect she had been poisoned. The inquest was held on August 15, 1842 and Dr Lunn, Hong Kong's first pathologist, identified cause of death as a 'visitation of God'. The second autopsy he performed related to traumatic injury. On August 10, 1842, 40-years-old house painter of Canton Bazzar, Ho Wai, was engaged in an argument-turned- fracas with Ah Nam, his partner who demanded arrears of wages. They went into a house with no one inside to have the matter settled. Ho came out moment later bleeding copiously from the neck and said before he died that he had been struck by Ah Nam. Dr. Lunn identified the neck wound as the cause of death and opined it was done with a knife or chopper. The jury reached a verdict of willful murder. Ah Nam, the murderer, however was no where to be found. Rev. Lewis Shuck, the editor of the Friend of China confirmed that this was Hong Kong's first murder case. In his column, he said, “This is the first case of murder on the island. The people are generally so peaceful and non-contentious that there must be some extenuating circumstances.” It is quite unsatisfactory that I was not even able to find the full name of Dr. Lunn.

Sources:
- Friend of China, August 18, 1842

Cover of the Transactions of the China
Medico-Chirurgical Society (1846)Alfred Green Gayton Tucker

Surgeon of Hong Kong’s first hospital ship, HMS Minden

Alfred G.G. Tucker rose from the medical services of the Royal Navy. He was made Assistant Surgeon on July 12, 1832, and served on HMS Impregnable, and then on HMS Vernon from December 12, 1832 and HMS President from July 16, 1834. Tucker was promoted to Surgeon on November 23, 1841 and was appointed to HMS Minden on the 18th of the following month. He came to Hong Kong on board the Minden on June 7, 1843; the battle ship served as a hospital ship in Hong Kong until1844, whereupon it became the military stationary ship for the China and India Station. Tucker and all the other medical staff were reassigned in June 1844. Tucker suffered from tuberculosis and died on board Minden on October 10, 1845. D.B. Whipple, Assistant Surgeon on HMS Agincourt was promoted to replace Tucker. A majority of Minden's original medical staff was reassigned to HMS Alligator when it arrived in Hong Kong in 1846 to replace Minden as medical ship.

There was a William Guise Tucker who was appointed Chaplain to the Minden in 1836, and was made Chaplain to the Fleet in 1865. He became the Vicar of Ramsay, Essex on April 3, 1881. The Rev. Tucker was born in Hampstead, Devon, the second son of John Tucker and Mary Ann Britton. I wonder if these two were related.

Tucker was one of the founders of the China Medico-Chirurgical Society (CMCS), which was established in Hong Kong in 1845. He was elected President of CMCS at its first general meeting in May 1845. In his inaugural speech, he had put forward the idea of establishing a medical school to train Chinese students. He said, “...one day to see a medical school established at Victoria... It is only by education that we can expect to remove the deep old rooted prejudices of ages, and in what better manner could the pupils educated at the schools instituted for the Chinese be made useful instruments for introducing the Scriptures among their deluded countrymen.” For a non-clergyman, he was quite eager in spreading the good word.

Sources:
- "Heal the sick" was their motto: the Protestant medical missionaries in China, by Gerald H. Choa
- The Life and Times of Sir Kai Ho Kai, by Gerald H. Choa
- The Navy List, 1834, 1840
- Rootsweb
- Straits Times Monthly Summary, for the month of October, 1845

Alexander Anderson
The first Colonial Surgeon
Colonial Surgeon (1843-1844); had an established medical practice in Hong Kong before 1843; appointed by Henry Pottinger, Hong Kong’s first governor, as the first Colonial Surgeon in late 1843, but without London’s authorization; position made redundant in 1844 due to the home government's concerns about the amount of money being spent on the new colony; position reorganized as Hospital Surgeon to the Colony (but there was no civil hospital); resigned the following month because of ill health

Benjamin Hobson 合信
Doctor who introduced smallpox vaccination to Hong Kong
Opened and ran the Medical Missionary Society's Hospital 傳道會醫院 (opened June 6, 1843 – closed c.1853); first Secretary of CMCS; Lecturer in Practical Physiology and Pathology (1909), Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (HKCMC); during his tenure in China and Hong Kong, Hobson produced four texts designed to introduce Western medical knowledge to the Chinese, which were widely used as medical textbooks in missionary schools in China; introduced smallpox vaccination into Hong Kong (1844); left Hong Kong in June 1845. More reading on Dr. Hobson from the post: Hospital in the Nineteenth Century.

James Satchell
James Satchell ran the Victoria Hospital (1843-?) with Dr. Richard Jones. Satchell was also the second editor of the Friend of China who took over from James White, the paper's first editor after White left Hong Kong for Shanghai in 1844. Satchell died from opium deprivation soon after taking over the newspaper.

Samuel Marjoribanks
Medical officer to the British consulate in Canton (April 1, 1843); joined Victoria Dispensary (1843)

Peter F.H. Young
Surgeon in the East India Company's iron steamship Nemesis; head (1843-1846) of the Hong Kong Seamen's Hospital (opened August 1843 - closed March 1873); requested by John Francis Davis, the second governor, after the sudden death o Dr. Dill, to gave up his medical practice and become Colonial Surgeon (1846-1847), the third in a row local recruit; unaware (both Dr. Yong and Davis were) of that the home government had decreed that the Colonial Surgeon's post should be filled by a London appointee, Dr. Young had to step down ten months after he was appointed to make way for Dr. William Morrison who arrived Hong Kong in mid 1847 as London’s appointee to take over his job; related to Dr. James Young

Francis Dill
The first Colonial Surgeon to died in office
d. 1846 Hong Kong; succeeded Dr. Alexander Anderson in 1844, but had position reinstated as Colonial Surgeon, however at a reduced salary of GBP600 p.a.; had experience working in China, also a locally filled positng as in the case of Dr. Anderson; primary responsibility was to look after policemen and prisoners in the goal; salary further cut back to GBP500/year in 1845; succeeded Dr. Tucker as the second president of CMCS in 1845; died suddently from liver complication (October 1846); two months before his death, Dr. Dill proclaimed that Hong Kong was the healthiest British Colony in the Orient.

James Hume Young
Junior partner in the Victoria Dispensary; Treasurer of CMCS; resigned from the Treasurer post and CMCS membership (November 1845); married to Margaret Hutchison

George K. Barton
Succeeded Dr. Hobson as the CMCS Secretary in 1845, partner with Thomas Hunter in the Victoria Dispensary

George Balfour
Balfour was in charge of the Seamen's Hospital in 1846. He was succeeded W.A. Haeland the following year.

William Aurelius Harland
MD and natural scientist, performed Hong Kong's first practice chloroform anaesthesia
b. 1822 Scarborough – d. September 12, 1858 Hong Kong; University of Edinburgh; came to Hong Kong in 1846 to escape from an unwise marriage (to a servant girl); learned the Chinese language, studied Chinese medicine, collected scientific specimens and worked as a surgeon at the Seamen’s Hospital; performed the first surgical operation in Hong Kong with the use of chloroform (March 8, 1848), the news of which was reported with a great novelty; CMS Secretary; Colonial Surgeon (1853), after the passing on of Dr. William Morrison, Dr. Harland himself died within a few months (1854) of taking up the office of Colonial Surgeon (in the colony’s first decade three of its four Colonial Surgeon died in office, it must had been a dangerous profession.); his memorial is in the Hong Kong Cemetery that reads: "Admired for his scientific enquiries, Trusted for his abilities as a physician, and Loved for his qualities as a man"; his brother was Edward Harland, shipbuilder of Belfast, whose company built the Titanic; their father, William, patented a steam road car in 1827, and his work was used in the first steam train, the Rocket, built by his friend George Stephenson; publications: "Records of Washing away of Injuries" (1855), which was an English translation of "The Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified 洗冤集錄 (click to view the full text in Chinese)" also known as "Washing Away of Wrongs", a book on forensic science written by Song Ci 宋慈 in 1247 and is probably the world’s first comprehensive writing about forensic anthropology; a friend of Karl Gutzlaff, a Prussian missionary who aided the proliferation of opium in China.

S. Boone

N.M. Clerjon
Medical Practitioner, Queen's Road. I find it interesting that Mr. Clerjon was not referred to as a doctor.

J. Gilbert
Surgeon, Queen's Road, Antonio da Silva was listed as an employee.

Henry Julius Hirschberg
Henry J Hirschberg (d.1814, Prussian part of Poland - d.1874) served at the London Medical Missionary Society Hospital from July 1847 when he arrived in Hong Kong to 1853, whereupon he went to Amoy (Xiamen) to worked for the LMS mission there. Hirschberg, a Jewish convert, was a LMS doctor. He returned to England due to ill health in 1858.

William Morrison
d.1853 Hong Kong; the first London appointed Colonial Surgeon (1847-1853); said to have a thriving medical practice in the UK before accepting the appointment; salary increased by GBP100 in 1848; died in 1853 from an abscess of the liver and was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley

1850s

James Carroll Dempster
d. February 25, 1881; M.D., University of Glasgow (1840); Colonial Surgeon, Hong Kong (1854-1857) succeeded Dr. W.A. Harland; a staff surgeon seconded from the army (back to local recruit again); annual salary drastically cut back to GBP200; more keen in punishing than healing with respect to his responsibility in the Goal, so much so that he introduced the tread wheel to the prison in Hong Kong as a punishment (1853-c.1861, the tread wheel had been purchased in England at the cost of GBP188); ordered to India with his regiment (1857) yet again vacating the hard-to-fill position of Colonial Surgeon; took part in the campaigns of Hazara in India (1857), Sebastopol in Crimea, Ferozepore in India (1859), New Zealand (1863-1865), Deputy-Inspector-General, Army; Deputy-Surgeon-General, Army (last held position)

Three Chinese figures by Dr. T.B. Watson
(pen and ink and pencil)Thomas Boswell Watson

How Watson's the Chemist began
b.1815-d.1860; graduate of Edinburgh University; went to Macau to established a private practice (1845); notable amateur painter and a friendship with the famous George Chinnery last from 1845 to Chinnery's death in 1852; sold his practice to Dr. B. Kane and moved to Hong Kong in 1856, acquired interests in the Hong Kong Dispensary in the same year; also involved in the Victoria Dispensary but this closed in 1857 because of lack of business; left Hong Kong for Scotland in 1859, a sick man. He died, a rich man, in 1860 at the age of forty four.
Thomas Boswell’s nephew Alexander Skirving joined the Hong Kong Dispensary as manager in 1858. When the uncle died, A.S. Watson together with Dr John David Humphreys and Dr Arthur Hunt leased the dispensary for their operation, and from 1862 onwards the name A.S. Watson featured prominently at the Hong Kong Dispensary. In 1871, the Watson family leased the company to Drs. Humphreys and Hunt, and thenceforth the company is known as A.S. Watson and Co., where Watsons the Chemist became the trade name for the retail outlets.

T.A. Chaldecutt
M.R.C.S.E., I.A.C.; Acting Colonial Surgeon (1859)

John Ivoy Murray
Colonial Surgeon (1859-1872); arrived Hong Kong in February 1859 at the age of thirty four; Justice of the Peace; this is what he wrote, in his 1860 report, " The hospital system has always appeared to me very inadequate to the population. In fact it may be broadly stated that there is no hospital for Chinese, who form such a vast majority of our population."

James Cantlie

Patrick Manson

Ho Kai 何啟
b.1859-d.1914

1870s

Robert McCoy
Colonial Surgeon (1872-1873); died in office due to illness contracted in Hong Kong

Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres
The last Colonial Surgeon (1873-1897)
b.July 13, 1840 Oxfordshire – d. October 12, 1899 Kent; son of Dr. Philip Burnard Ayres (M.D., London; Chief Medical Officer of the Civil Hospital, Mauritius; lecturer in chemistry at Charing Cross Hospital); M.R.C.S.Eng; M.L.R.C.P.Edin; government medical officer posted in Mauritius and India; arrived in Hong Kong (November 1873) to take up the position of Colonial Surgeon and Inspector of Hospitals (and would become the longest serving Colonial Surgeon – twenty four years); the following establishment were under the purview of the Colonial Surgeon: Police, Troops, Government Civil Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital, Victoria Gaol, Lock Hospital, Health of the Colony, and Sanitation, the Lunatic Asylum was added in 1884 when it as established; annual salary GBP600, allowed to carry on private practice whilst holding the public office aiming to make up the difference of GBP200 (Dr. Ayres had asked for GBP800 per year); oversight the opening of the Government Civil Hospital; instituted the nursing staff of trained nurses from the London Hospital (1889); played a pivotal role in fostering a higher standard in sanitation including institutionalized the Sanitary Board (1883); handled the epidemic of Plague (1894); Worshipful Master of the Hong Kong Masonic Order, Officer of the District Grand Lodge of China; health began to fail in 1895; home leave (1896, this is the first and only home leave Dr. Ayres had ever took since arriving in 1873); retired (1897); died two years later at the age of 59; wrote in his last report before retiring, "What all my reports could not do the epidemic has done.", referring to the drastic improvement in sanitation standard following the epidemic; after his retirement, the position of Colonial Surgeon was changed to Principal Civil Medical Officer.

Annual Salary of some government officials in 1875 (in GBP)

Chief Judge
2,500
Puisne Judge
1,700
Attorney General
1,000
Postmaster General
900
Registrar General
800
Captain Superintendent of Police
800
Superintendent of the Gaol
700
Colonial Surgeon
600

(It will be interesting to find out why the Postmaster General was so generously paid...)

John Pope-Hennessy 軒尼詩
b.1831 Cork, Ireland - d.1891; M.D., D.Ch., Queen’s University, Belfast; came to Hong Kong in 1877 not to practice medicine, but to govern; he was the eighth governor (1877-1882) of Hong Kong; Pope-Hennessy also had a law degree and was a licensed barrister; proposed a medical school for Hong Kong (1878)

1908 photo (probably the graduation photo) of the staff and students of the Hong Kong College of Medicine. In 1907, the college began to admit non-Chinese students and the words “for Chinese” was dropped from its name.

1. Ho Kai; Rector's Assessor
2. Francis H. May; Rector (Colonial Secretary; 15th Hong Kong Governor from 1912 to 1919)
3. John C. Thomson; Lecturer in Diseases of Tropical Climates, Fever
4. Ernest Hamilton Sharp; Standing Counsel (d.1922; Barrister of the Inner Temple; KC; B.L.C.; M.A.)
5. Robert McLean Gibson; Treasurer and Secretary, Director of Studies, Lecturer in Systematic Anatomy
6. R.A. Belilios; Lecturer in Physiology
7. Li Shu-fan
8. Wang Chungyi

Francis William Clark; Dean (on leave, not in photo)

Untagged HKCMC staff
C.M. Heanley; Lecturer in Practical Anatomy
A.H. Crook; Lecturer in Biology
H. MacFarlane; Lecturer in Chemistry and Physics
Joseph W. Noble; Lecturer in Dental Surgery
Gregory Paul Jordan; Lecturer in Eye Diseases
W.W. Pearse; Lecturer in Public Health
G.H.L. Fitzwilliams; Lecturer in Practical Physiology and Pathology (London School of Tropical Medicine)
F.T. Keyt; Lecturer in Practice of Medicine
W.V.M. Koch; Lecturer in Surgery (Acting Medical Superintendent, Leper Asylum, Trinidad in 1891; Vice President of the British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch in 1907; member of the Legislative Council in 1926)
.

