The [Hong Kong] Steam Laundry Company – further information needed
HF: A mixed bag of information stretching from the late 19th century to around 1950. And two company names – the HK Steam Laundry Company and the Steam Laundry Company.
Any further information about this company/ies would be welcomed.
I believe HK Steam Laundry was owned by the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd which in 1923 had changed its name from Hongkong Hotels Ltd founded in 1866 but I can’t remember my source.
W.S Bailey & Co. shipyard. “The firm’s first order was for the 50-foot steam launch Ida, and was received from the Hongkong Steam Laundry Company.” [Bailey’s shipyard was founded in 1897] (1)
Gwulo.com’s 1915 Jury List has one Archibald Daniel Gee, Manager, Steam Laundry Co. Ltd, Yaumatei
HK Daily Press 17th August 1923
HK Daily Telegraph 17th August 1923
China Mail 24th November 1928
Elizabeth Ride has sent this BAAG report:-
KWIZ #70, 6.10.44
About 1950. “The site of Yan On Building was the Steam Laundry Company Limited. It was a single-storey building with a gateway. In business hours, the gate was opened and the passers-by could see workers washing bedcovers and other laundry inside.” (2) The contemporary Yan On building is in Kwong Wa Street, Yau Ma Tei.
This article was first posted on the 19th April 2015.
Sources:
- Wright, Arnold, : Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China: Their History. People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources. London: Lloyd’s Greater Britain Publishing Company, Ltd., 1908.
- Hong Kong Memory Project