French Banks in Hong Kong
http://www.hkimr.org/uploads/conference_detail/579/con_paper_0_407_hubert-bonin-paper070503.pdf ask permission to post on the website
» Read moreTai O Union Electric Company – bought by CLP in 1955
IDJ and Hugh Farmer have been trying to find out about a power company that is supposed to have existed in Tai O on Lantau Island. China Light and Power’s website says that in 1955 the company acquired the Tai O Power Company “which supplies power to Lantau Island”. IDJ says “I’ve not heard of the Tai O Power Company […]
» Read moreRowland MacDonald Stephenson – first to propose a Hong Kong to China railway
Hugh Farmer with thanks to IDJ for notifying me about the initial account: The idea of connecting Hong Kong and China with a railway was first proposed to prominent Hong Kong businessmen in March 1864 by a British railway engineer, Sir Rowland MacDonald Stephenson (1808-1895), who had considerable experience of developing railways in India. The minutes of the committee of […]
» Read moreRobert Gordon Shewan – CLP, Green Island Cement and HK Rope Manufacturing
Hugh Farmer: Robert Gordon Shewan was born in London on 13th November 1859 (1860 according to 20th Century Impressions – see below) but achieved prominence in Hong Kong as a Scottish businessman. He was the son of Andrew Shewan, master mariner, and Jane Thomson. He arrived in Hong Kong in 1881, at the age of 2,1 in connection with the American […]
» Read moreRussell & Company, in China 1824 to 1891
Russell & Company ( 旗昌洋行) was the largest and most important American trading house in Qing dynasty China from 1842 to its closing in 1891. Samuel Russell founded Russell & Company in Canton, China, in 1824. Dealing mostly in silks, teas and opium, Russell & Company prospered, and by 1842, it had become the largest American trading house in China. Russell withdrew from the company in 1836 and returned to […]
» Read moreMilitary aircraft in China 1930s – Arnhold & Company and the Blackburn Aircraft Company
IDJ has unearthed an article first posted in June 1931 in the Far Eastern Review titled Military Aircraft in China. The article mentions the Aviation Department of Arnhold & Co Ltd (“agents for the Blackburn Aircraft Company”). This supplements information we have posted in recent articles on both companies, linked below. The article begins: Military Aircraft in China. Of the […]
» Read moreShek O Bus Terminus – cantilevered balcony, art deco lettering from 1955
HF: Malcolm Morris and I took the bus to Shek O for lunch yesterday. Malcolm hadn’t been for many years and as we set off from Shau Kei Wan I mentioned the extraordinary Shek O bus terminus which he didn’t know about and which has both delighted and puzzled me since I first saw it in 1989. The former because […]
» Read moreGreen Island to Lantau bridge project 1990s
HF: We recently posted the article, Q+A 45 Proposed fixed crossing to Lantau Island, late 1970s. In this I wrote: The Tsing Ma bridge and its neighbour the Kap Shui Mun bridge both opened in 1997 but I have not come across any proposed bridge to Lantau prior to the opening of the new airport. Any information regarding government or private […]
» Read moreTai Shek-ha 大石下 Stone-quarry – An 1841 hamlet near Belcher Bay, Kennedy Town?
HF: New information in red Guy Breshears contacted me explaining he lives in Hong Kong and is working on a HK history project. He wondered if we had any information about Tai Shek-ha 大石下 Stone-quarry – A hamlet which is mentioned in a 1841 HK Census. The first set of census results were published in the 2nd issue of H.K. Govt. Gazette, […]
» Read moreKai Tak Factory Building, San Po Kong, fire, November 2017
A woman feeling unwell from smoke inhalation was sent to hospital after a blaze broke out in a Hong Kong industrial building on Thursday. Emergency crews were called to Kai Tak Factory Building on King Fuk Street in San Po Kong, where a second-floor unit had burst into flames at about 12.15pm. The cause of the fire has not yet […]
» Read more