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.

Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy: China, William Jardine, the Celestial, and other HK connections

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, People

HF: Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, 1st Baronet (15 July 1783 – 14 April 1859), also spelt Jejeebhoy or Jeejebhoy, was a Parsi India merchant and philanthropist. He had close connections over a lengthy period with Hong Kong, through his business association with William Jardine,  his merchant fleet using its harbour and for having had the first Hong Kong built ocean-going ship constructed here. This extract it […]

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Robert Gordon Shewan – CLP, Green Island Cement and HK Rope Manufacturing

Articles, People

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 […]

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Messrs. Shewan, Tomes & Co

Articles, Hong Kong Companies

Hugh Farmer: Shewan, Tomes & Co. was one of the leading  trading companies in Hong Kong and China during the late 19th and early 20th century. When Russell & Co. then one of the largest mercantile firms in the Far East went out of business in 1891, former employees Scotsman, Robert Shewan and Englishman, Charles Alexander Tomes took over the remains of the operation and […]

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The three Forbes brothers: opium traders, Russell & Company in China and HK, USA railway financiers…

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Non-Hong Kong Companies, People
Lintin Island Small Version Opium Ships Edward Duncan After William John Higgins Courtesy Google Arts & Culture

The following article was written by Peter E. Hamilton, and first  published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012. Forbes, Robert Bennet b. 18 September 1804, Jamaica Plain, Boston, USA; d. […]

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Tsing Yi Power Station – 1966 construction to 1998 demolition

Articles, Construction, Hong Kong Companies, Industrial Buildings + Demolitions, Utilities

IDJ: For anyone looking towards the west from around 1966 onwards, the Tsing Yi Power Station site was an increasingly prominent feature of the harbor view. As the five tall concrete chimneys were built progressively from 1968 onwards, no one could fail to see them against the backdrop of the hills on the island. An illustrated brochure was handed out […]

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European Settlements in the Far East – Part Three, The Peak District and the Peak Tram in HK around 1900

Articles

Vaudine England has kindly sent a link to what she describes as a typically 1900-era directory of the European empires in the east. The author was D Warren Smith. Of great interest to us is a rather neat summary of the industries and shipyards at that time. We have already posted Part One – Industries and Part Two – Shipyards, […]

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Bamboo Scaffolding – Dan Waters

Articles, Industrial Buildings + Demolitions, Traditional Industries

Dan Waters: In 1957 I led a class of building students to a building site in Central District, Hong Kong, to see an exhibition of Acrow, tubular steel and tubular aluminium scaffolding. The exhibition aroused interest in the industry and elsewhere and there were those who prophesied that the use of bamboo scaffolding was drawing to a close. But while […]

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A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema to 1988 – Film Studios and Personalities

Articles, General, Hong Kong Companies

HF: Paul Fonoroff, well known Hong Kong film critic and historian, wrote, A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema. I believe it was published in 1988, in Renditions, a literary magazine published by the Research Centre for Translation (RCT) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The copy of the article I link below comes from the CUHK library. Of particular interest […]

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European Settlements in the Far East – Part Two, Shipyards in HK around 1900

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Shipyards + Shipping

Vaudine England has kindly sent a link to what she describes as a typically 1900-era directory of the European empires in the east. Of great interest to us is a rather neat summary of the industries and shipyards in Hong Kong at that time. The author was D Warren Smith.(1) I thought I would divide these summaries into several parts. […]

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Dick, Kerr and Company, Preston UK, makers of first HK Tramways cars 1904-1905

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Non-Hong Kong Companies, Transport

HF: In February 1902 The Hongkong Tramway Electric Company Ltd was formed in England. Contracts were signed. Alfred Dickenson & Co were appointed consulting engineers and Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd were contracted to provide the tram equipment and track. The latter supplied the first tram cars between 1904 and 1905 as below: Make/Model Description Fleet size Year acquired Year retired […]

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