1880s

John Christopher Thomson 譚臣
A devoted teacher
Medcial missionary of the London Missionary Society (LMS), later government medical officer; b.June 5, 1863 Lockerbie, Scotland; M.A. (1884), M.B. and C.M. (1888), M.D. (1892),University of Edinburgh; University of Edinburgh Certificate in Diseases of Tropical Climates (1904); D.P.H., Edinburgh and Glasgow (1904); together with Dr. William Young 楊威廉, provided free medical services to Chinese populace at the clinic established by LMS in 1881 (the clinic was located in Po Yee Street, Sai Ying Pun 西營盤普義街); Superintendent of Alice Memorial Hospital (1889) and Nethersole Hospital; resigned from LMS in 1896 and entered Hong Kong civil service in January 1897 as Assistant Colonial Surgeon; Government Medical Officer and Medical Officer of Health to the Kowloon extension (1898); Justice of the Peace (1898); President of Hong Kong and China Branch of British Medical Association (1899); author of Reports on Malaria and on Hong Kong Mosquitoes (in Government Gazette); member of Hong Kong Club
The following are Thomson’s offices at the Hong Kong College of Medicine - Secretary (1891-1894); Treasury and Secretary (1895-1909); Director of Studies (1895-1902); Lecturer -- Chemistry (1896-1897), Chemistry and Physics (1898-1901), Clinical Medicine (1909), Clinical Surgery (1892), Diseases of Tropical Climates (1901-1909), Fever (1908), Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1892-1896), Physiology (1895-1896), Surgery (1896-1897)

Charles Robert Hager 喜嘉理
Dr. Sun Yat-sen's baptizer
Clergyman and physician; b.October 27, 1851 – d.1917 Claremont, California; M.D., D.D.; a German born in Switzerland who moved to the United States and was naturalized as a US citizen; Congregationalist 美國公理會 minister sent to Hong Kong as medical missionary in 1883, Dr. Hager was chosen because he had some experienced with the Chinese while working in San Francisco; established China Congregational Church 公理會佈道所綱紀慎會堂 soon after arriving Hong Kong at No. 2, Bridges Street; together with devoted Christian 溫清溪 established day and evening (English) schools within the church premises; at one time worked for the Hong Kong Missionary Association; baptized Dr. Sun either at the close of 1883 or early in 1884, also baptized at that time was Dr. Sun’s good friend and later a dear revolution comrade Lu Hao-tung 陸皓東 (b.1868-d.1895), following the baptizium, Dr. Sun resided at the living quarters provided by Dr. Hager in the church for about two years; Dr. Hager was said to have encouraged and recommended Dr. Sun to pursue medical studies as a matter of course, including an introduction for Dr. Sun to enroll at the medical school in Canton that was attached to the Pok Tsai Hospital 博濟醫學堂 run by Dr. John G. Kerr; after resided in Hong Kong and China for twenty seven years, returned to the United States due to ill health (1910); first wife, Lizze, nee Blackman, who came to Hong Kong and China with Dr. Hager, but died in the California; second wife, Marie, nee Von Rausch, A.B.C.F.M., who came to China as missionary of the Basel Mission, married Dr. Hager on December 13, 1986, opened first kindergarten in South China, died November 22, 1918, in Claremont, California; children of Marie and C.R. Hager: Robert, Elsie and Morrison Hager

Johann Gerhard Heinrich Karl Gerlach
Prussian State License; one of the first nine doctors who registered as medical practitioners in Hong Kong immediately following the enactment of the “Medical Registration Ordinance, 1884” that required all doctors to be licensed before they could treat patients (for monetary reward); Member of the Committee for the Foundation of HKCMC 1887; Lecturer in Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1887-1891)

Gregory Paul Jordan
b. February 6, 1858 Calcutta – d. December 4, 1921 London; M.B., C.M., University of Edinburgh (1880); studied in Vienna and Paris, and at St. Thomas’s Hospital; M.R.C.S.Eng. (1884); came to Hong Kong in 1880s; entered partnership with Dr. W.S. Adams, a partnership which was to evolve eventually into Anderson & Partners; Port Health Officer of the Port and Inspector of Immigrants (May 1, 1888); Consulting Surgeon to the Alice Memorial Hospital; Surgeon-Superintendent of Police (c.1914-c.1918); Co-Founder (with Drs. Manson (inaugural President) and William Hartigan) and inaugural Secretary of the British Medical Society Hong Kong Branch (September 1886); member of the Committee for the Foundation (1887); Lecturer in Eye Diseases (1903-1912), head of Surgical Department (1889-1896), HKCMC; Professor of Tropical Medicine (1915-1921), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1913-1921), Acting Chancellor (1918-1912), Faculty of Medicine, HKU; Life Member of the University Court (since 1911), member of the University Senate (1912), Hon LL.D. (1921), HKU; nephew of Paul Chater, Hong Kong’s first property tycoon; inaugural Grand Master of the District Grand Lodge of Scottish Freemasonry, Hong Kong and South China (November 3, 1904 – his death in 1921); member of Hong Kong Club; naming honor: Jordan Road

Herbert Poate
Hong Kong's first dentist
American; graduate of the University of Pennsylvania; opened the first dental practice in Hong Kong in the early 1880s.

Joseph W. Noble
Dentist-turned-Newspaper-Publisher
American; graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (1883); joined Dr. Poate in 1887, their dental practice renamed Poate and Noble, which provided free dental service at the Alice Memorial Hospital; member of the Court (Board) of HKCMC and was involved in realizing the plan to incorporate the college into HKU; Lecturer in Dental Surgery (1896-1912), HKCMC; bought controlling interest of the Hong Kong Telegraph from Robert Ho-tung in 1916 and became its publisher.

Robert McLean Gibson
b.1870 Scotland – d.June 30, 1936 Port Said, Egypt; M.D. (1896), M.D. (1900), University of Edinburgh; F.R.C.S.E. (1912), sent to Alice Memorial Hospital by the London Missionary Society and served as Medical Superintendent (1887-1918); Medical Superintendent (1926-1935), Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital; Treasurer and Secretary (1909-1915), Director of Studies (1902-1909), Lecturer in Anatomy (1902-1912), Clinical Surgery (1909-1912), Physiology (1899-1901), Practice of Medicine (1903-1905), HKCMC; Life Member of the University Court (since 1911), HKU; life-long member, British Medical Association; retired from London Missionary Society (1935); honor: M.B.E. (1936); in 1965, in honor of Dr. Gibson's long and dedicated service, Dr. T.Y. Li (of HKU) presented the R.M. Gibson Gold Medal for award to the student gaining the best result in Paediatrics

W.E. Crow
Member of the Committee for the Foundation of HKCMC 1887; Lecturer in Chemistry (1887-1890), HKCMC

John Mitford Atkinson
b. December 3, 1856 – d. d. May 23, 1917 London; son of Rev. S. Atkinson; M.B., University of London (1881); M.B.C.S. Eng; L.S.A., London (1878); D.P.H., University of Cambridge (1894); Resident Medical Officer, St. Mary Abbott's Infirmary, Kensington (1878-1885); Medical Officer, No. 3 District St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington (1885-1887); Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital and Medical Officer to Small-pox Hospital and Government Lunatic Asylums (1887); acting Colonial Surgeon (1895); Principal Civil Medical Officer and President of the Sanitary Board (1897-1912); associated with the establishment of the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children on Barker Road (1897-1947); Lecturer in Physiology (?-1891), HKCMC; received thanks of Secretary of State for services during plague 1898; Fellow, Royal Colonial Institute (1887); President, Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine (1912); Member of Legislative and Executive Councils (1903-1912); Member of Hong Kong Club; retired in 1912 after twenty five years in Hong Kong and moved to London; Major, Royal Army Medical Corps. (July 26, 1915); head of the Richmond Military Hospital (1915); resigned commission in spring 1916; publication: "Plague Procedure in Hong Kong", British Medical Journal (December 15, 1906)

John Bell
b. November 10, 1859; M.R.C.S., Eng.; L.R.C.P. (1903), D.P.H., London; came to Hong Kong and in practice with Dr. Gregory Paul Jordan (1888) and gave his service to the Alice Memorial Hospital (1888-1896); Lecturer in Clinical Surgery (1888-1892), Pathology (1892-1896), Pathology and Bacteriology (1896-1898), HKCMC; acting Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (1896); acting Principal Civil Medical Officer and President of Sanitary Board (1900); Superintendent Government Civil Hospital (1903); member of Hong Kong Club

Charles Forsyth
b. 1875 Neston, Cheshire - d. December 29, 1955; M.B., B.S., D.T.M., University of Edinburgh; F.R.C.S., Edinburgh; M.D.; came to Hong Kong and joined the medical practice of Dr. Gregory Paul Jordan (late 1880s); Lecturer in Pathology (from 1902, Pathology and Bacteriology), midwifery and gynaecology, HKCMC; one of the nine lecturers transferred from HKCMC to the Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912); member of the University Senate, HKU; President (1910-1923), Kowloon Cricket Club

1887 photo of some of the first students of HKCMC: front row from left:

Kong Ying-wah 江英華 (graduated in 1892); b.1871 South America; son of a Chinese immigrant worked as a coalminer; came to Hong Kong in 1880 at the age of nine; passed entry examination of the medical college in 1887 but financially unable to paid the required deposit of HK$500 which eventually was paid by Dr. James Cantile so that Kong could enroll in the college; went to Sandakan in North Borneo to practice after graduating from HKCMC and never left there.

Kwan Sum-yin 關心焉 (1893); featured in this post

Sun Yat-sen 孫中山 (1892);

Lau Sei-fuk 劉四福 (1895);

back row from left:

Wong Gau-gou 王九皋;

Wong Yi-nok 王以諾;

Wong I-ek 黃怡益 (1895);

Wong Sai-yan 王世恩 (1895); featured in this post
Chan Siu-baak 陳少白 b.1869 Jiangmen, Guangdong - d.1934 Beijing; Christian; enrolled in HKCMC in January 1890 at the introduction of Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was a close friend; left school in 1892 when Sun graduated from HKCMC; became Sun’s most trusted lieutenant in the republic movement; established China Daily 中國日報 in October 1900 in Hong Kong, a Chinese language newspaper used as a mouthpiece for the revolutionaries; joined the secret society of “Triad” 三合會 in 1899 and soon became its “consigliere”; joined another secret society “Gelaohui” 哥老會 in the same year and became its “Don” for the Hong Kong branch almost immediately; appointed Chief of Staff for Dr. Sun’s presidency when the latter assumed the post of Extraordinary President of ROC

1890s

Chung Boon-chor 鐘本初
The first Chinese house surgeon at the Alice Memorial Hospital and the first Western medicine doctor at the Tung Wah Hospital
Alias Chung King-ue; b. unknown – d. 1908 Hong Kong; graduate of Tientsin Chinese Government College 天津西醫學堂 run by Dr. John Kenneth Mackenzie; the first Chinese house surgeon at the Alice Memorial Hospital (1890-1895); the first medical superintendent 掌院, Tung Wah Hospital (1896-1903), with a monthly salary of HK$150, and meanwhile private practice was not permitted.

The chief purpose of appointing Dr. Chung, a Chinese doctor trained for Western medicine is to offer Western medicine as an option to patients in the Tung Wah Hospital, which until then only offer Chinese medicine. It wasn’t until three years after Dr. Chung’s appointment that Western medicine / surgery began to be accepted.

James Alfred Lowson
Medical Officer who diagnosed Hong Kong’s first plague case, A. Hung
b.1866; graduated from University of Edinburgh (1888); came to Hong Kong (c.1891); represented Hong Kong at the interport cricket in Shanghai (October 1892), his ship on return trip, the S.S. Bokhara, was sunk off the Pescadores (Penghu Islands) in a typhoon, he was among only twenty-five survivors out of about 150 passengers and crew on board; Medical Superintendent of the Government Civil Hospital at the age of 28 (1894)

Kwan Sum-yin 關心焉
The first L.M.S.H of HKCMC to practice in Hong Kong
Alias Kwan King-leung 關景良; b.1869 Hong Kong – d.1945 Hong Kong; Christian; son of Kwan Yuen-cheong 關元昌, who was often referred to as China’s first dentist --- although he was trained by an American as a pupil-assistant (Dr. Kwan’s mother, nee Lai, was a translator at the Alice Memorial Hospital); grandson of Kwan Yat 關日, one of the first batch of ten converts baptized by the London Missionary Society in Canton; attended Diocesan School; enrolled in HKCMC in 1887 together with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was Sun’s roommate while studying at the college; L.M.S.H., HKCMC (November 28, 1893), house surgeon, Nethersole Hospital (1893-1896), appointed by LMS; the first medical college graduate to practice in Hong Kong and became the Chinese medical practitioner of the longest standing in Hong Kong (Kwan’s two senior in college, Sun Yat-sen and Kong Ying-wah never practiced in Hong Kong. Sun briefly practiced in Macau and Canton. Kong, who graduated in 1892 with Sun, went to practice in what was Sandakan in North Borneo where he remained for the rest of his life); army surgeon, ROC; surgeon serving the Qing government; returned to Hong Kong and started a private practice (1898); member of the inaugural board of directors, Yeung Wo Nursing Home (1922); President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (1922-1923); married Lee Kam Amoe 李月娥 (January 6, 1892) at the China Congregational Church where Dr. Sun was baptized. Sun was the matchmaker as well as a witness to the wedding. The bride used to live next door to Sun’s brother in Hawaii.

Top: 1890 photo of Kwan (standing) and the "Four Bandits 四大寇" comprising Sun Yat-sen and his three young manic-revolutionary friends. From left: Yeung Hok-ling 楊鶴齡 (b.1868 –d.1934); Sun; Chan Siu-baak 陳少白 (b.1869-d.1934), who was also a student of HKCMC; and Yau Lit 尢列 (b.1865-d.1936). The photo was taken at the Alice Memorial Hospital.
Middle: Kwan started his private practice five years after he graduated from HKCMC, at the age of 29, and continued for almost forty years.
Bottom: An advertisement posted by Dr. Kwan in the Chinese Mail 華字日報 of March 27, 1901

A poster showing a Chinese man posing in the new attire
promoted by the societyNo introduction of Dr. Kwan Sun-Yin can be complete without the “Cut Queue Keep Attire Society” episode; the Chinese name being 剪辮不易服會 and I must apologize for the poor English name translation since I was unable to find the proper name of the society in English given by historians. Established by Dr. Kwan, the society advocated a new attire for Chinese men (I think its main concern was ethnic Han men) whereby the wearing of Manchurian robe, also known as mandarin gown, was acceptable but the wearing of the compulsory queue was not. The movement had a significant symbolic meaning: first, to rid of the single most iconic image of submission to the Manchu reign; second, to uphold patriotism for not dressing in the Western manner. Kwan went to the extent of having the society incorporated with the Hong Kong Government and on November 4, 1910 hosted a general assembly of the society. The meet was held at the grand hall of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and was attended by more than 600 personages including six reputable founding members. They were Dr. Kwan’s father, Kwan Yuen-cheong 關元昌; the grandfather of Prof. C.Y. Wang, Wang Yuan-shen 王元琛; the Rev. Au Fung-chi 區風墀; businessman, political theorist and Ho Kai's best friend Wu Lai-woon, alias Hu Liyuan, 胡禮垣; Ng Chau-wu 吳秋湖; and church elder Wan Ching-kai 溫清溪. The most important message delivered in the assembly was that it was absolutely legal in Hong Kong for Chinese not to wear a queue.

T.J. Burton
Secretary (1894-1895), Lecturer in Chemistry (1893), HKCMC

Francis William Clark
The first Medical Officer of Health
b.June 23, 1864; M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., London University (1886); D.P.H. (1891), M.B. (1892), Cambridge University; M.D., Durham University (1900); trained at St. Bartholomew and Middlesex Hospitals; Superintendent of the Fever Hospital at Lowestaff; Medical Officer of Health at Lowestaff; came to Hong Kong in 1895, at the age of 31, to take up the post of the inaugural Medical Officer of Health; Dean (1907-1915), Lecturer in Diseases of Tropical Climates (1909-1912), Hygiene (1897-1906), Physiology (1896-1899), HKCMC; Dean (1912-1915), Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, Faculty of Medicine, HKU; Life Member of the University Court (since 1911), member of the University Senate (1912),HKU; member of the Sanitary Board; Justice of the Peace (1896); Secretary-Treasurer General, Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine (1912); member of the Legislative Council (1902); Principal Medical Officer of Health (1905-1906); Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club; member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club; member of Hong Kong Club; left Hong Kong (1922) to become Consular Medical Officer in Mukden and later in Weihaiwei

U I-kai 胡爾楷
Christian; father of Dr. Wu Wai-tak, the most notable Chinese gynecologist in Hong Kong in the early twentieth century; father of Dr. Katie Wu, the late headmaster of St. Paul’s Girls’ School; L.S.M.H., HKCMC (1895); staff surgeon, Nethersole Hospital (1895), Alice Memorial Hospital; d. 1898 (if this is correct, then Dr. U (Wu) died three years after he graduated from the medical college and probably in late twenties)

Wong Sai-yan 王世恩
The Wong (Wang) Brothers and the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
Alias Wong Chak-man 王澤民; b.1870-d.1928; Christian; grandson of Wang Yuan-shen 王元深, the first preacher of the Rhenish Mission; son of Wong Him-yue 王謙如, a pastor of the Rhenish Mission; first cousin of Professor C.Y. Wang 王寵益; enrolled in HKCMC in the same year as Dr. Sun Yet-san (1887), but graduated three years later than Dr. Sun with L.M.S. (1895); a very brief stint at the Alice Memorial Hospital (1895) before going to Selangor to practice; a founder of Guonghua Medical Society 光華醫社 in Canton (1907) which evolved into Guonghua Charity Hospital 光華贈醫院 and GuangzhouGuonghua Medical College 廣東光華醫學院; close to Dr. Kwan Sun-yin, he and Dr. Sun were the two witnesses at Dr. Kwan’s wedding

There were three other students who graduated with Wong on April 9, 1895: Wong I-ek 黃怡益 (passed with distinction, appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy and subsequently returned to his native Fuzhou), Dr. U I-kai 胡爾楷 (employed by the Nethersole Hospital) and Law Go Fuk who also went to Selangor, whether together with Dr. Wong is unknown.

Dr. Wong Sai-yan was the first of the several in the Wong/Wang family to have studied at HKCMC: Wong Gat-man 王吉民, younger brother, enrolled in 1905; Professor C.Y. Wang 王寵益, first cousin, graduated in 1908; Wang Chung-hing 王寵慶, first cousin, elder brother of Professor C.Y. Wang, enrolled in 1901, went to University of Edinburgh to study medicine in 1902; Wan Ho-lok 溫可樂, second cousin, enrolled in 1905.

Guonghua Medical College was established in 1908 as China’s first medical college run by Chinese nationals with the objective of promoting the esteem of Chinese medical practitioners. It was officially opened on November 15, 1908 and discontinued in 1953 after merging into the Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences. The faculty and students moved to Hong Kong when Japan began to invade southern China; class was suspended with the fall of Hong Kong and restarted in 1945 in Canton. There were about 670 graduates throughout the forty seven years history of the college. The founders of the Guonghua Medical Society were: Laing Peiji 梁培基 (1875-1947), Zheng Hao 鄭豪 (1877-1942, the first principal of the Guonghua Medical College), Chen Ziguong 陳子光, Zuo Jifan 左吉帆, Su Daoming 蘇道明 later known as Du Daoming (1846 Guongdong - 1919 Hong Kong), Chi Yaoting 池耀庭, Wu Hanchi 伍漢持, Chen Zecan 陳則參, Gao Yuehan 高約翰, Wong Sai-yan 王世恩, Liu Luheng 劉祿衡, Huang Eting 黃萼庭, Wang Kentang 王肯堂 and Tan Binyi 譚彬宜.

Frederic Osmund Stedman
b. December 31, 1862 Tiverton, Devonshire, England – d. February 2, 1927 Weybridge, Surrey; son of Arthur Stedman (surgeon, M.R.C.S.E.); elder brother of Savignac Bell Stedman, also a doctor, who went to Ceylon to practice and died there at the age of 64; married Lillian Mabel Lemesurier (1899); M.D., B.S., University London; M.R.C.S., Eng.; House Surgeon, House Physician, and Surgeon Registrar, Charing Cross Hospital ; House Physician, National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy, London ; clinical assistant, Moorefield's Eye Hospital; came to Hong Kong and started the private practice of Stedman, Reinnie and Harston located at the Alexandria Building in Central; Supernumerary Surgeon-Lieutenant, Hong Kong Volunteer Corps (December 2, 1896); Council, British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch (1907-1908); Justice of the Peace; member of Hong Kong Club; publication: "Three Cases Treated by the "X" Rays", British Medical Journal December 19, 1903; was related to Elizabeth Stedman who was wife of Dr. Thomas Boswell Watson who went to Macau in c.1845 to start up a private practice, and whose family would later founded Watson’s, The Chemist

Wan Man-kai 尹文楷
The inaugural Chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association
Alias Wan Tun-mo 尹端模; b. Hong Kong; Christian; son of Wan Wei-tsing 尹維清, an ordained minister, London Missionary Society; graduate of Queen's College; attended the Tientsin Chinese Government College 天津西醫學堂, a medical school opened in 1881 in Tianjin with the patronage of Li Hongzhang; surgeon, Imperial Chinese Navy; assistant professor, Tientsin Chinese Government College; went to Canton and associated with Dr. John Kerr and taught at the medical school attached to the Pok Tsai Hospital 博濟醫學堂 (Dr. Sun Yat-sen studied here in 1886), staff surgeon, Nethersole Hospital (1897); staff surgeon, Alice Memorial Hospital (1898, replacing the deceased Dr. U I-kai 胡爾楷; went into private practice (1900); member, inaugural President (1920-1922), Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association; the inaugural board of directors, Yeung Wo Nursing Home (1922); married the daughter of Au Fung-chi 區鳳墀, several of his brothers-in-law were graduates of HKCMC and practiced with him in Hong Kong

Ho Nai-hop 何乃合
The first Government Medical Officer for the New Territory
Alias Ho Lok-kum; graduate of Queen’s College (1894); L.M.S.H., HKCMC (1898); Government Medical Officer in charge of the New Territory (1898), based in Taipo, assisting Dr. John Christopher Thomson, the Government Medical Officer and his tutor at the medical college; went into private practice (1903); surgeon, Hongkong Milling Co., Ltd.

To Coxion 杜國臣
Alias To Ying-fan; L.M.S.H., HKCMC (1899); house surgeon, Nethersole Hospital (1899-1908); house surgeon, Alice Memorial Hospital (1908-1931); while serving at the Alice Memorial, also owned a private practice and a pharmacy in Queen’s Road; wife and son also employed by Alice Memorial

1900s

Photo of the first Degree Congregation of the University of Hong Kong on December 14, 1916, for twenty three students; eight in Medicine:

1. Chau Wai Cheung 周懷璋 – practiced in Hong Kong and later became the Chairman (1923-1926) of Yeung Wo Nursing Home 香江養和園, the forerunner of Hong Kong Sanitarium

2. C.E. Lim 林宗揚 – from Penang; went to Peking after graduaation and later became China’s first microbiologist

3. Edward Cheah Tiang-eam* – possibly 謝天炎; practiced in Foochow and Penang, moved to Johor Bahru in the mid 1920s; married to Emily Brockett, third daughter of Thomas Brockett, a successful English tea merchant based in Foochow and his Chinese wife - Mary Lo Dai, nee Nuang; close friend of Abdul Rahman bin Yassin whose son, Ismail Abdul Rahman, became the second Prime Minister of Malaysia (1970-1973); the two youngest Cheah daughters - Eileen and Joyce - married two of the Kuok brothers, Philip and Robert, respectively; keen golfer, played quite often with Sultan ibrahim, helped found the Singapore Golf Club as well as the International Club in Johore Bahru

4. Cheong Chee-hai* - 鍾志海

5. Wong Hing-chuen – the name sound Hong Kong

6. Teoh Cheng-toe* - attended the Straits & F.M.S. (Federated Malay States) Medical School before enrolling into UKU; founding member of Penang Medical Practitioners' Society (1932);

7. Teh Lean-swee* - possibly 鄭年瑞 or 鄭聯瑞; attended the Straits & F.M.S. (Federated Malay States) Medical School before enrolling into UKU; there was a Jalan (Road) Teh Lean Swee in Ipoh, which is now known as Persiaran Medan Ipoh and is located next to Jalan Wu Lean Teh – named after the famous Dr. Wu Lean Teh; wouldn’t be very far off to assume that Teh Lean-swee might have come from Ipoh or Penang and had become a famous doctor)

8. Lim Soon-kian* - possibly 林順建

* possibly Malayan of Chinese descent

Chaun Moon-Hung
The first Chinese Dentist, University trained
D.D.S., University of Pennsylvania (1899); the first Chinese student and the first Chinese graduate of Penn; admitted as the first Chinese dentist in Hong Kong (1901) by his Westerner peers --- most of them were alumni from Penn (There were no formal qualification requirements for dentist before 1914. The first Dentistry Ordinance was enacted on June 5, 1914.)

William Hunter
The first Government Bacteriologist
b. May 25, 1875 Banffshire, Scotland – d.1909 Hong Kong; son of Rev. William H. Hunter; M.B., C.M., University of Aberdeen (1897, most distinguished Medical Graduate); F.R.I.P.H., London University; member of the British Medical Association; member of the Neurological and Physiological Societies of Great Britain; University of Leipzig, University of Berlin, Germany; Laboratory Assistant, Pathological Department, Aberdeen University (1897) ; Clinical Assistant National Hospital for Paralyzed and Epileptic, London (1899-1901); Laboratory Assistant, Neuropathslogical Laboratory, King's College, London, (1900); Assistant Bacteriologist, London Hospital, (1900-1901) ; Director of Pathological Institute, London Hospital, (1901); Government Bacteriologist, Director of Bacteriological Institute, and Medical Officer in charge of the Government Public Mortuary (1901-1909); Lecturer in Pathology and Bacteriology, School of Medicine for Chinese; member of Hong Kong Club; died suddenly on June 9, 1909 at the age of 34, he was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley

Ho Ko-tsun 何高俊
b.1878; Christian; graduate of queen's college; L.M.S.C.C., HKCMC (1901), receipent of Belilios award; acting house surgeon, Tung Wah Hospital (1901-1902); the first laboratory assistant to the Government Bacteriologist (1902-1903), working under Hong Kong’s first Government Bacteriologist, Dr. William Hunter; resident surgeon, Nethersole and Ho Miu Ling Hospitals (1903-1906); Medical Officer, Chinese Public Dispensary, East Distrcit (located in Wanchai); went to private practice; lecturer, osteology and surgery, HKCMC; inaugural Chairman, Yeung Wo Nursing Home, the forerunner of Hong Kong Sanitarium (1922); active member (1910), Guangdong Medical Gongjinhui 廣東醫學共進會, the medical branch of a republican movement group founded in Tokyo in 1905; Deputy Director of Public Health, Guangzhou (1911); president, Tai Yuk School; founding member, Hong Kong Chinese Swimming Association 香港華人游泳會 (1910); publications: "A Treatise on First Aid to the Wounded", "Simple Remedies in varous Emergencies", "Reasons why Guangdong Government Banned Medical Services", China Medical Journal (March 1913), all three in Chinese; father of Dr. Ho Chung Chung, Ph.D. 何中中, founder and principal of True Light Middle School of Hong Kong 香港真光中學 (1946)

Members of the inaugural directors of the board (1922) of Yeung Wo Nursing Home had included:
Dr. Ho Ko-tsun 何高俊 (Chairman), Dr. Wan Man-kai 尹文楷, Dr. Kwan Sum-yin 關心焉, Dr. B.C. Wong 黃菖霖, Dr. Jeu Hawk 趙學, Dr. Ma Luk 馬祿臣 and Dr. Wu Tin-pao 吳天保

Oswald Marriott
b. December 30, 1874 London; M.B., B.S., M.D., University of London; L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. (1900), London; Assistant, and later House Surgeon, Guy’s Hospital, London; House Physician, Dreadnought Seaman's Hospital, Greenwich (1900); came to Hong Kong and started a private practice (1902); Lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence (1887-1906), Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1904-1912), HKCMC; one of the nine lecturers transferred from HKCMC to the Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912); member of the University Senate, HKU (1912); member of Hong Kong Club

Frederic Theobald Keyt
b. February 25, 1866 Jaffna, Ceylon; son of Henry Keyt (b.1842-d.1903; L.M.S., Calcutta; Medical Officer, Ceylon Civil Medical Service); M.B., C.M. (1888), M.D. (Honors), D.P.H. (1902), University of Aberdeen; Assistant Colonial Surgeon and District Commissioner, British Honduras (1892-1902); came to Hongkong (1902); second Port Health Officer of the Port; Lecturer in Practice of Medicine (1905-1912), HKCMC, one of the nine lecturers transeffered from HKCMC to the Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912); member of Hong Kong Club

Jeu Hawk 趙學
b. 1866 Sunwui (Xinhui), Guangdong - d. October 27, 1931 Hong Kong; went to San Francisco with uncle (October 1882) at the age of sixteen decades after the Gold Rush prospecting; went to St. Louis after a few non-productive months in SFO and was sent to Sunday School to learn the English language, for free; converted to Christianity; entered Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa (1888), education probably paid by the congregation; graduated with a degree in Theology from DU (1892); led a mission established among the Chinese immigrants in Portland, Oregon initiated by Pastor David Wetzell and opened by the Christian Woman's Board of Missions (1892); entered Portland Medical College (1896) (college no longer exists); M.D., Portland Medical College (1900); entered the United Christian Missionary Society (Dr. Jeu was referred in several sources as a pastor, but I was unable to find any information that shows he was ever ordained); said to have returned to China in October 1900 (but uncertain when he arrived Hong Kong) with wife (name unknown, married in 1893) and Pastor Louie Hugh and his wife Grace of the United Christian Missionary Society; Resident Surgeon, and later succeeded Dr. Chung Boon-chor as the second Medical Superintendent, Tung Wah Hospital (1902-1910); started a private practice (1910); together with an Australian missionary, established Shamshuipo Church of Christ 深水埗基督會 (April 1926), the church still exists today under the name of Hong Kong Chinese Church of Christ 香港華人基督會; Member of the inaugural directors of the board of Yeung Wo Nursing Home (1922); President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (1923/24)

Western medicine was introduced to the Tung Wah Hospital in the late 1890s and patients had a choice between Chinese medicine and Western medicine. At the time when Dr. Jeu managed the hospital as its medical superintendent, Western medicine had become quite acceptable amongst the Chinese patients. The record in 1907 shows that out of 3,200 in-patients, 1,815 opted for Western medicine and 1,385 for Chinese.

Wilfred William Pearse
M.B., C.M., D.P.H., Dm.; M.D. (1906), University of Aberdeen, thesis: “A Contribution to the Study of Plague”; arriving in Hong Kong (1901); acting Medical Officer of Health, Sanitary Superintendent and Superintendent of Statistics (1903); Lecturer in Chemistry and Physics (1903-1905), Public Health (1906-1912), Physiology (1901-1903), HKCMC; transferred from HKCMC to Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912), Lecturer in Public Health (1912-1921); member of the Hong Kong Club

Harold Macfarlane
b.July 15, 1876 – d.1919 Hong Kong; M.B.C.M., University of Edinburgh (1893), L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S., Edinburgh; arrived in Hong Kong (September 1903); Second Assistant Officer of Health (1903), Sanitary Department; Government Bacteriologist (April 1910 – 1918); placed in charge of a government investigation of Stegomyia mosquitoes, the findings was later published, entitled “The Stegomyia Survey in Hong Kong”; Dr. Macfarlane, collaborating with Adam Gibson, M.R.C.V.S., the Colonial Veterinary Surgeon, also made a study on flies in Hong Kong; member of the University Senate, HKU (1912); member of Hong Kong Club; died suddenly in February 1919; Dr. Macfarlane was succeeded by Dr. H.B. Parker, medical officer, Royal Navy

Wilfred Vincent Miller Koch
b. October 29, 1862 Jaffna, Ceylon - d. August 28, 1939; son of Dr. Edwin Lawson Koch (b.1838 Jaffna, Ceylon – d. 1877, age 39); educated at St. Thomas' College, Celon before moving to the U.K. for education; M.B., C.M. (1884), M.D. (1895, with highest honors and gold medical); University of Edinburgh; medical officers in various hospitals in London and Sheffield (1884-1888); entered Colonial Medical Services (1889), held various appointments in Trinidad (1889-1903); Army Major in command of the Trinidad Artillery; Medical Officer, Medical Department (1903-1917); Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (1914-1917); Member of the Legislative Council (1926) and the Sanitary Board; Justice of the Peace; Vice President (1907-1908), British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch; district surgeon, St. John Ambulance Overseas Brigade; Lecturer in Surgery (1905-1912), HKCMC; Lecturer in Surgery (1912-1917), HKU; member of the University Senate, HKU (1912); member of Hong Kong Club; publication: “A research into the etiology of beri-beri, together with a report on an outbreak in the Po-Leung-Kuku”, by William Hunter and Wilfred V. M. Koch (1906); Three different names came up in various sources as the wife of Dr. Koch: Ida Nathan, Ellen Elliott Drake Briscoe and Elsie M. Thompson, but without the years of marriage. Dr. Koch was also referred as Prof. Koch in several sources without specifying the university and faculty

A descendent of Godfried Koch of Brandenburg, Prussia who went to India in the ship "Rosenberg" in 1755 and later moved to Jaffna, Dr. Koch Sr. was a much loved and respected doctor in Ceylon as well as the second principle of the Colombo Medical School. So much so that when he suddenly died at the age of 39, the grateful public of Ceylon offered subscriptions to pay for Dr. W.V.M. Koch’s medical education in Britain. What I fail to find is any information that mentions Dr. Koch, the son, had worked in Ceylon to repay the society that he owed his medcial career

Wedding portrait of Alice Sibree and
C.C. Hicking, Manager of Taikoo Sugar,
c.1910 Hong KongAlice Deborah Sibree

The first woman doctor
b.1876 Antananrivo, Madagascar – d.1928 Hong Kong; graduate of the London School of Medicine for Women; worked for the London Missionary Society; in 1904 engaged by the Alice Memorial Maternity Hospital 雅麗氏紀念產科醫院 (AMMH), Hong Kong’s first maternity hospital (opened on June 7, 1904) and became the first woman medical doctor in Hong Kong. More reading on Dr. Sibree from the post: The First Ladies.

William Brownlow Ashe Moore
L.R.C.S. & S.I., Dublin; house surgeon, Meath Hospital and Co. Dublin Infirmary (1903); ship’s surgeon, Indo-China S.N. Co. (1904); Assistant Medical Officer of Health (March to September, 1905); Assistant Surgeon, Government Civil Hospital (September, 1905); Acting Dirctor (1929), Deputy Director, Medical and Sanitary Services; Lecturer in Chemistry (1907-1912), Director of Studies (1909-1912)(questionable), HKCMC; Lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence and Hygiene (1924-1932), Clinical Obstetrics, HKU; member of the Legislative Council (1929-1934); President, St. Patrick's Society of Hong Kong (1934); member of Hong Kong Club

David Hunter Ainslie
b. April 11, 1875 – d. June 20, 1921 Hong Kong; M.B. (1898), Ch.B., D.P.H. (1900), University of Aberdeen; D.T.M. & H. (1905), Cambridge University; Medical Officer, Anchor S. N. Navigation Co., Glasgow (1899); Medical Officer, Lagos Government Railway, West Africa (1893-1901); Gold Coast Government Railway (1901-1904); Demonstrator in the School of Tropical Medicine, London (1905); came to Hong Kong, joined the medcial practice of Drs. Stedman, Reinnie and Harston (1905); Lecturer in Physiology (1905-1908), HKCMC; owned and ran a private practice in Amoy (Xiamen) (1909); appointed surgeon with a Briitsh Mediterranean squadron, and was later seconded to the French and Japanese navies operating in the Mediterranean during WWI; Medical Officer, s.s. "Keemuo," of the Ocean Shipping Company; member of Hong Kong Club; a prominent member of the Masonic Order in Hong Kong

Dr. Chan Hin-fun 陳衍芬
Head of Medical Department, Alice Memorial and Nethersole Hospitals (c.1905); Lecturer, Director of Studies (1908), Principal (1933), Guangzhou Guonghua Medical College 廣東光華醫學院; Medical Superintendent, Guonghua Charity Hospital光華贈醫院 (1908); Editor, Chinese Medical Journal; publications: 衛生展覽與市民健康的關係 (The Relations between Sanitation Exhibition and the Health of City Drillers), Guangzhou Sanitation, 1908

George Montagu Harston
b. 1873 - d. 1934 Putney; M.B. (1904), M.D. (1906), London University; L.M.; M.O.S.U.K. (1910); M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., London; D.O., University of Oxford (1914); Honorary Ophthalmic Surgeon, Tung Wah Hospital (1908); senior partner in the private practice of Stedman, Reinnie and Harston; President (1907-1908), British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch; Lecturer in Midwifery and Diseases of Women (1898-1902), Pathology and Materia Medica, examiner in Materia Medica and Therapeutics, HKCMC; Hong Kong Representative (1931), Member of the General Committee (1931), British Journal of Ophthalmology; President, Royal Society of St. George, Hong Kong (1925-1926); Member of Hong Kong Club

Arthur C. Franklin
d.1933; F.I.C. of Apothecary, Government Civil Hospital; Lecturer in Chemistry (1909-1912), HKCMC; one of the nine lecturers transferred from HKCMC to the Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912); Lecturer in Chemistry (1912-1918), HKU; member of the University Senate, HKU (1912)

1910s

George Harold Thomas
With a habit of being the first
Diocesan Boys’ School, Hong Kong; L.M.S.H., HKCMC (1912) being the first non-Chinese student and licentiate; M.B., B.S. (1914) being one of the first graduates when the there was only the Faculty of Medicine in HKU, M.D. (1920) being the first in Hong Kong, Hon LL.D. (1961), University of Hong Kong; F.R.C.S. (1961) being the first award to Fellowship without an examination, and first presentation ceremony took place outside the College premises in London; resident surgeon (1912), Superintendent designated (named for the period 1937-38), Tung Wah Hospital; Assistant Medical Officer (in charge of civil and mental hospitals, 1928); Medical Officer (in charge of the Mental Hospital and Tsan Yuk Hospital, 1937); Medical Officer, Queen Mary Hospital; Acting Director of Medical Services (1947-1949) being the first locally born person to be appointed; part time lecturer, Pharmacology, Vaccination and Anesthetics (1915-1918, 1936-1937), Obstetrics (1919-1921), Tropical Medicine and Parasitology (1922), Ophthalmology (1925), Mental Diseases (1938), HKU

"One of the main philosophic
convictions
the desire to leave the world
a little richer than when
I found it.", Dr. Li Shu-fanLi Shu-fan 李樹芬

b.1887 Hong Kong – d.November 24, 1996 Hong Kong; Christian; spent his childhood living in Taishan, Guangdong 廣東台山; lived with his father in Boston (1899-1902); Diocesan Boys’ School (1902-1903); graduated from HKCMC, qualified with L.M.S., Hong Kong (1908, same year as Prof. C.Y. Wang); M.B.B.S. (1910), D.T.M. & H. (1911) University of Edinburgh; F.R.C.S.E. (1921); active republic revolutionary, member of the Tongmenghui 中國同盟會 (since 1905); Minister of Health under the joint Revolutionary Military Government in Canton and Medical Adviser (1911) to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a fellow alumnus of HKCMC, first congregation (1892); retired to Hong Kong and entered private practice (1912-1921) when Canton fell to warlord Long Jiguang 龍濟光; Dean of the Canton Kung Yee University Medical School 廣東公醫學院 (1923-1924); Superintendent and Chairman of the Board, Yeung Wo Nursing Home 香江養和園, later reorganized by Dr. Li and became the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital 養和醫院; retired from medical practice (1958), but retained the two positions at the Hospital until his death; Hon LL.D., HKU (1961); F.I.C.S. (1961); member, Board of Regents of the International College of Chest Physicians (1956); member, Medical Board; President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association; Director, Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association; Patron, Hong Kong Paediatric Society; District Chief Surgeon, St. John's Ambulance Brigade; Permanent Advisor, Tung Wah Hospitals; member, Urban Council and its predecessor, Sanitary Board; member, Legislative and Executive Councils (1937-1941); Justice of the Peace; author of "Hong Kong Surgeon", Dr. Li’s own autobiography (published in 1964); naming honor: Li Shu Fan Medical Foundation (1962), Li Shu Fan Building

The Straits Times, on September 13, 1964, carried this story from UPI:
"Pigtail Cure (Chicago, Sat.) - Men who are fearful of growing bald should take a tip from the Chinese and wear a pigtail, a surgeon said yesterday. Li Shu-fan told the International College of Surgeon that the Manchu conquerors made the Chinese wear their hear in pig-tails. The wright of the pigtail stimulated blood vessels in the scalp, and the Chinese wore their hair in good health, he said."

John Taylor Connell
Principal Civil Medical Officer (1912-1923)

Edward Leslie Martyn Lobb
L.R.C.P., London (1908); trained at the Guy's Hospital; M.B, B.S. (1908), M.S., London University; came to Hong Kong (1912); first chair of Clinical Surgery, HKU (1915); first Honorary Visiting Surgeon, Government Civil Hospital; left Hong Kong (1915); publication: “The Hospital and the Primary Health Centre in relation to a Health Service, from the standpoint of the General Practitioner”, The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (1921)

Kenelm Hutchinson Digby
b. August 4, 1884 London - d. February 23, 1953 London; M.B.; married Selina D. Law (1913); M.B., B.S., Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London (1907); F.R.C.S. (1910); Surgical Registrar, Guy’s Hospital (1909-1911); Principal Medical Officer, Great Central Railway, England (1912); Professor of Anatomy (1913-1923), Professor of Surgery (1923-1945), Ho Tung Professor of Surgery (1914-1945), Emeritus Professor (1945), HKU; Honorary Consultant in Surgery, Hong Kong Government (1915-1948); Surgeon, Queen Mary Hospital (1930-1948); interned in the Stanley Camp during the Japanese occupation where he conducted a surgical clinic for fellow internees throughout the internment as well as establishing and running a camp hospital nicldung the performance of surgical procedures; returned to U.K. in 1949; engaged in research work at the Royal College of Surgeons of England; President, British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch (1956); Council, British Medical Association (1952-1953); publications: Immunity in Health: the Functions of the Tonsils and the Appendix (1919); honor: O.B.E. (1939), K. H. Digby Memorial Fund, HKU (1954)

C.E. Lim 林宗揚
China’s first microbiologist
Alias Lin Zongyang; b. June 11, 1891 - Penang, Malaya – d. October 5, 1988 Peking; graduate of Nanyang Middle School of Penang (1911); last batch of admissions to HKCMC, transferred to Faculty of Medicine, HKU (1912); M.B.B.S., University of Hong Kong (1916), first graduation congregation of the University; Assistant to Government Bacteriologist (1917), under the direction of Dr. Harold Macfarlane; invited by Dr. Wu Lien-the (also from Penang) to Peking to assist in the opening of the Peking Central Hospital (1918) in the capacity as a resident and a bacteriologist; Dr.PH. (1922), Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Public Health; studied preparation of vaccines from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (1922); the overseas studies were supported by a Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship; Professor of Bacteriology (1930) (became the first graduate of HKU to hold a chair in bacteriology), Director of Studies (1937), Peking Union Medical College 協和醫學院 (1937); Professor, Peking Medical University 北京大學醫學 (1942); President, Chinese Medical Association 中華醫學會 (1934); Advisor, English Edition of the National Medical Journal of China 中華醫學雜誌 (1956)

Daisy Annabella Murdoc Gale
b.1875-d.1930; M.D. (1912), University of Glasgow; acting Medical Officer of Health (1918); author of "Some Points in the Epidemiology of an Outbreak of Cerebro-Spinal Fever in Hong Kong, 1918", Journal of Hygiene, November 1921

1920s

Wang Chungyi 王寵益
Pathologist; Hong Kong’s first professor
Alias C.Y. Wang; b.1889 Hong Kong - d.1930 Hong Kong; Christian; grandson of Wang Yuanshen 王元深 (b.1817-d.1930), Chair of Pathology (1920-1930), University of Hong Kong; researched focusing on tuberculosis; died from tuberculosis (1930)

Ma Luk 馬祿臣
b. year unknown Hunan 湖南 – d.1963 Hong Kong; Christian; L.M.S., HKCMC (1905); good friend and keen supporter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen; Members of the inaugural directors of the board of Yeung Wo Nursing Home (1922); according to a book about Hong kong history, Dr. Ma was the first Chinese member of the Masonic order in Hong Kong (but this cannot be true, early members of the Hong Kong Masonic Order had included Ho Kai and Wei Yuk as its members, years before Ma’s time); husband of Li Huiying 李惠英, educator, lawyer and promoter of Taiwan Strait relations who after Dr. Ma’s death remarried writer and political commentator Tao Mulian 陶慕廉; practiced with two sons, Dr. Ma Chiu Chong 馬超莊 and Dr. Ma Chiu Ki 馬超奇, on the third floor of King's Theatre Building in Central, Tel: 26504 in the early 1960s before he died in 1963

B.C. Wong 黃菖霖
Anti-slavery activist
Members of the inaugural directors of the board of Yeung Wo Nursing Home (1922) ; member of the congregation of the All Saints Church 諸聖堂, representative of All Saints Church in the Anti-Mui-Jai Society 反蓄婢會, which was founded in August 1921 by a number of Protestant churches for the purpose to rid of the Mui-Jai custom, a quasi-slavery tradition in China, Dr. Chau Wai Cheung was also of the Hong Kong Anglican Church

Edward Pigott Minett
d. October 5, 1935 Devon; trained at Guy’s Hospital; M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H., Cambridge University (1907); M.D., Université libre de Bruxelles (1907); D.T.M.&H. (1909); specialized in bacteriology and public health; Assistant Government Bacteriologist (1910), Government Bacteriologist and Medical Officer of Health, British Guiana; came to Hong Kong and replaced Dr. H.H. Scott (Dr. Scott already left Hong Kong, the post was temporarily filled by Prof. C.Y. Wang) as the Government Bacteriologist and Officer in charge of the Bacteriological Institute (1922); Lecturer and Examiner in Hygiene and Medical Jurisprudence, Hong Kong University; Medical Officer, Hong-Kong Volunteer Defense Corps; left Hong Kong in 1931; member, British Medical Association (since 1909); publications: Diagnosis of Bacteria and Blood Parasites, Practical Tropical Sanitation, A Cheap Form of Artesian Water Supply for Villages in the Tropics , A Review of the Water Supplies of Hong Kong; Dr. Minett’s wife (name unknown), a graduated M.D. from the University of London (1916), held medical appointments in Hong Kong

Joseph Bartlerr Addison
Principal Civil Medical Officer (1923-1929)

Chau Wai Cheung 周懷璋
M.B.B.S., University of Hong Kong (1916), Christian (Hong Kong Anglican Church); graduation was marked by the First Congregation of HKU held on December 14, 1916; President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (1927-28, 1933-34, 1939-40); Chairman (1923-1926), Yeung Wo Nursing Home 香江養和園, the forerunner of Hong Kong Sanitarium; director, Hong Kong Sanitarium (1933-1965)

Ip Kam-wah 葉錦華
M.B.B.S., HKU (1920); started a private practice (1920s); President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (1935-1936); father of Dr. Ip Yee 葉義 (enrolled in HKU but discontinued in 1941 due to Japanese invasion; studied under the National Shanghai Medical College in free China in Chungking (Chongcing) (1942); awarded M.B.B.S. by the HKU Emergency Committee on March 22, 1946; advanced studies in the U.K.; started private practice in Hong Kong (c.1953); most noted collector of Bamboo Carving artifacts; according to his will over 200 pieces of important artifacts in his collection were donated to the Hong Kong Museum of Art after his death in 1984.) These were the addresses in the 1960s where the father and son practiced respectively: 514, Nathan Road, Kowloon, Tel. 57942; 5, Homuntin Hill Road, Kowloon, Tel. 57020

Woo Wai-tak, Arthur 胡惠德
Rotarian to rejuvenate the club after the war
b. 1888 Hong Kong – February 1964 Hong Kong; Christian, member of the congregation of the Hong Kong Anglican Church; son of Dr. U I-kai 胡爾楷醫生; brother of Dr. Katie Woo 胡素貞博士, the late headmistress of St. Paul’s Girls’ School; attended Diocesan Boys' School in Hong Kong; studied Latin and French in England; trained at Middlesex Hospital and qualified with the Conjoint diploma (1913); M.B., B.S., University of London (1916); L.R.C.P., London; M.R.C.S., England.; F.R.C.S.; F.I.C.S. (Hon.); worked at military hospitals in Britain during WWI; studied in New York and Baltimore under a Rockefeller scholarship, including training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital; Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Peking Union Medical College 協和醫學院; Medical Advisor to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transportation, ROC; practice as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in Hong Kong, his consulting-room was located at the China Building in Central (1925), and at Edinburgh House (early 1960s); Lecturer in Gynecology and Obstetrics and Internal Examiner, Hong Kong University; honorary consulting gynecologist to the Nethersole Hospital; established Babington Hospital 惠德頤養院 (his Chinese name of Wai-tak was used to name the hospital) in Babington Path 巴丙頓道 and assume the post of Medical Superintendent; President, Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (1924-1925); Council, British Medical Association, Hong Kong and China Branch; Justice of the Peace (1938); largely responsible for the re-establishment of the Rotary Club of Hong Kong (1945, the Rotary was initially formed in 1932); internationally renowned postage stamp collector; honor: King George V Silver Jubilee Medal (1935), O.B.E. (1954)

1961 photo of Chau escorting
Princess Alexandra, a cousin of
Queen Elizabeth II, during her
visit to Hong Kong

Chau Sik-nin 周錫年
Otolaryngologist-turned-banker
b.April 13, 1903 Hong Kong –d. November 30, 1985 Hong Kong; Christian; graduate, St. Stephen College, Hong Kong (1918); M.B.B.S. (1923), Hon LL.D (1961), University of Hong Kong; D.L.O. (1925); D.O.M.S. (1926); first Chinese Otolaryngologist to practice in Hong Kong (1927); part time lecturer in Ophthalmology (1930-1936), HKU; Ophthalmologist, Government Civil Hospital (1930-1936); President, (1936-1937); Member, Medical Board (1936-1941); Member, Sanitary Board (1936-1941); Justice of the Peace (appointed on May 19, 1939); founder, Hongkong Chinese Bank 香港華人銀行 (1955), the bank was acquired by CITIC Ka Wah Bank in 2002 and ceased to exist thenceforth; director of more than 30 companies in Hong Kong and other areas in Asia Pacific; Honorary Advisor, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce; member of the General Committee, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; Member (1947-1962), Senior Member (1953-1959), Legislative Council, Senior Member (1959-1962),Executive Council; inaugural Chairman, Federation of Hong Kong Industries (1960-1966); inaugural Chairman, Hong Kong Trade Development Council (1966-1970); inaugural Chairman, Hong Kong Tuberculosis Association (1948-1963); Chairman, Po Leung Kuk (1941-1942); Permanent Advisor, Tung Wah Hospitals; first cousin of Chau Tsun-Nin 周埈年 (b.1893-d.1971), senior member of the Legislative and Executive Councils; father of flamboyant barrister and socialite Chau Kai-pong 周啟邦 (b.1934-d.2010)

Yeo Kok-cheung 楊國璋
The first Chinese to be appointed Director of Medical and Health Services
Alias Yeo Kok-cheang, K.C. Yeo; b. April 1, 1903 Penang - d. May 22, 2004 Battle, East Sussex; Christian; married to Florence Ho Tung (March 24, 1933), daughter of Robert Hotung; M.B., B.S. (1925), M.D. (1930), HKU; D.P.H., Cambridge University (1926); D.P.M.&H., London University; 1927 Assistant Medical Officer of Health, Hong Kong (1927); Chinese Health Officer, Senior Grade (1939); Deputy Director of Health Services, Health Adviser to Urban Council (1947); Deputy Director of Medical and Health Services (1950); Director of Medical and Health Services (January 1952 – 1958), the first local civil servant to rise to the substantive position of a department director; institutionalized the position of Specialist Anesthetist in the civil medical services (1953); first Unit Controller, Auxiliary Medical Service (1952); Lecturer and Examiner in Public Health, HKU (1928); Lecturer in Public Health (1936-1938), Professor of Social Medicine (1953-1957), HKU; President, HKCMA (1932); Justice of the Peace (1938); Member, Legislative Council (1951-1957); Vice Chairman, Urban Council; Senior Hospital Medical Officer (Psychiatry), St Ebbaís Hospital, Epsom, Surrey (1963); honor: C.M.G. (1956); WHO Traveling Fellowship (1948); held the world record in sitting ups for his body weight for several years

Hua Tse Jen 華則仁
b. February 2, 1901, Tianjin – ; attended Nankai High School 天津南開中學, read mining at Nankai College 南開大學; enrolled in HKU as a Hopei (Hebei) Provincial Scholar; M.B., B.S., HKU (1927); Resident physician in several hospitals (1927-1929), working under HKU; Medical Officer, Kailan Mining Administration 天津開灤礦務局 (1929-1937); Unit 2, League of Nations Medical Service, served in the interior of China (1937); Medical Superintendent, Lai Chi Kok Hospital (1938); Medical Superintendent, Kwong Wah Hospital (1940-c.1956); volunteer work in many refugee camps opened in Hong Kong prior to the fall of Hong Kong, and assisted many internees during the Japanese occupation; imprisoned for a while by the Japanese for keeping a store of food and other supplies to be smuggled in the POW camps for the internees; private practice from 1956 (his consulting-room was located on the first floor, 510 Nathan Road I 1968); President, BMA, Hong Kong and China Branch (1951-52); President, HKCMA (1949-50); founding member, Anti-tuberculosis Association; founding member, Kowloon Rotary Club; founder, Society of Boys’ Centers 香港扶幼會 (1953); honor: O.B.E. (1946), Hon.LL.D., HKU (1968)

Hugh Alderson Fawcett
Noted Archaeologist and Collector
d.January 11, 1982; University College, London; Captain, Royal Army Medical Corps (1914-1919); D.P.H. (1920); D.T.M. & H. (1928); M.R.C.S.; Medical Officer in charge of a sexually-transmitted diseases clinic (for men), member of the Sanitary Board (1928-1930); compiled a collection of over 8,000 items of archaeological finds and artifacts from the British Isles, Europe, the Mediterranean, Far East and America; the collection was purchased by the City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (1979); publication: Diphtheria: Its Causation, Prevention and Investigation (April 1923)

Arthur Robartes Wellington
Director of Medical and Sanitary Services (known as Principal Civil Medical Officer before 1929)(1929-1936); Director of Medical Services (known as Director of Medical and Sanitary Services before 1936)(1936-1938)

