West Point Industrial Reformatory – opened 1864, first technical education in Hong Kong

Mike T: “The West Point Industrial Reformatory was opened [in 1864], under Ignatius Ip Uen, James How, Aloy Leang and Asam Wan and taught 45 Chinese boys shoe-making, carpentry, tailoring and bookbinding. This institution may certainly be regarded as the first initiative in technical education in Hong Kong.
It later received an annual grant of $1,000 from the Hong Kong Government for its work in dealing with delinquents and was the forerunner (operating on the present site) of St. Louis’ College.” (1)

I found no college by that name in a quick web search, and presume they refer to the St. Louis School at 179 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun.)

HF: wikipedia has: St. Louis School was founded in 1864 by the Fathers of the Catholic Mission.The School was initially known as the West Point Reformatory. The Brothers of the Christian Schools (commonly known as the La Salle Brothers) succeeded the Fathers in the management of the school in 1875 and managed the school until 1893.

The image shown on the Home Page is of St Louis School, Sai Ying Pun.

Sources:

  1. Education In Hong Education In Hong Kong Pre-1841 To 1941, Fact & Opinion, Anthony Sweeting, HKUP, 1990Technical Education and Training in Hong Kong, part 2
  2. wikipedia – St Louis School

See: Gwulo on early HK orphanages/schools

Related Indhhk articles:

  1. Technical Education and Training in Hong Kong – a brief account
  2. Technical Education and Training in Hong Kong, part 2

2 Comments

  • Mark Huang

    The following link contains a newsletter with an article that records the history of the West Point Reformatory as recorded by the Christian Brothers (La Salle Brothers), which covers its history up to 1893.

    https://www.lasalle.org.hk/pages/docs/TheGateway50.pdf

    • Dear Mr Huang

      Thank you so much for sending the link to the article published in the Gateway newsletter. This provides valuable additional information and images about the West Point Reformatory to the original article on this subject posted on this website.

      As the Gateway article suggests the West Point Reformatory appears to have been the first establishment in Hong Kong to provide technical and vocational education, and therefore is worthy of inclusion in a website dedicated to the industrial history of Hong Kong.

      Thank you again for making the effort of leaving your valuable comment.

      Best wishes
      Hugh Farmer

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *