Dairy Farm Company

Hugh Farmer: Dairy Farm was incorporated in 1886 in Hong Kong by Scottish surgeon Sir Patrick Manson and five prominent Hong Kong businessmen, Sir Paul Chater, Mr Phineas Ryrie, Mr Granville Sharp, Mr WH Ray and Mr JB Coughtry. Manson worked in Hong Kong only from 1883 to 1889.

Initially there were 80 cattle which had been imported from Scotland and total capital of HKD30,000.

 The Company’s website says the “founding objectives were threefold: to improve the health of Hong Kong people by supplying clean and uncontaminated cows’ milk; to half the price of milk by breeding a herd of imported dairy cattle locally; and to realize a profit for its shareholders.

The original farm was established at Pokfulam and staffed by British livestock experts. Initially the Dairy Farm pioneers had to contend with disease in the herd and other problems caused by the unfamiliar climate. Undeterred by these challenges, they persevered and soon achieved a thriving enterprise.

The Company established its depot, later to become Hong Kong’s most well known ice house, at the corner of Lower Albert Road and Wyndham Street. This move was a result of its continuing success – greatly increased production and demand necessitated curtailing the four-mile transport of milk by handcart from the farm to custom”ers in the Central District. The old depot building is today a Hong Kong landmark and is presently home to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.”

This article was first posted on 9th May 2014.

See:

• The Dairy Farm Group history 1886 to present
• The Dairy Industry in Pok Fu Lam from www.westsidestorieshk.com

Related Indhhk articles:

1. Dairy Farm Company – A timeline
2. Pokfulam Dairy Farm
3. The Dairy Farm, Ice & Cold Storage Company Ltd – employees
4. Q+A 42 Dairy Farm Cold Storage Depot – East Point – further information needed
5. Dairy Farm, Pok Fu Lam – Ming Pao article, effort to preserve what remains…
6. Dairy Farm, Pokfulam, recent photographs of structures within the estate
7. Dairy Farm museum at Pok Fu Lam – SCMP article
8. The Dairy Farm Company – Post WW1, the Japanese occupation and immediately post WW2
9. The Dairy Farm Ice and Cold Storage Company – HKBRAS article
10. World War Two – 1945 BAAG report – Dairy supplies in occupied HK
11. Kowloon Dairy Company
12. Kowloon Dairy Company – horse racing connection