Douglas Laing 梁德基
Big time owner of racing-horses
M.B., B.S. (1928), Hon. Fellow (December 2, 1999, posthumous), HKU; Assistant to Government Bicteriologist (1929-1930); studied otorhinolaryngology in the United kingdom; started a private practice (1934) (according to a HKU site Dr. Laing became the first ENT surgeon in Hong Kong, but the fact is Dr. Chau Sik-nin, also a HKU graduate and an Otolaryngologist, pracitced in Hong Kong in 1927, seven years earlier than Dr. Laing); served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in India during WWII; re-start private practive after the war (1948), his consulting-room in the 1960s was located inside the Gloucester Building, Central, Tel. 30635; Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Otorhinolaryngology, HKU; founder of Digby Memorial Fund (1959) to provide scholarships and gold medals to outstanding medical students; Senior Founding Member, HKU Foundation for Educational Development and Research; donated more than HK$3 milion to HKU including the funding used to build the new Medical Complex at Sassoon Road; retired (1996); a consultant for the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, Nethersole Hospitals and Nam Long Hospital; President, Welfare League (founded in 1930); Member of the Executive Committee, Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society; Steward, Honorary Steward (1984), Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club; publications: Prognostic significance in early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by Douglas Laing (Unknown Binding - 1965), Nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the Chinese in Hong Kong by Douglas Laing (Unknown Binding - 1967)

Dr. Laing’s reputation as a racehorse owner was well-known amongst the horseracing fans in Hong Kong. According to HKU information, which refers to records of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Dr. Laing owned his first horse as early as in 1927. I do not know how credible that is as he hadn’t finished university in 1927. I learn that his horses are quite popular, although I was unable to find all the corresponding names of the horses in English; here they are: Gay Eighties 快樂八十, Gay Nineties 快樂九十, 快樂一百, 快樂王子, 快樂龍王, 快樂飛馬, 快樂飛俠

1930s

L.J. Davis
M.D., University of Glasgow; M.R.C.P., F.R.C.P., Edinburgh; Professor of Pathology, HKU (1930-1939); Muirhead Professor of Medicine, University of Glasgow (1954); Professor of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, 1960; publications: Scarlatina Immunity in Hong Kong (1935, co-authors - J.S. Guzdar and F.S. Fernando)

October 1953 photo of Professor and Mrs. Sze
(second right) at a WHO receptionSze Tsung-sing 施正信

The first Chinese WHO Medical Officer
b. January 23, 1909 Shanghai; graduated from Medhurst College 麥倫書院, Shanghai (1924); enrolled in the Peking Union Medical College 協和醫學院 (1924) but did not attend college due to out break of civil war; admitted to HKU with two scholarships (1925) for a six year medical program; M.B., B.S. (1931), Hon. D.Soc.Sc. (1997), HKU; D.T.M.&H. (1936), D.P.H. (1937), University of London; Dr.P.H. (1938), Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health; Surgical Assistant (1931), Resident Internal Medicine (June to December, 1931), Hong Kong Government Civil Hospital; went to Shanghai to provide medical relief service (January to February, 1932); Assistant Resident Internal Medicine, Peking Union Hospital (1932-1933); Assistant in Medicine, HKU (1933-1935); while in London in 1936, went to Berlin and served as the ROC team physician at the Eleventh Olympic Games; general staff, HQ, Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps. (1938- August 1942); Professor and Chair of Department, Public Health, Guiyang Medical College (1944); Head of Medical and Health Agency, Guiyang (1944); Head of Health Department, Guizhou (1945); Head of National Health Agency (1946), based in Nanjing; Head of Healthcare Department under the National Health Ministry (1947); Professor, Social Medicine, HKU (1950-1952), the department was established in 1950 with Prof. Sze as its first professor, also Prof. Sze was the first HKU graduate to be offered a professorship; Medical Officer, Social and Occupational Health, World Health Organization (July 1952-1966), based in Geneva; resigned from WHO (1966) after being accused of being a threat to the national security of Switzerland and was named persona non grata by the Swiss Government; returned to China in 1966 and was caught up in the Cultural Revolution; Foreign Affairs Department, Ministry of Health (1972-1975); Executive Director (1975), Vice President (1980), China Medical Association; founded theChina Medical Journal, China’s first technical journal in English; member, National Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1978-1987); married to Wang Chunjing 王春菁 (February 2, 1941)

Li Shu-pui 李樹培
The first HKU graduate to be admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons
b. January 1903 Hong Kong – d. August 31, 2005 Hong Kong, at the age of 102; entered Peking Union Medical College (1920) at the age of seventeen, later transferred to HKU; M.B., B.S., HKU (1928); F.R.C.S., University of Edinburgh, and became the first HKU graduate to attain admission to R.C.S.; studied ear, nose and throat at University of Vienna; joined the practice of Dr. Li Shu-fan in Hong Kong (c.1932); continued performing surgical operations until 1980 and ran an outpatient clinic until well into his 90s; Medical Superintendent, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital (1966, following the death of Dr. Li Shu-fan), remained actively involved in the affairs of the hospital as chairman of the board until his death; during Dr. Li’s tenure as M.S. an vitro fertilization centre was added where Hong Kong’s first test tube baby was delivered; founding member (1965), Treasurer (1965-1979)Federation of Medical Societies of Hong Kong; honor: O.B.E.; married to Ellen Li 李曹秀群 (b.1908 Shanghai - d.2005 Hong Kong), who was the first woman Justice of the Peace, the first woman member of the Legislative Council and the first woman recipient of C.B.E. in Hong Kong

Pang Hok-ko 彭學高
b.1900 Hong Kong - d.1974 Hong Kong; Christian; M.B.B.S., University of Hong Kong (1929); private practice (1934-1972), in Yaumati district, Kowloon; President, Hong Kong Medical Association (1952-53); naming honor: Rhenish Church Pang Hok Ko Memorial Collage 禮賢會彭學高紀念中學; father of Dr. Pang Wing-fuk 彭永福 (M.B.B.S., HKU, 1962; M.R.C.P., 1966, F.R.C.P., University of Edinburgh; F.H.K.A.M., Medicine; D.T.M.& H., University of Liverpool) and Dr. Pang Wing-luk 彭永祿 (M.B.B.S., HKU, 1966). (Dr. Pang was my parents’ physician, his son Dr. Pang Wing Fuk is still taking care of my mother)

George Duncan Ralph Black
M.B., C.M., Trinity College, University of Toronto (1905); member, British Medical Association (1908); President, British Medical Association, Hong Kong and China Branch (1934-1936); President (1925-1926, 1939-1940), Hong Kong St. Andrew's Society; Major, Royal Army Medical Corps (1941); Principal Medical Officer, Lieut.-Col., Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps (HKVDC), in charge of a temporary military hospital established at the beginning of the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941 inside St. Stephen’s College in Stanley; killed by Japanese troop storming the hospital in the early morning of Christmas Day, 1941; honors: O.B.E., Military Division (1935), V.D. (Volunteers Decoration); wife, Anne Lilian (nurse ND14) and daughter (nurse ND6) served in the Nursing Detachment during the war.

Ling Ke Dieh 林開弟
M.B.B.S., HKU (1932); Assistant (Lecturer) in Physiology, HKU (1935-1938); Nanjing Renji Hospital 南京仁濟醫院; Medical Superintendent (c.1949), Kwong Wah Hospital 廣華醫院 (a part of the Tung Wah Hospitals); President (1958), Lai Chi Kok Hospital 荔枝角醫院 (1960s); Council (1972), Hong Kong Medical Association

Eva Ho Tung 何嫻姿
The first woman graduate from the Faculty of Medicine, HKU
Alias 何綺華; daughter of Robert Ho Tung and Clara Lin-kok Cheung; attended the Diocesan Girls' School; M.B., B.S., HKU (1927), and became the first woman graduate from the Faculty of Medicine, HKU; D.G.O., University of Dublin (1928); D.T.M.&H., London University; M.R.C.P.I.; Assistant in Obstetrics and Gynecology, HKU (1937-1938); served in the Red Cross Medical Relief Corps. in China, commanded a unit in the field; Dr. Ho Tung’s practice in the 1960s was located on the first floor of the Bank of East Asia Building, Central, Tel: 25925

Peter Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke
Director of Medical Services (1938-1941)

Lim Ek-quee 林益桂
M.B.B.S., HKU (1932); Assistant Lecturer in Physiology (1938-1941), temporarily put in charge of the Department of Physiology (1940), HKU

Philip Wen Cee Mao 毛文奇
A prominent Asian art collector
Alias Philip Moore; b. September 5, 1915 Shanghai – d. 2004 Hong Kong; son of a Chinese doctor who practiced in Hawaii and an art student who studied in Japan; attended English public school in Shanghai, anglicized surname to Moore; M.B., B.S., HKU (1938); Chinese Red Cross Relief Corps., China and Hong Kong (1939-1945); F.R.C.S., University of Edinburgh (c.1947); founding member, Society of Anesthetists of Hong Kong; President, HKCMA (1960-1962); worked for HKU as resident in Queen Mary Hospital and later at Kowloon Hospital (1950-1955); started private practice (1955); retired in 1980s; prominent collector / scholar in Asian art; member, Oriental Ceramic Society in London (1965); first President (1974-1977), Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong; Honorary Advisor, Hong Kong Museum of Art (1974-2004); Chairman (1969-1971, 1974-1975), Min Chiu Society 敏求精舍; Founder and first Chairman (1980-1997), Chairman emeritus (since 1997), East Asian History of Science Foundation 香港東亞科學史基金會; married Barbara Chu (1940) who became a leading gynecologist in Hong Kong and appointed an examiner for gynecology in HKU.

Soochow Watergate, by R.C. Robertson,
oil on canvasRobert Cecil Robertson

b. December 16, 1889 Kilmarnock - d. August 4, 1942 Hong Kong; son of a glass merchant; M.B., Ch.B., Glasgow University (1914); Captain (temporary commission), R.A.M.C. during WWI and gained a Military Cross; M.R.C.P., D.P.H. (1919), Edinburgh; F.R.F.P.S. (1920); M.D., Glasgow University (1921); Assistant Pathologist, Shanghai Health Department (1925); Henry Lester Research Institute, Shanghai (1929), Head of Division of Pathology; Commissioner, League of Nations anti-epidemic unit No.2 (1930s); President, Shanghai Medical Society; Professor and head of Pathology Department, professor of bacteriology and pharmacology, University of Hong Kong (1939-1942), succeeding Professor L.J. Davies; held in internment by the Japanese army after the Battle of Hong Kong in the Bacteriological Institute; said to have took his life by jumping from the roof of the Institute on August 4, 1942; member, British Medical Association (1917-1942); gifted painter and photographer

Dr. Robrtson cheated death twice in Shanghai. The second time was in August 1937, when KMT army attacked the Japanese flagship in Shanghai and bombs fell disastrously in the International Settlement. Dr. Robertson was officially reported among the 2,000 dead, but his families in Scotland later received a cablegram from him bearing the single word "unharmed". The first incident took place three year earlier and was reported in detail in the British Medical Journal dated March 17, 1934:

All in the Day's Work - Details have now reached this country, through the columns of the Shanghai Times, of the kidnapping and escape from death of Dr. R. Cecil Robertson, head of the division of pathology and bacteriology of the Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research, Shanghai, and a member of the British Medical Association. On January 31st Dr. Robertson left his home in his car for the institute with his chauffeur and the 8-year-old son of his Chinese cook, who was to be vaccinated

Dr. Robertson put up a fierce fight, during which he was twice shot at; appeals for help to Chinese police and bystanders were ignored. Dr. Robertson explained who he was, and his captors appeared surprised and disappointed, but the car continued its course. Resuming the struggle, one of the Chinese was wounded in the hand by his own revolver, the speed of the car slackened, and Dr. Robertson forced open the car door and jumped out, holding the boy. His captors made no further attack upon him, but drove off rapidly and escaped. Dr. Robertson, who is president of the Shanghai Medical Society, owed his life to the failure of a revolver to fire when in contact with his head. He ascribes the incident to an error on the part of the gangsters, who had presumably proposed – to carry off a wealthy Chinese, but mistook the car. He was twice wounded in the war in France, and was awarded the M.C. He went out to Shanghai in 1925, and was at first pathologist to the Shanghai Municipal Council, joining the Henry Lester Institute in 1929.

The University Senate decided, at a meeting on December 31, 1941, to confer degrees in medicine on the students, named below, whose examinations were interrupted by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. This is a photo taken on New Year’s Day 1942 behind Eliot Hall after the clandestine degree ceremony.

1. Professor Robertson

2. Gordon King, Dean, Faculty of Medicine

3. Duncan Sloss, Vice-Chancellor

4. Professor Kenelm Digby, Professor of Surgery
The new graduates (M.B.B.S.)were: Hilda Tse Kau Chan (5) (陳自求醫生 who practiced at No.229, Nathan Rd., Ground Floor, Kowloon, tel 59053, in the 1960s), Chan Ping-kwok, Chow Cham-lau (周湛鑾醫生 who practiced at No. 22, Des Voeux Rd., C., Hong Kong, tel 22847 in the 1960s), Lau Po-hei (劉寶希醫生 who practiced at No.55, Bonham Road, Hong Kong, tel 32000 in the 1960s), Lee Ching-Iu, Leong Lean-sang, Ling Sing-hang, Ong Hian-pitt (escape to India and then his native Indonesia where he prepared for the re-occupation by the Dutch forces), E.N. Orloff (posthumous, Dr. Orloff died defending Hong Kong before his graduation), Soon Cheng-Hoe, Wong Ching-Kuen (黃呈權醫生 who worked at the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital in the 1960s)

________________________________________________________________

The Pioneer Medical and Pharmacy Practices

The Medical Hall
1853-1914; a pharmacy with German proprietorship
Harold von Kauffman (d.May 1891 Wiesbaden), proprietor, established the Medical Hall in 1853 at a central location on Queen’s Road. Dr. Kauffman married a Spanish woman, Emelda Manuela. When he left Hong Kong in 1873 with his wife and four children, the Medical Hall was left to the management of a relative Theophil Koffer. Emil Niehardt joined the pharmacy in 1890 in the capacity of the chemist and became the proprietor upon the departure of Koffer. Niehardt left in 1913 after forty one years in Hong Kong. In 1897, H. Kammel, an apothecary, was admitted as a partner. By 1914, all German business concerns were treated as enemy alien properties and faced liquidations. At the time when the Medical Hall was liquidated, it was situated on Ice House Street opposite the King Edward Hotel and under the management of two pharmaceutical chemists -- A. Kucy and W. Kornetz.

The Medical Hall
Under the same name as the German pharmacy practice, this one was listed in the 1859 Hong Kong Directory. All the persons listed associated with it had names that sound Portuguese: J.J. Braga. C. Braga, Vicente Barga, Joao L. Britto, Francisco da Roza and J. Jesus. Judging from the fact that there were several Bargas, it could be a family-owned business, and most probably a pharmacy practice rather than a medical clinic.

Drs. Gregory Paul Jordan and W.S. Adams (c1884- )
A medical practice that would evolve into Drs. Anderson & Partners
Twenty-seven years old Dr. Jordan arrived in Hong Kong in c.1884 and entered into partnership with Dr. Adams who at that time also held the position of Port Health Officer. Dr. Friedrich Piers Grone, L.R.C.P. (1901), registered in Hong Kong in 1906 to practice as a medical doctor. He joined the firm of Drs. Jordan and Adams. At the time of the First World War, Dr. Grone changed his name, which was German sounding, to Frederick Pierce Grove and served with the British Army. He died in May 1929 in Hong Kong aged fifty five.

Muller and Justi, Surgeons and Doctors of Medicine
(1900-c.1914) The medical practice was first located at the Bank Building, No. 16 Queen's Road Central (the present location of the New World Tower), in the office that was previously the clinic of Dr. Erich Hermann Paulan who moved to Shanghai in 1899. In 1905 they moved to the Hotel Mansions Building (the present location of the Chater House), newly built on reclaimed land in Central. The firm was established by Oscar Muller (b.May 4, 1873), surgeon, a graduate of the University of Munich. He qualified in 1897, and was registered as a medical practitioner in Hong Kong on November 2, 1900. Dr. Carol Justi (b. March 3, 1873) joined Dr. Muller in 1903. He was a graduate of the University of Marburg and qualified to practice in Germany in 1897. He left Hong Kong in 1913. Other members of the firm included Karl Hoch (joined in 1907), a graduate of University of Kiel and qualified in 1904; Theodore van Wezel (joined in 1912) who received his medical education at the University of Freiburg and qualified in Germany in 1903. Dr. Muller was a member of the German Club Germania, the predecessor of the German Club. I have no information on the fate of this medical practice came 1914 where almost all German businesses were forced to liquidate.

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The Case of Susan Lobina Lamb – Lamb or Lam? Doctor or no Doctor?

Ms. Lamb (she is definitely a medical practitioner, but there is no actual reference to her being a doctor from materials I have been through) of the American Board Mission was charged in 1910 with violating the Medical Registration Ordinance (1844) by practicing without being registered. Specifically, she had attended a Portuguese woman who subsequently died. Lamb was an American who was identified as being of Anglo-Saxon descent. In her defense, she claimed exemption from the ordinance on account of having married a Chinese (whose name is Lam), and thus taken his nationality. In other words, she claimed to be a Chinese medical practitioner and therefore not required to be registered as stipulated in Clause 2 of the 1884 ordinance.

Clause 2
This Ordinance shall not operate to limit the right of Chinese practitioners to practice medicine or surgery or to receive demand or recover reasonable charges in respect of such practice.

The material I went though says not whether Susan L. Lam, nee Lamb, won the court case. But, judging from a later revision of the ordinance in the relevant provision, I say she did.

Clause 3.1
Nothing in this Ordinance shall be deemed to affect the right of any Chinese person to practice medicine or surgery according to any Chinese methods and to demand and recover reasonable charges in respect of such practice; provided that such person does not take or use any name, title or addition calculated to induce any one to believe that he is qualified to practice medicine or surgery according to modern scientific methods.

