Author: Hugh Farmer
Hugh Farmer has lived in Hong Kong since 1989. He founded the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group in November 2012 to preserve and share information about the city's fast disappearing industrial heritage. This website was started in October 2013.
Taikoo Sugar Refinery – Bullivant’s Ropeway for transporting coal from ship to shore
New information in red. Robin Selby has sent an account from 1891 of an aerial ropeway, or actually three, used to transport coal from pier head to coal store in Hong Kong. HF: Though not mentioned by name I am presuming the company concerned is the Taikoo Sugar Refinery which was established by Swire in 1881 and went into production in […]
» Read moreAlfred Herbert Rennie – biography, the Hongkong Milling Company and his suicide
HF: Alfred Herbert Rennie, came to Hong Kong from Canada as the sales representative of the American Company, Portland Flouring Mills. He started the Hongkong Milling Company in what was then called Junk Bay. However, despite backing from several prominent local businessmen his company quickly became mired in multiple problems and Rennie committed suicide while travelling by boat to his […]
» Read moreKruse & Co – HK importers of cigars – Imperia del Mundo Manila cigars
HF: This article has been extracted from Twentieth Century Impressions…All images are attached to the article. I cannot find any information about the “Imperia del Mundo” Manila cigars mentioned in the article or the “special brand known as El Oriente”. “It was in 1868 that Mr. Kruse, a shrewd man of business, laid the foundation of the extensive import trade […]
» Read moreKau Shat Wan 狗虱灣 , Lantau Island – government explosives depot
The history of explosive storage in Hong Kong is an interesting one. The earliest location appears to have been Magazine Island, originally named One Tree Island, which lies just to the West of Aberdeen Harbour. From 1887 to 1908 it was leased for an annual rent of $100, by the Nobel Explosives Company, who built a magazine, a road and […]
» Read moreFresnel Lenses – Barbier, Benard & Turenne – AGA and Waglan lighthouse…
HF: Barbier, Benard and Turenne (BBT) was a French company founded in 1862. It specialized in the manufacture of lights, optical devices and lighting systems. And complete lighthouses including the one on Hong Kong’s Waglan Island. The lighthouse incorporated Fresnel lenses. The Swedish Company AGA was later involved as was its UK subsidiary Pharos Marine. I didn’t know the name […]
» Read moreRail Transport in Hong Kong
HF:Hong Kong’s rail network mainly comprises public transport trains operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRC). The MTRC operates the metro network of the territory, the computer rail network connecting the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern New Territories to the urban areas, and a light rail network in northwestern New Territories. The operations of the territory’s two leading railway companies, MTRC […]
» Read moreLam Tei Quarry connections with post WW2 proposed Ping Shan Airport
IDJ : Quarries supplying construction materials for the proposed Ping Shan Airport are thought to be at the location above, the nearest mapped quarries to the site. They were connected to the airport site by a temporary narrow gauge railway. Site drawings for this project have not been found so far. The RAF’s Airfield Construction Branch paper mentions the clearing […]
» Read moreA brief history of public housing in Hong Kong
HF: The history of public housing in Hong Kong composes a significant chapter of the post war history of Hong Kong. In 1967 more than one million people were living in public housing, around one fourth of the local population. The lived experiences in public housing are undoubtedly the collective memories of Hong Kong people. Today, the living conditions of […]
» Read moreHong Kong – China Concrete Company Ltd
HF: The Hong Kong – China Concrete Company Limited was jointly founded in 2005 by Hong Kong Concrete Company Limited and China Concrete Company Limited. The company has two main concrete batching plants in Lei Yue Mun and Yau Tong, which commenced production in 2005 and 2000 respectively. As both plants are located by the sea large quantities of raw material used […]
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