Stephen Davies and Hugh Farmer have collaborated in researching the life of George U Sands (1824-1881). In particular his time as the captain of a steamship in China and his later involvement in three Hong Kong companies. Stephen’s contributions are indicated, all others are from HF. Any information about Mr Sands during his time in both China and Hong Kong and […]
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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 […]
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HF: Lime-making in Hong Kong has an extremely long history, at least 1,000 years, probably longer. This article by Wong Tak-yan appeared in the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch Journal of 1984. The article begins: And is divided into the following sections: *Uses of Lime *Raw Materials used in the making of lime *The process of making lime -burning […]
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HF: Craig Mitchell has kindly allowed me access to his collection of WW2 photographs of Hong Kong. Among these are two USAAF aerial images of a bombing raid on an oil depot in Lai Chi Kok which took place on 2nd September 1943. Standard Oil had a depot there at the start of the war according to this account. (1) […]
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York Lo has sent biographical details of Tung Chi-fu, John Tung Chi-ying, Tung Hong-ying and other members of the family who founded and were associated with The I-Feng Enamelling Company and Freezinhot Bottle Co., Ltd. He also mentions others who were not family members but involved in other companies specially in Shanghai. York Lo: The founder of I-Feng, Tung Chi-fu (董吉甫, or […]
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HF: The Company in Hong Kong: “The Sperry Flour Company has been interested in the flour trade of the Colony for upwards of forty years—a period considerably longer than any other similar company—and during the whole of this time it has lost no opportunity of studying the requirements of Eastern buyers, with the object of pushing business throughout the […]
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Hugh Farmer: The Index has been updated. We now have over 500 articles on a very wide range of subjects. If you would like to write on a new subject, add information/images about an existing one, or simply add a comment at the end of an article it would be great to hear from you. Feel free to contact me:- indhhk”at”gmail.com […]
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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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HF: There were at least two slaughterhouses/abattoirs in Kennedy Town. As always additional information, photos, maps, clarification and corrections would be appreciated. I have highlighted specific questions in red. This 1889 map of Kennedy Town shows a slaughter house, adjacent incinerator and a sheep and pig depot south of Forbes Street. Their total length was about 200 metres. For the […]
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Elizabeth Ride: Here is a transcription of an audio letter from my father, Sir Lindsay Ride, which concerns the Dockyard workers’ extraction from HK during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, World War Two. For further details about this please see the article, WW2 – BAAG, Mateys and Allied attempts to disrupt HK Dockyards, linked below. “Operation “Mateys” was one of the […]
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