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Officers of the British Medical Association Hong Kong and China Branch 1907-8:

G. M. Harston (Hong Kong) – President (President, The Royal Society of St. George, Hong Kong, 1925-6; Member of the General Committee, The British Journal of Ophthalmology, 1931)
W. V. M. Koch (Hong Kong) – Vice President James Herbert Sanders (Hong Kong) - Honorary Secretary and Treasurer (Medical Superintendent, Matilda Hospital; d.May 16, 1956 Devon)
John Milfred Atkinson – Council
Gregory Paul Jordan – Council
Frederic Osmund Stedman – Council
Staff Surgeon Gilmore, Royal Navy - Council
Captain Rankin, Royal Army Medical Corps. – Council

I noted there actually was no one from China, although there ought to be British physicians working in China in around 1907.
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The Boys from Penn

Where Scots dominated the domains of medicine and surgery, American took dentistry. Dr. Joseph W. Noble, notably was the second dentist to practice in Hong Kong (1887) as well as the second to have come from America. A graduate (1883) of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Noble ran a flourishing dentistry practice, located at the Alexandra Building in Central, where he went on hiring fellow alumni from Penn as associates, and here are several names I could find: Drs. John M. Crago and Leidy R. Reel (both from the class of 1900) and Dr. Edward Evan Jones. Dr. Emerson G. Curry (class of 1904) went to join Dr. Noble in Hong Kong after he sold his extensive practice in Plainfield, New Jersey. What I couldn’t ascertain is whether Dr. Herbert Poate, who was Dr. Noble’s original partner, was still around when the firm was filled with the boys from Penn.

There was a Dr. Frederick Hoard Kew (class of 1903) who practiced at 39 Queen’s Road (and later moved to the Alexandra Building), and who I theorize was one of Dr. Noble’s recruits from his alma mater, under the name of Drs. Kew Brothers. I was unable to find information of the other Dr. Kew, but found the name of a Dr. George T. Lemis (class of 1905) who joined the Kew Bros. So you see there were plentiful of American dentists in Hong Kong at the turn of the twentieth century.

Dr. Leidy R. Reel did not stay long in Hong Kong and returned to Pennsylvania to practice where his name was shown as the President of the Dental Society in the Scranton District (1919, 1920). To go back in time a bid, an 1890 census in Scranton showed a Leidy R. Reed who resided at 1128 Blair Avenue and whose occupation was a clerk

Dr. Emerson G. Curry lived and worked in Woodstock, Ontario where he married Canadian Winnifred Sellery before moving to New Jersey. Dr. Curry apparently was quite successful with his practice that he became the owner of a country estate in New Vernon, NJ, comprising 114 acres of farm land. As the information concerning the country estate was undated I can only assume that this happened after his stint in Hong Kong.

________________________________________________________________

Old-Boy Network

University of London

Name	Degrees	Hong Kong (years)	Sector	Remarks
J.M. Atkinson	MB, CS 1881	1887-1912(25)	Government	Council, BMA-HK, 1907-8; HKCMC lecturer
F.W. Clark	MB, CS 1886	1895-1922(27)	Government	HKCMC lecturer; HKU professor
F.O. Stedman	BS, MD	1890s-unknown	private - Stedman, Reinnie and Harston	Council, BMA-HK, 1907-8
O. Marriott	MB, BS 1908	1902-unknown	private practice	lecturer, HKCMC, HKU
G.M. Harston	MB 1904, MD 1906	1908-c.1932(24)	private - Stedman, Reinnie and Harston	President, BMA-HK, 1907-8; HKCMC lecturer
E.L.M. Lobb	MB, BS 1908, MS	1912-1915(5)	government

________________________________________________________________

Abbreviations
A.B.C.F.M. - American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
BMA-HK - British Medcial Association Hong Kong and China Branch
Ch.B. - Bachelor of Surgery
C.M. - Master of Surgery
D.Ch. - Doctor of Surgery
D.D. - Doctor of Divinity
D.D.S. - Doctor of Dental Surgery
D.G.O. - Diploma in Gynecology and Obstetrics
D.L.O. - Diploma in Laryngology and Otology
D.O. - Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
D.O.M.S. - Diploma in Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery
D.P.H. - Diploma in Public Health
D.T.M. & H. - Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Dr.PH. - Doctor of Public Health
F.C.C.P. - Fellow of the College of Chest Physicians (of the United States)
F.H.K.A.M. - Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine
F.I.C.S. - Fellow of the International College of Surgeons (Chicago based)
F.R.C.O. - Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists
F.R.C.S.E. - Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
F.R.F.P.S. - Fellow of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons
F.R.I.P.H. - Fellow of the Royal Institute of Public Health
HKCMA – Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association
HKCMC - Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (1887-1915), renamed Hong Kong College of Medicine in 1907
HKU - Hong Kong University
LL.D. - Doctor of Laws
L.M. - Licentiate in Midwifery
LMS – London Missionary Society
L.M.S. - Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery
L.R.C.P. - Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians
L.R.C.P. & S.I. – Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ireland
L.S.A. - Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries
M.A. - Master of Arts
M.B. - Bachelor of Medicine
M.B.B.S. - Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery
M.B.C.M. - Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery
M.D. - Doctor of Medicine
M.O.S.U.K. - Member of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom
M.R.C.P. - Member of the Royal College of Physicians
M.R.C.P.I. - Member of the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland
M.R.C.S. - Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
M.R.C.S.E. - Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
M.R.C.S.Eng. - Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Opium Dossier

2010-05-02T15:51:00.000+08:00

Updated on May 8, 2010

In this post I will share with readers documents I come across as matters of interesting.

Opium License Bond – this is the text of an actual bond signed and sealed in 1883. This is a printed document, words in lighter color fonts are particulars penned in by the clerk.

Know all men by these presents that WE Hung Kwong of the Kwong Shang Lung firm, No. 137 Queen’s Road Central and Luk Hing of the Wing Cheung firm, No. 177 Queen’s Road Central
are and each of us is held and firmly bound into Her Majesty the Queen Her Heirs and Successors in the penal sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) to be paid to Her said Majesty Her Heirs and Successors for which payment to be well and truly made we bind ourselves and each and every of us jointly and severally our and each of our heirs executors and administrators and every of them firmly by these presents SEALED with our respective seals and DATED this first day of March 1883.

WHEREAS the above bounden Hung Kwong had applied for and obtained a license from the Government authorizing him to boil and prepare opium at the Public Factory, Sai-on Lane and to sell and retail opium so boiled and prepared at the Kwong Shang Lung firm, No. 137 Queen’s Road Central from the first day of March 1883, to the last day of February 1884, under the provisions of the Excise Ordinances (opium) 1858-1879 and upon and subject to the conditions made by the Governor in Council thereunder.

NOW THE CONDITION of this Bound is such that if the above bounden Hung Kwong shall and will duly and punctually pay to the Government the monthly and other fees whatsoever, subject to which the License is granted, and shall appear whenever he shall be thereunto required and duly pay all damages fines forfeitures and penalties whatsoever which shall or may be imposed in respect of the beach of any of the provisions of the said Excise Ordinances (opium) 1858-1879 and the conditions made thereunder THEN this Bond shall be void, otherwise shall remain in full force and virtue.

Signed sealed and delivered by all the above bounden parties in the presence of J.H. Stewart Lockhart [1] (signed)

Interpreted and explained to all the above bounden parties by Ho Fuk [2] (signed)

Hung Kwong 孔廣, Kwong Shang Lung firm 香港中環廣生隆 (sealed)

Luk Hing 陸慶, Wing Cheung firm 香港中環榮昌 (sealed)

Smugglers Wanted - the following notice was posted in the Hong Kong Telegraph [3] on June 20, 1905

Reward of $5,000 offered by the Undersigned for the Arrest and Conviction of any Person or Persons who are in the habit of Smuggling large quantity of Opium into his Colony.

Chin Joo Heng Co., Opium Farmers

The Chin Joo Heng firm was the opium farmer for that year and the monopoly cost the firm in excess of half a million dollars.

____________________________________________________________________

Undated photo of Lockhart
and daughter Mary[1] James Haldane Stewart Lockhart; b.1858 Scotland – d.1937; graduate of Edinburgh University (Greek medalist); arrived in Hong Kong in 1879 as an Eastern Cadet; police magistrate (1881-1883); Registrar General (1883-1895); Colonial Secretary (1895–1902); Special Commissioner to Inspect and Report on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1898; representative of Great Britain to delimit the boundaries of the extension of Hong Kong; first civil Commissioner of Weihaiwei (1902-1921); Doctor Honoris Causa, LL. D., Hong Kong University (1918); retired 1921; naming honor: Lockhart Road 駱克道.

[2] Ho Fuk or Ho Hook 何福; b.November 30, 1863 – d.?; graduate of Central School in 1881; worked in the Registrar-General's Department as translator in 1882; joined Dennys and Mossop, solicitors, as interpreter in 1883; joined Jardine, Matheson, where his elder half-brother Robert Ho-tung worked as the Head Comprador, as an assistant comprador in 1891; succeeded Ho-tung as comprador in 1900; co-founded the Chinese Merchants Bureau which was renamed in 1913 the Chinese Chamber of Commerce 中華總商會; member of the Legislative Council (1917-1921); grandfather of Stanley Ho 何鸿燊, property and gaming tycoon and Macau personage.

[3] Published on June 15, 1851, the Hong Kong Telegraph 士蔑報 was founded by Robert Frazer-Smith (b.? - d. February 9, 1895 Hong Kong) who also edited the newspaper. Frazer-Smith was often referred to as atrabilious and scandalous and had been jailed several times for libel. When Fraser-Smith died in 1895, the interest in the Hong Kong Telegraph was acquired by John Joseph Francis, solicitor and barrister, who was a sparring partner of Fraser-Smith, in-and-outside of the court-of-law. Francis retained the controlling interest of the newspaper until 1900, whereupon the newspaper company was sold to Robert Ho-tung and again to an American dentist Dr. Joseph W. Noble [a] in 1916 or 1917, who took on the role as publisher. The Hong Kong Telegraph merged with the South China Morning Post in the beginning of 1941. The two were split in 1946, and five years later in 1951 the Hong Kong Telegraph closed.

[a] Here is a side story about the first ever dental practice established in Hong Kong. Dr. Herbert Poate, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, established the first formal dental practice in Hong Kong in the early 1880s. In 1887, Dr. Joseph Noble, another UP alumnus, joined the Poate practice. They gave free dental service at the Alice Memorial Hospital, where the College of the Medicine was established. Noble later became a member of the Court (Board) of the College of Medicine and was involved in realizing the plan to incorporate the college into the University of Hong Kong.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Compradors – Age of the Middleman

2010-04-12T13:42:00.000+08:00

Last updated on September 29, 2010

In the Nineteenth Century

Comprador literally means “buyer” in Portuguese.

"A comprador is an agent in a foreign country employed by a domestic businessman to facilitate transactions with local businesses within the foreign country."
The International Dictionary of Trade Terms

"A comprador is a Chinese agent engaged by a foreign establishment in China to have charge of its Chinese employees and to act as an intermediary in business affairs."
The Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary

"Comprador (a Portuguese word used in the East, derived from the Lat. comparare, to procure), originally a native servant in European households in the East, but now the name given to the native managers in European business houses in China, and also to native contractors supplying ships in the Philippines and elsewhere in the East."
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

"A comprador (in the context of Chinese society) is a member of the Chinese merchant class who aided Western traders in China in the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Hired by contract, the comprador was responsible for a Chinese staff of currency-exchange specialists, interpreters, coolies, and guardsmen. Many compradors became extremely wealthy and established businesses of their own. In recent times, the term comprador has come to denote those people who aided Western exploitation of China."
The Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Butterfield & Swire

Mok Si-yeung 莫仕揚 (1873-?)

Wu Hei-tong 胡禧堂

Dent and Co. 寶順洋行

Yeong Atai 楊亞帝
Alias Yeong Chun-kum; b. year unknown - d. 1870 Hong Kong

Yeong Lan-ko 楊蘭高
Alias Yeong Sun-yow 楊慎餘 alias Yeong Asam 楊亞三; b. year unknown - d. 1884 Hong Kong; succeeded Yeong Atai; one of Hong Kong’s ten biggest landowners, ranked the fifth position in 1881.

Douglas Lapraik and Co. 德忌利士公司

Ng Acheong 吳亞昌 (c.1855-1873)
Alias Ng Ying Cheong 吳英昌; b.year unknown Macau - d.1873 Hong Kong; joined Douglas Lapraik when the Scot ventured into trading business in the early 1950s as his firm’s first comprador. When Ng Acheong died in 1873, he left an estate of HK$260,000. His post was filled by a near relative Ng Sang 吳生 alias Ng Ying Sang alias Ng Chuk Shau. He speculated heavily in land and suffered tremendous losses in 1881, stress and poor health followed. Two years later he died leaving behind debts that had been cumulated in his comprador’s accounts. Legal action was brought by Douglas Lapraik and Company against the Ng family property to cover these debts.

Gibb, Livingston and Co.

Leung On 梁安, alias Leung Wan-hon 梁雲漢, Leung Hok-chau 梁鶴巢

Gilman and Co. 太平洋行

Choy Wing-chip 蔡永接
Alias Choy Lung-chi 蔡龍之; b.year unknown – d.1874 Hong Kong; Founding Chairman of Tung Wah Hospital

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

Lo Chung-kong 羅振綱 (1865-1877, died in office)
Alias Lo Pak-sheung 羅伯常

Lo Hok-pang 羅鶴朋 (1877-1892)
Alias Lo Sau-sung 羅壽嵩; third son of Lo Chung-kong;

Lau Wai-chuen 劉渭川 (1892-1906)

Jardine, Matheson and Co.

Ng Chook 吳祝

Ng Wing-fui 吳榮魁, alias Ng Ping-un 吳炳垣

Robert Ho-tung 何啟東 (1883-1900)

Ho Fook
Succeeded Robert Ho-tung in 1889; grandfather of Stanley Ho, the casino and property magnate; member of the Legislative Council;

Ho Kom-tong
b.1866-d.1950; succeeded Ho Fook; maternal grandfather of Bruce Lee.

Tong King-sing
comprador to William Keswick

Lyall Still and Company

Ho Asek 何亞錫, alias Ho Fai-yin 何斐然

McBain and Co.

Law Sai-nam

Mercantile Bank of India, London and China 有利銀行

Wei Kwong 韋光 (1857-1879)
b.1825 Heungshan (present Zhongshan) - d.1879 Hong Kong; son of a comprador to two American merchants, namely: Benjamin Chew Wilcocks (ran mercantile business in China from 1800 to 1829 and as American consul in Canton from 1815 to 1822) and Oliver H. Gordon (joined the opium firm of Russell and Co. in 1826); forsaken by his family at the age of eleven, Wei left Heungshan for Macau where he begged in the street before getting a job in an opium divan owned and ran by a Portuguese; two years later, he met American missionary Elijah Coleman Bridgman 裨治文 who took him in and had him sent to Singapore under the auspices of Morrison Education Society to attend a school of the American Board of Commission for Foreign Missions as the Society’s first pupil; came to Hong Kong in 1843; became comprador of Bowra and Co. - the most prominent of the ship chandleries of that period in Hong Kong; worked as an interpreter to the Supreme Court in 1855; became comprador of a new bank in 1857, the Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, a post he held until he died in 1879; a Christian himself and married a Chinese Christian woman in Hong Kong, Wei had three sons: Wei Yuk who succeeded him at the bank in 1879, the Oxford-educated Wei On 韋安 who joined the law firm of Johnson Stokes & Master in 1897 as its first local solicitor and Wei Pui 韋培 who was permitted to practice as a barrister in Hong Kong on October 22, 1888; in twenty one years, Wei rose from a street beggar in Macau to the comprador of a prominent bank in Hong Kong and when he died in 1879, he left behind an estate valued at HK$170,000 – a substantial sum considering the whole of Tung Wah Hospital was built on a government grant of HK$115,000 in 1869 - this, however, compared with the fortune of the Ho's of the house of Jardine is so insignificant.

Wei Yuk 韋玉 (1879-1910)
Alias Wei Bo-shan 韋寶珊; b.1849 Hong Kong - d.1922 Hong Kong; graduated from the Government Central School, attended Leicester Stoneygate School in England from 1867; attended Dollar Institution in Scotland from 1868; returned to Hong Kong in 1872 after a pro-longed tour of Europe and was employed by the bank; succeeded his father as comprador to the bank in 1879 and held that post until retired in 1910; started a mercantile firm in 1910, and associated with Ho Kai, Au Tak and others in the attempted development on the land that later became the site of the Kai Tak International Airport; elected a director of Tung Wah Hospital in 1880 and became its chairman in 1887; appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1883; appointed unofficial member of the Legislative Council on October 22, 1896 (as the second Chinese to be appointed, Dr. Ho Kai was the first); became the Senior Chinese Unofficial Member of the council in 1914 when Ho Kai retired; a Christian and a member of the Hong Kong Masonic Order; invested CMG in 1908 and knighthood in 1919; retired from public service in 1917 at the age of 68; died in 1922; naming honor – Bo Shan Road 寶珊道. Wei Kwong and son Wei Yuk collectively controlled the Mercantile Bank’s local and China liaison for more than half a century since its inception in Hong Kong in 1857.

Fung Ming Shan 馮明珊, alias Fung Po Hai 馮普熙, Fung Chew 馮照

Philips Moore and Co.

Cheang Hoong

Russell and Co. 旗昌洋行

Au Yeung Shing

Smith Archer and Co. 美商史密斯—阿徹洋行

Kwong Ahang; company collapsed in 1874.

Wong Kong

Turner and Co. 華記洋行

Sung Chin-Tseung

William Caine (Lt. Col.)

Lo Een-teen

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As shown in the following table, the number of compradors in Hong Kong increased by sixteenth-times from 1851 to 1881.

Year	1851	1856	1861	1866	1871	1876	1881
Persons	6	20	28	43	76	77	95

________________________________________________________

The following is what American merchant Augustine Heard Jr., wrote in c. 1894 in an essay entitled “The Poisoning in Hong Kong - An Episode of Life in China”

The Comprador to whom allusion has frequently been made was a most important element in the large China Houses. In these there was a Chinese Firm, subordinate to the Foreign, of which the Comprador was the Head. Nearly all of the mercantile transactions with the natives, buying and selling, passed in some shape through his hands, or under his supervision, and on very many of them he received a commission. In those days there were almost no Banks. Each House was its own Bank, of which the Comprador was Cashier. All the money was in his charge and orders, or checks, were drawn on him, precisely as on a modern Bank. These were in one sense the more important of his duties, but, besides these, he had another function, which was perhaps of almost equal consequence He engaged all the native servants and employees, and was personally responsible for their honesty and general good conduct. The foreigner of course had no means of ascertaining the character of his Chinese servants, and relied implicitly on the selections of his Comprador, who as implicitly accepted the responsibility. If, for instance, a robbery were committed in the house - a watch or money was stolen - the foreigner simply notified the Comprador, who was expected to find the thief and the property, or to make good the loss out of his own pocket.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Peculiar, Sometimes Dubious, Civil Servants

2010-03-19T19:08:00.007+08:00

Updated on December 22, 2011

In the Nineteenth Century

William Caine
Chief Magistrate 首席裁判司 (1841-1844)
Auditor General (1846-1854)
Colonial Secretary (1846-1854)
Lt. Governor (May - September 1859)
Honor: naming of Caine Road 堅道

The Revd. Chas. Gutzlaff : the Chinese
missionary in the dress of a Fokien sailor
/ painted by George Chinnery at Canton;
drawn on stone by R. J. Lane; printed
by C. Hullmandel.

Karl Gützlaff 郭士立 (郭實臘)
Chinese Secretary 撫華道 (1843-1851, died in office)
Honor: naming of Gutzlaff Street 吉士笠街 in Central

Son of a tailor and originally trained to become a saddle-maker, Karl Frederick August Gützlaff (b.1803 Pyritz, Pomerania – d.1851 Hong Kong) was a Prussian born missionary sent to Indonesia by the Netherlands Missionary Society who went to China on his own account because of his keen interest in the country. He was the real life “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” - a man who lived in total confusion with respect to his true identity. He was a Prussian who anglicized himself as Charles Gützlaff, who authored books in the English language, but dressed himself like a Chinese always (particularly in the look of boat people). As a gifted linguist, he translated the Bible into the Chinese language. As a gifted linguist, he helped William Jardine sold opium to Chinese by interpreting for the latter’s trafficking operation up and down the China coast, enthusiastically and took money for his service.

As a Christian clergy whose objective was missionary work in China, Gützlaff played an undisputed role in the First Opium War by spying for the British arm forces [1], by interpreting for the British superintendency, and by actively involved in the possession of Chinese territories fallen into British forces [2].

In 1843, Gützlaff succeed John Robert Morrison, who died in office, as the second Chinese Secretary of the Hong Kong Government. Here is a further example of how mixed up Gützlaff was: as a government official, he spent two hours each day in the morning and provided a private service to foreign residents in Hong Kong who wished to enquire into the character of local watchmen they intended to hire and issued his certificate in respect of those he believed to be honest. He might charge a fee for his service too.

Gützlaff had three wives, all English women. He married a wealthy missionary Maria Newell (c.1794-1831) on November 26, 1829 in Siam. Newell was sent to Malacca as the first unmarried female missionary by the London Missionary Society in 1827 to work as a teacher in a school for girls. Newell died from child birth in February 1831; Gützlaff inherited considerable resources from her. In 1834, he married Mary Wanstall (1799-1849) who ran a school and a home for blinds in Macau. Wanstall was a cousin of Gützlaff’s colleague, a translator for Henry Pottenger by the name of Harry Parkes, who would later became the Biritsh Minister in Peking.The two had no children but adopted two blind Chinese girls, one of whom was educated in England and returned to teach blind girls in a Ningbo school. Wanstall died in 1849. He married Dorothy Gabriel in England on September 17, 1850 while touring Europe giving lectures about China. He died a year later. There were also reports that pointed to two Chinese concubines he kept in Ningbo; their names were unknown.

Gützlaff died in Hong Kong in 1851 leaving behind quite a sizable estate and a questionable legacy, but keeping with him a secret he hided about the "Chinese Union", an evangelistic organ he established in Hong Kong in 1844. It was revealed years after his death that a good number of Chinese evangelists he trained, under the auspices of Chinese Union, and sent to China were unconverted opium-smokers and criminals who had duped him by selling the evangelistic literature to the printer, who then resold it to him. Gützlaff was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley. Additional reading: "Drug Money to Fund Printing of Bible"

[1] Gützlaff worked directly for the British Foreign Office long before the onset of the armed conflict. His controlling officer was Major, later Lieutenant–Colonel, George A. Malcolm whose official position was ‘Secretary of Legation’ of the trade Mission led by Pottinger. Gützlaff also ran a network of Chinese spies, sometime took on the identities as his assistants. Here are the names of some of the known agents: Liu Fu-kuei, Yu Te-chang, Ku Pao-lin, Pu Ting-pang, Pao Peng, Chen Ping-chiin.

[2] Gützlaff was one of the three interpreters during the negotiations of the Treaty of Nanking. He was appointed magistrate of Chusan (Zhoushan) 舟山 following the British occupation of the island in 1841, and of Ningbo 寧波 in the same year and of Zhenjiang 鎮江 in the following year. He was the Superintendent of Trade at Dinghai 定海 (a district inside Zhoushan City on Zhoushan Island) from November 1842 till the autumn of 1843.

Robert Montgomery Martin
Colonial Treasurer (1844 - July 1845)

Robert Montgomery Martin (b.1801-d.1868)

Adolphus Edward Shelley 謝利
Auditor General 查數官 (known today as 審計署署長)(1844-1846)
Honor: anming of Shelley Street 些利街 in Central (The Central-Mid-Levels Escalator and Walkway System runs through this street)

Adolphus Edward Shelley (b.1821, Sussex - d.1854) was born into the famous Shelley family in Sussex, as the second son of John Shelley - 6th Baronet Shelley. Young man A.E. Shelley was extravagant in lifestyle and had already expended a good portion of the family fortune, so much so that his father simply wanted to send him away and not having to worry supporting him anymore. John Shelley was acquainted with Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby who was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and managed to obtain a general introduction letter from Stanley for the young Shelley to meet John Francis Davis, the 2nd Hong Kong governor. Shelley somehow misled Davis that he came to Hong Kong with Stanley’s introduction for the purpose to secure a high ranking office in the government. Without checking with Stanley, Davis appointed Shelley to the newly created position of Auditor General. Davis soon realized his mistake and accused Shelley of being "dissipated, in debt, negligent, guilty of falsehood and quite unfit for high office".

Shelley bullied his staff and conned others into lending him money which he used on land speculation (mostly around the area of the present Shelley Street). His property investment went bad and he sold his portfolio to fellow Sussexian George Duddell before departing Hong Kong. Shelley resurfaced later in Mauritius and became the Assistant Auditor General there. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Duddell found no joy in his newly acquired land holdings as it came with a large debt in tax and levies Shelley owed to the government. I do not know what happened to Shelley next but do know that his daughter, Katherine Cecilia Shelley, married James Bontein who was the Gentleman Usher to Queen Victoria.

John Walter Hulme 休姆
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 最高法院首席按察司 (1844-1847, 1848-1860)

John Walter Hulme (b.1804 Fenton, Staffordshire, England - d.March 1, 1861 Brighton) was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple, and went into partnership with famous barrister and legal writer Joseph Chitty, whose daughter, Eliza, he married. He came to Hong Kong in early summer 1844 and became the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. As the Attorney General had not yet arrived however, there was some delay in opening the Supreme Court until October 1, 1844. In 1845 Hulme was apppinted to the Legislative Council, contrary to the principle that the judiciary should be independent of the legislature. Hulme was remembered as the judge who was suspended from office on a charge of drunkenness. It all started from the differences developed between him and the 2nd governor, John Davis, which ripened into an open and bitter quarrel.

The saga began when Davis took the Hulme family with him from London to Hong Kong but left them in Bombay to catch a later passenger ship because of there were a shortage of rooms in the ship to continue to Hong Kong and there were too many in the Hulme family. Hulme was annoyed not only being left behind but also that the delay had cost him GBP250 personally. The two men quarreled over almost everythingfrom the making of rules governing the Supreme Court procedure to the length of Hulme's vacation (Hulme allowed himself a six month vacation) to the control of the Magistrates' Courts. Davis regarded them as part of the administration and subject to his control, whereas Hulme regarded them as courts of law for which he was ultimately responsible. In November 1846 came the Compton case. Compton was an English merchant in Canton who was fined $200 by the British Consul for causing a riot by kicking over a Chinese stall and beating its owner with his stick. Compton appealed to the Hong Kong Supreme Court, as he was fully entitled to, and Hulme reversed the verdict and commented severely on the irregularities of the hearing before the Consul. Davis regarded this as a challenge to his authority as he alone represented the plenipotentiary in China.

Determined to have Hulme dismissed, Davis wrote a letter to Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, in 1846 falsely charging Hulme with being a habitual drunkard, thinking this would strengthen his case for Hulme's dismissal. The accusation back-fired and a reply sent by the Colonial Office who received the letter from the Foreign Office contained magisterial rebuke. As a result of that letter, Davis resigned. Meanwhile, the Executive Council in Hong Kong was instructed to enquired into Davis’ accusation. In November 1847, the case was heard before the Executive Council and Hulme was adjudged guilty on one charge (there were altogether three charges) of "in a state of intoxication as to attract public attention when attending a public entertainment given by Rear Admiral Thomas Cockrane on November 22, 1845". As a result Hulme was suspended and went back to England on December 30, 1847. He was seen off by most of the prominent foreign residents in the colony. In 1848, Davis left Hong Kong, and Hulme was reinstated and returned to Hong Kong in the same year. Hulme continued to enjoy a great reputation in Hong Kong until his retirement in 1860 (he left Hong Kong towards the end of 1858 for a pro-longed retirement vacation). He died in the following year.

Thomas Scales
Postmaster (c.1845)

Postmaster Thomas Scales was so fed up with Governor John Davis nagging him about the inefficiency of the postal service he refused to handle the governor’s dispatches. Davis sent an Irish army sergeant around to sort the matter out, but Scales continued to be difficult. The sergeant was sent again only this time he was told to use whatever means necessary to make sure the postmaster understand his place. After the necessary means was dully applied, Scales acknowledged his insignificance and the service resumed.

Norcott d'Esterre Parker
Crown Prosecutor (October 15 - December, 1846, November 30, 1847 - September 1849
Coroner (January 12, 1847 - December 1848)

Norcott d'Esterre Parker, Crown Prosecutor and solicitor, in company with twenty nine Chinese was arraigned in the Police Court on a charge of piracy on June 27, 1849. The case revealed that Parker was tipped off some information through Lee Kip-tye, government interpreter, that a junk at anchor in Paong Chow (Peng Chau 坪洲, an islet off the east side of Lantau Island facing Discovery Bay) had on board articles taken from the wreck of some ship. He took it upon himself to investigate the matter on his own authority. The searching party, Parker, Lee and the informant, went to Paong Chow on a port boat hired by Parker, and there they found the junk in matter lying on the beach. Parker went on shore and consulted with a junior Chinese official, who accompanied Parker to the junk, and who, while Parker was searching all over the junk, told the boat crew to open the boxes allowing the contents to be examined by Parker. Meanwhile, a large crowd began to gather around the place, some five hundred, and they, after identifying the informant, started beating the man. Parker and Lee sought refuge in the house of the Chinese official, until Daniel Caldwell, the Assistant Superintendent of Police came for rescue. The headman of the Paong Chow village and two men of the boat crew came to Hong Kong and lodged a complaint to the effect that an Englishman and two Chinese had come to their village in a large boat and boarded a junk in which they had broken boxes. The case was heard by Charles Hiller, the Chief Magistrate. Chinese witnesses was called, who told Hiller boxes were opened by the boat crew acting upon the direction of the Chinese official. Based on this, and other details of the hearing I cannot find as yet, the case was dismissed. Parker, afterward, in a letter he wrote to the Friend of China, which I believed was published, explain away his conduct. And there the matter ended, but the whole story, especially with the additions and exaggerations it received, was not entirely creditable to Parker. I have a funny feeling that Daniel Caldwell who was believed to have extensive connections with pirates in Hong Kong and South China, might have set this up to trap Parker, as a means to defame the Crown Prosecutor.

Norcott d'Esterre Parker (b.June 10, 1819 – d.1846) was the eighth and last child of William Parker (b. January 3, 1778, Douglas, Cork, Ireland – d. October 1837, Passage West, Cork) and Alicia Eleanor Somerville (b. September 25, 1802, Douglas – d. March 20, 1840, Passage West; married on September 25, 1802 in Douglas, Co. Cork, Ireland). He practiced law in Cork City until he moved to Australia in 1844. He settled down in West Maitland, and there he applied in October 1844 to be admitted an attorney, solicitor, and prosecutor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He was admitted in early 1845. Towards the latter part of the year, he moved to Sydney and on November 15, 1845, formed a partnership with Dubliner, John Dillon. The new law firm of Dillon and Parker was located at No.10 York Street, next to the City Corporation Chambers. Dillon soon went into serious financial difficulties, resulting in having his estate placed under receivership on March 6, 1846. A couple of months afterward, Parker left Sydney for Hong Kong.

Parker arrived in Hong Kong in June 1846. On July 29 the same year he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court as a solicitor. He advertised himself to have established an office inside the godowns of Bowra & Co., on Queen's Road. Due to the prolonged sick leave the Attorney-General, Paul Ivy Sterling, had been taking, the government had on October 15, 1846 appointed Parker, as a temporary measure, Prosecutor. Meanwhile, he was allowed to carry on with his private practice. His appointment was discontinued in December and the prosecutor position was taken by another attorney Charles Malloy Campbell. Parker was reappointed to the position on November 30, 1847 when Campbell was raised to the bench as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed John Walter Hulme who had already left Hong Kong (Hulme was Hong Kong's first Chief Justice). Parker was also the Coroner from January 12, 1847 (succeeding Percy Caulincourt McSwyney) to December 1848 (succeeded by Charles Hiller and Charles Gordon Holdforth as Joint-Coroners).

After the piracy charge saga, Parker took a leave of absence in September 1849. He left by packet ship Amoy (several sources referred the ship as Amoy Packet, and said further that Parker was its owner) for California on September 29. The Amoy was never heard of again. William d'Esterre Parker [1], Norcott's brother, was appointed to act as Prosecutor during his absence. The appointment was announced three days before his departure from Hong Kong.

[1] William d'Esterre Parker (b. October 3, 1815, Passage West – d. July 19, 1899, Passage West) was the elder brother of Norcott and the seventh child of their parents. He was an attorney of Exchequer, Ireland, and an assurance agent. William, probably in response to Norcott's request to join him in Hong Kong, left Ireland in January 1849 and arrived here on June 10. In less than a month, he was admitted a solicitor by the Supreme Court on July 2, 1849. I have no idea when William returned to Ireland, where he died at the age of eighty four. William married Kate Spaight Reeves on February 8, 1840. Kate died in 1841 and on June 16, 1842, William remarried Sarah Dowman. William had five children, one by Kate and others by Sarah.

Sources:
- A biographical sketch-book of early Hong Kong, by G. B. Endacott
- The History of The Laws and Courts of Hong Kong, Volume I, by James William Norton-Kyshe, Noronha & Co., Hong Kong
- Janus: Jardine Matheson Archive
- The Maitland Mercury, and Hunter River General Advertiser, November 9, 1844, December 6, 1845
- New South Wales Government Gazette, November 28, 1845, March 13, 1846
- Rootsweb
- werelate.org
- The Sydney Morning Herald, May 23, 1846

William Tarrant
Inspector of Roads (years uncleared)
Clerk of Deeds in the Land Registry Office (1846-1848)

George Duddell
Position: Government Auctioneer (1857-year uncleared)
Assessor and Collector of Police and Lighting Rates (November 1856 – January 1858)
Honor: naming of Duddell Street 都爹利街 in Central

William Thomas Bridges
Acting Attorney General, Acting Colonial Secretary, in multiple occasions in 1850s when the office-holders were on leave.
Honor: naming of Bridge Street 必列者士街 (better known in its short form 必街)

William Thomas Bridges (b.1820–d.year unclear) studied at Oxford, and at the Middle Temple from 1844. He was called to the Bar in 1847 and came to Hong Kong in 1851 where he started a law practice. Wealth began to cumulate for Bridges as business at the law firm thrived. The first sign of his dubious character unveiled when he started lending money at high interest rates. Because of shortage of lawyers in Hong Kong at that time and owing to the introduction his college friend, William Thomas Mercer who was the Colonial Treasurer, Bridges was asked to temporarily take over the office of the Attorney General when the office holder, Thomas Chisholm Anstey, went on leave in 1855. When Mercer became Colonial Secretary and took home leave from February 1857 to November 1859, Bridges stood in for him as well; assuming the most important government office next to that of the governor, while still carrying on his private law practice and money lending business. Bridges resigned in 1859 after being implicated in a number of scandals, and left Hong Kong in 1861. Bridges was a member of the Masonic order in Hong Kong.

Chan Tai-kwong 陳大光
Government Interpreter (1856-c.1857)
Chinese Clerk and Shroff to the Court of Summary Jurisdiction (December 1867 – 1882, died in office)

China-born Chan Tai-kwong (b.1827 Punyu, Guangdong - d.1882 Hong Kong) went to England as a child. In 1849, the 18-years-old Chan by chance met George Smith, the Bishop of Victoria (designated), who felt the young man could be trained as an evangelist among the Chinese. Smith arrived in Hong Kong in 1850 to take up the office of the first Anglican bishopric in the colony and brought Chan with him. Before long Chan was sent to Singapore for training and while there, he married Gay Eng, also known as Sarah Huges, a pupil in the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. When Chan returned to Hong Kong, he was placed on three years' probation before ordination, but he Bishop did license him to peach to the prisoners in Victoria Goal. Chan was deficient in Chinese while his English ability was not sufficient to write grammatical English. In spite of these deficiencies, he was appointed an assistant tutor in the newly opened St. Paul's College where Smith served as the warden.

