Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS 26) dated 7th April 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two between mid March and mid April 1943. These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in a […]
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HF: “Tsang Tai Uk (曾大屋, literally the Big Mansion of the Tsang Family) is also called Shan Ha Wai (山廈圍, literally, Walled Village at the Foothill). Its construction was started in 1847 and completed in 1867. Measuring 45 metres by 137 metres, it was built by Tsang Koon-man (曾貫萬, 1808-1894), nicknamed Tsang Sam-li (曾三利), who was a Hakka (客家) originated […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent a further sample of British Army Aid Group reports sent during during the Japanese occupation of HK in WW2. HF: There are many industrial references including companies, factories, transport, utilties… I have given each file Elizabeth sent a new name, dates where known and a brief summary of contents. WIS = Waichow Intelligence Summary KWIZ […]
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Klaus Liphard recently left a comment on the history of ExxonMobil Socony and Standard Oil in Hong Kong. HF: I would like to thank Klaus and in this article use the material source he informed me about with the following milestones regarding these companies in Hong Kong. I have not included the most recent milestones included in this article as […]
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HF: Tymon Mellor and IDJ have both sent the article, A Look Back : Civil Engineering in Hong Kong 1841-1941 written by C Michael Guilford. The preface says this was written as a contribution to mark the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers which was from 1947 to 1975, The Engineering Society of Hong Kong. […]
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HF with thanks to IDJ for the two adverts. The cable used in the Aerial Ropeway constructed to link Takoo Sugar Refinery and its Sanitarium was made by Bullivant & Co. which began as a UK company. William Munton Bullivant was an early innovator in the stranded wire cordage field, invented in the mid-19th century by German mining engineers in the […]
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HF: Thomas Sposato has kindly sent information about possibly one of the most luxurious boats ever built in Hong Kong – the 65-foot Carolyn Quincy. Thomas is the son of one of the boat’s previous owners. It was custom built in 1963 by American Marine Ltd boatyard at Junk Bay, which was run by Robert J Newton and his sons John and Whit. Father […]
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HF: Several structures at Tai Tam Upper Reservoir have been accorded Grade II status by the Antiquities and Monuments Office. Namely: the Dam itself, the Valve House, the two Masonry Bridges, the Tunnel Inlet & Recorder House, the Tunnel Outlet & the Stone House. Nicholas Kitto has kindly sent the photo shown here. More of his photos of Hong Kong reservoirs […]
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The China Navigation Company’s parent company, John Swire & Sons Limited, had its origins in a small Liverpool trading house founded in 1816. In 1866, John Samuel Swire (1825-1898) opened his first Far Eastern agency in Shanghai, and in 1872 he founded The China Navigation Company to operate a modest fleet of paddle steamers on China’s Yangtze River. IDJ has […]
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HF: In 1951, China requisitioned all property belonging to the Asiatic Petroleum Company in retaliation for the Hong Kong Government’s requisitioning of the tanker Yung Hao. Further information comes from this account in the book, Via Ports: From Hong Kong to Hong Kong, Alexander Grantham, Governor of Hong Kong from 1947 to 1957. This image is of the Yung Hao in later life as the […]
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