Chan was never happy with either being a missionary or a school teacher; he was keen to be engaged in business and got rich quickly. So much so, in 1856, he left St. Paul’s College and served for a while as an interpreter in the government and then took on temporary jobs in some business concerns. Soon enough, he was became associated with a Chinese opium syndicate that want to take advantage of his ability to move in the high society in the colony, particularly the Anglo community. In 1858, Chan, financed by Leong Attoy, Li Tuk-cheong (Li was one of the first three Chinese members of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce) and Li Chun - the latter two members of the Li family's Wo Hang 和興 firm, bid for the annual opium monopoly contract. It was granted to Chan by Acting Colonial Secretary William Thomas Bridges who also owned a law practice, of which Chan as a client. Later in the same year, Bridges was investigated for not only passing insider information to Chan pertaining to the bid, but also giving advice, for a fee, to Chan as his attorney on how to win the bid. The implication of the investigation, coupled with unexpected financial difficulties faced by Chan’s firm, forced Chan to renege on the monopoly several months after he was awarded the contract. The sheriff foreclosed on the property of Chan. He then disappeared from Hong Kong, going either to the Mainland or Singapore. However, in December 1867, he reappeared in Hong Kong, not only that, he was miraculously appointed Chinese Clerk and Shroff to the Court of Summary Jurisdiction, succeeding none other than Ng Choy 伍才 (better known as Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳 among Chinese). Here Chan often served as arbitrator in disputes among Chinese. He continued with the Court until his death in 1882. His son-in-law, George Orley, a sanitary inspector, was appointed administrator of his estate, which was valued at $3,000. In 1872, Chan was a member of the general committee of the Tung Wah Hospital. Additionally, he was a member of the Masonic order in Hong Kong.

Thomas Child Hayllar
Acting Attorney General 署理律政司 (c.1873)
Solicitor General 法律政策專員 (c.1878)
Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court 最高法院副按察司 (c.1879)

Undated family photo of the
Pope-HennessysThomas Child Hayllar (b.1835-d.), QC, was a highly respected barrister in Hong Kong and was a member of both the Executive and Legislative Councils (appointed on October 13, 1873). He was one of the few friends and supporters the 8th governor John Pope-Hennessy (in office from 1877 to 1883) had. The friendship ended abruptly when Pope-Hennessy caught Hayllar with his wife, Catherine (or Kitty, according to some sources) Pope-Hennessy (b.1850-d.1923), in her boudoir at the Mountain Lodge, the governor’s summer residence. The governor’s wife was a pretty woman and it was an open secret in the colony that she was not happy with her husband. Several days later on April 27, 1879, the two ran into each other and the governor (who was also a barrister by training; he was called to the Bar in 1861) could no longer control his anger and attacked the judge using his umbrella. Hayllar was a much bigger man, physically, than Pope-Hennessy and duly won the battle. It was said that Hayllar who seized the umbrella had it hung over the mantelpiece in his residence, with a plaque that inscribed, "A Memento of the Battle of Mountain Lodge. 27th April 1879."

Hayllar left Hong Kong on January 23, 1882. The governor and his wife left a year later. After John Henry Pope-Hennessy died in 1891, Catherine remarried, and mortgaged the manor house owned by her late husband’s family; as such her sons with Pope-Hennessy never inherited that part of the estate. She was 41.

_______________________________________________________________

How some of them were related …

George Duddell and Robert Montgomery Martin
Martin openly objected the legalization of opium when the notion was first introduced by Governor John Davis. When Davis sold the opium monopoly to Duddell (actually at a public auction held on February 28, 1845), Martin proclaimed that, "Private vice should not be a source of public revenue" and promptly resigned.

George Duddell and William Tarrant
Duddell and Tarrant, with Charles Markwick (also a government auctioneer) associated together and purchased land lots from the government in the So Kon Po Valley in 1846. At that time, Tarrant was still employed as a Land Office Clerk. Duddell bought out Tarrant and Markwick in 1851 and started a coffee plantation on the site. The land was finally sold to William Keswick of Jardine and Matheson in 1884.

William Thomas Bridges and Chan Tai-kwong
In 1858, Bridges, wearing two heads of that of an attorney and the Acting Colonial Secretary at the same time, passed on confidential information he obtained as ACS regarding the bidding of the opium monopoly to a client of his private law practice, Chan Tai-kwong who was an applicant for the monopoly contract. Bridges, the lawyer, further advised Chan how to win the bid for a very fat fee, and eventually, Bridges, the government official, granted the contract to Chan. Several months after the contract was awarded; Bridges was investigated for the dubious dealing and later resigned in disgrace. Chan fled Hong Kong.

William Caine and John Walter Hulme
Caine, a governor appointee, did not want the Magistrate's Courts to be controlled by Hulme, who on the other hand considered a court is a court, and he was ultimately responsible for all courts of law. Caine gave evidence against Hulme in the Executive Council meeting held in November 1847 where the latter was charged for drunkenness in the public in an incident that happened over two years ago. Adding further to the unusual circumstance was that Caine also served as a “Judge” in the same proceedings. Hulme was found guilty and was suspended from his post.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Branding Centennial

2010-03-13T17:24:00.001+08:00

Last updated on September 29, 2010

In this feature we pay tribute to establishments founded in Hong Kong in 1910 or before, which are still operating under their original names, or brands, (fractional acceptable) at inception. Government agencies and religious establishments are not included.

1832 Jardine Matheson

1846 Hong Kong Club

1846 Masonic Order Hong Kong

1847 The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
Ceased to exist between 1859 and 1959 however

1850 Lane Crawford

1851 Hong Kong Cricket Club

H.A. Lammert1855 Lammert Brothers Limited 覽勿夜冷館, and later as 欖勿兄弟拍賣行有限公司

The auction house was originally incorporated as Lammert, Akinson and Company and was founded by George Rhinegold Lammert, who opened the firm in Stanley Street. The firm was renamed George P. Lammert when Rhinegold Lammert’s son G.P. (who by the way was one of the best-known vocalists in Hong Kong at that time) took over. It was again re-named Lammert Brothers in 1855 when George P. Lammert’s brothers H.A. and L.E. Lammert started running the company while George P. spent much of his time in Shanghai. H.A. personally conducted all the sales. In 1870 it was advertised as a naval and general store, auctioneers and commission agents and had "Lammert, Hongkong" as its telegraphic address. Some sales were conducted in the medium of Chinese, which was unusual at the time. The firm was located, in the early days at the site where Jardine, Matheson were to erect their new office, it was then moved to No. 4 Duddell Street. Since the 1950s, the firm was located in the basement of the Pedder Building, now the home of Shanghai Tang, from there it moved to its present address in the Union Commercial Building in Lyndhurst Terrace.

1859 Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, Hong Kong Branch

1861 Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong was founded in 1861 with 62 members. The inaugural Chairman was Alexander Percival, the 7th Tai-pan of Jardine, Matheson & Co, while W. Walkinshaw representing another opium merchant, Turner & Co., took the vice chair. Mirroring the composition of the mercantile community in that era, opium merchants can be found in the very core of the Chamber as they nearly filled up one third of the Founding Member roster. The first general meeting was held in the Hong Kong Club on 29 May 1861 where the first General Committee was established. The nine-member committee had included opium merchants such as American Warren Delano of Russell & Co. 旗昌洋行. Delano was the maternal grandfather of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Today, the Chamber has more than 4,000 corporate members. It is known as the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce 香港總商會.

1862 Hong Kong and China Gas

1862 A S Watson 屈臣氏

1863 Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock

1864 Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company

1866 Hongkong Hotel Company

c.1867 George Falconer the Jewelers

1868 Nam Pak Hong Union 南北行公所

1870 Tung Wah Hospital

1870 Butterfield & Swire

1878 Po Leung Kuk

1879 Eu Yan Sang

1880 Wotton & Deacon
Victor Hobart Deacon was admitted to practice in Hong Kong in 1880 (and registered as a Notary Public on November 30, 1881) and joined the law practice established in 1851 by William Thomas Bridges who was the second barrister to commerce practice in Hong Kong, and from time to time Colonial Secretary. The firm then practiced under the name Wotton & Deacon. In 1898, the name of the firm was again changed to Deacon, Looker and Deacon, when Victor Hobart’s nephew, Frank Barrington Deacon was admitted to the firm. The firm changes its name the last time to Deacons 的近律師行 in 1924. This was a remarkably early adoption of a modern naming method, given that both Victor and Frank Deacon had by now retired from the firm. By 2008, Deacons became Hong Kong’s largest local law firm (190 attorneys and about 600 employees) as well as the oldest.

c.1880 John D. Hutchison

1883 Ladies Recreation Club

1884 Hong Kong Jockey Club

1885 Kelly and Walsh 必發圖書有限公司
The publishing house and bookshop was established in 1876 by Irishman Kelly, the printer, Scotsman Walsh, the bookseller, and was incorporated in Hong Kong on July 1, 1885 with investments from about 20 other shareholders. The first shop was in Queen's Road. It then moved to York Building (Chater Road), then to Prince's Building to Swire House, and finally to its present location in Ice House Street and the Pacific Place. There were branches in Shanghai, Singapore, Hankow (Hankou) and Japan. Their printing presses were in Shanghai and Singapore, and Kelly and Walsh published about 500 titles all told. Kelly and Walsh was ultimately sold to book sellers Swindon Book Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong.

1886 Dairy Farm

1887 Alice Memorial Hospital 雅麗氏紀念醫院

1888 Peak Tram

1889 Royal Hong Kong Golf Club

1889 Hong Kong Land 置地公司

1890 Hong Kong Electric

c.1890 Sir Ellis Kadoorie Secondary School 嘉道理爵士中學

1891 Dodwell

1892 Diocesan Boys' School 拔萃男書院

1892 Wu Woo Shing Goldsmith 胡和盛金行
Wu Woo Shing is located in Shanghai Street. The founder was Wu Foon 胡寬.

1893 Nethersole Hospital 那打素醫院

1893 Belilios Public School 庇理羅士女子中學

1894 Queen’s College 皇仁書院

1894 Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

1894 Craigengower Cricket Club

1894 Leigh & Orange

Master1895 Johnson Stokes & Master 孖士打律師行

The history of the firm dated back to 1863 when Edmund Sharp established himself as one of Hong Kong’s earliest sole proprietorship law practices – solicitor and notary public (Sharp registered as a notary public on July 20, 1871). In 1895, the firm expanded and Alfred Bulmer Johnson (registered as a notary public on February 18, 1875). In became senior partner of the firm with Alfred Stokes and Godfrey Master (registered as a notary public on January 5, 1903) as supporting partners, and subsequently re-named Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM). At that time, its clients had included the newly established Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation. Johnson was a Crown Solicitor since 1882 and passed the title to Henry Lardner Dennys, a senior partner in Hong Kong when the former retired in 1896. In 1897, JSM engaged the firm’s first local born solicitor – the Oxford-educated Wei On 韋安, who was the brother of Wei Yuk 韋玉 (aka Wei Boshan 韋寶珊) [1]. In 2008, JSM was acquired by the Chicago-based law firm Mayer Brown, and became Mayer Brown JSM. Before the merge, JSM had offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai), Bangkok, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The firm had a team of 800 staff, including more than 260 lawyers.

1897 Hong Kong Parsee Cricket Club

1898 Star Ferry

1899 Diocesan Girls' School 拔萃女書院

1900 Chinese General Chamber of Commerce 香港中華總商會

1900 Sincere Department Stores

1901 YMCA, Hong Kong

1902 British American Tobacco

1903 Police Recreation Club 警察游樂會

1903 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Hong Kong

1903 The South China Morning Post

1903 China Fleet Club

1904 Hastings, John, Solicitor, Conveyancer, Proctor, Notary Public, Patent and Trade Mark Agent 希士廷狀師（律師、地產轉讓人、訴訟代理人、國際公證人、專利及商標代理人）

1904 Hong Kong Tramways

1904 Kowloon Cricket Club

1906 Club de Recreio

1907 Matilda Hospital 明德醫院

1907 Wing On Department Stores

1907 The Incorporated Law Society of Hongkong 香港律師會

1909 Chau Kee Paper Model Shop 秋記扎作
Traditional handicraft shop that produces handmade paper models made from a bamboo frame 紙紮. Models include lanterns, kites, and items used as offerings to dead people (by way of incineration) such as houses, automobiles, mahjong, clothing, etc., basically, anything one wishes that can be made from bamboo and paper (I’ve seen figures of man and woman servants), … The shop is situated in Elgin Street 伊利近街.

1910 Lam – King of Snakes 蛇王林
Oldest surviving snake soup restaurant, located in Hillier Street 禧利街.

1910 Lin Heung Lau Teahouse 蓮香樓
Originated from Guangzhou in 1889, there were three restaurants under the same ownership in Hong Kong, with the first one opened in 1910. The only surviving one opened in 1918 and is situated at the corner of Wellington Street and Aberdeen Street. In addition to being a restaurant / teahouse, it is also a famous bakery producing popular Chinese pastries.

1910 South China Football Club

Coming Up …

1912 University of Hong Kong
1912 Chinese Recreation Club, Hong Kong 香港中華游樂會
1914 Commercial Press, Hong Kong Branch 商務印書館香港分館
1915 Boy Scouts Association, Hong Kong Branch 香港童子軍總會
1916 Helena May 梅夫人婦女會
1916 Girl Guide, Hong Kong
1916 Lo & Lo Solicitors 羅文錦律師樓
1916 Chun Wui Tong Herbal Tonic 春回堂涼茶店
1918 Bank of East Asia
1920 Hong Kong Chinese Medical Association (The Hong Kong Medical Association)
1921 Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce 香港潮州商會
1924 China Motor Bus
1925 Maryknoll Convent School 瑪利諾修院學校
1928 Peninsula Hong Kong
1928 Jimmy's Kitchen
1929 Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children 香港保護兒童會
1931 St Patrick's Society of Hong Kong
1933 Luk Yu Tea House

- TO BE COMPLETED -

IPO

2010-02-24T19:57:00.000+08:00

First Ranking

Hong Kong ranked first in the world in terms of initial public offering (IPO) in 2009. There were 73 IPOs raising a total of HK$244 billion (US$ 31 billion), more than the U.S. total of US$26.5 billion. The two Mainland exchanges, Shanghai and Shenzhen, were close behind at US$24.4 billion. 60 new listing are expected in 2010 to raise a total of US$39 billion, including industry giants such as United Company Rusal.

First Mainland Enterprise Listing

Tsingtao Brewery 青島啤酒股份有限公司 (0168.HK) was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (SEHK) on July 15, 1993 and became the first Mainland company to be listed in Hong Kong. Tsingtao issued 317.6 million H shares at $2.80 per share and raised HK$900 million. 43 days after the Hong Kong listing, Tsingtao also went public in Shanghai; making it the first Mainland company to be listed both in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Riding on the success of Tsingtao, five more Mainland companies were listed in the same year, and they were: Shanghai Petrochemical (0338.HK), Beiren Printing 北人印刷机械股份有限公司 (0187.HK), Guangzhou Shipyard 廣州廣船國際股份有限公司 (0317.HK), Maanshan Iron and Steel 馬鞍山鋼鐵股份有限公司 (0323.HK) and Kunming Machine 沈機集團昆明機床股份有限公司 (0300.HK).

16 years on, forty-eight (out of the total 73) newly listed firms were from the mainland. They raised US$26 billion, or 83 percent of the total raised through new listings on the Hong Kong market in 2009. By the end of 2009, there were 524 mainland firms listed in Hong Kong. Their market capitalization totaled US$1.3 trillion, representing 58 percent of the total market capitalization. The mainland firms had 72 percent of the average daily market turnovers in 2009.

First European Company Listing

Schramm Holding AG 星亮控股股份公司 (0955.HK) was the first listing by a German joint stock company (Aktiengesellschaft) on SEHK as well as the first European company listed on SEHK Main Board. The German based industrial coating manufacturer went public on December 29, 2009 and raised HK$185 million (US$24 million) through its IPO.

First ETF (shot form of exchange-trade fund) Listing

The first ETF listed on the SEHK was the Tracker Fund of Hong Kong 盈富基金 (TraHK) (2800.HK), on November 12, 1999. With an issue size of HK$33.3 billion (US$4.3 billion), TraHK's IPO was the largest IPO ever in Asia ex Japan at the time of launch. Since the IPO, approximately HK$ 140.4 billion (October 15, 2002) in Hang Seng Index constituent stocks has been returned to the market through TraHK's unique tap mechanism. TraHK is a unit trust that corresponds to the performance of the Hang Seng Index. The fund was established for the purpose to offload the substantial holding of Hong Kong shares procured by the Hong Kong Government in 1998 during the Asian Financial Crisis.

Electronic IPO (EIPO) Service

The Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), launched the EIPO service on May 17, 1999 for CCASS participants. CCASS, short form of Central Clearing and Settlement System, is a computerized book-entry clearing and settlement system for transactions in securities listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Introduced and operated by Hong Kong Clearing in June 1992.

Internet IPO (iIPO) Service

On September 15, 2000, HKEx announced the introduction of an Internet Initial Public Offering (iIPO) service to provide individual investors with an additional electronic mechanism for submitting applications for IPOs. MTR Corporation Ltd (MTRC) was the first listing issuer using iIPO. The first government-owned organization to be privatized, MTRC was listed on October 5, 2000.

- TO BE COMPLETED -

Chief Judge	2,500
Puisne Judge	1,700
Attorney General	1,000
Postmaster General	900
Registrar General	800
Captain Superintendent of Police	800
Superintendent of the Gaol	700
Colonial Surgeon	600