Nikki Veriga sent us information about her grandfather James Thirlwell who was a Master Mariner and captained the tug “Tai Koo” on her final voyage. There were actually three Tai Koo Shipyard tugs and the one Nikki’s grandfather was captain of was number 2. Many thanks to IDJ for sending the image of a belching Tai Koo Tug 2 shown above. […]
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The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography contains an article about Henry Robert Butters written by Norman J Miners. Permission to use the article here has been granted by HK University Press. Butters was born on 11th April 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland and died on 1st March 1985 in Stirling, Scotland. Neither David Bellis of gwulo.com nor Hugh Farmer of this site have […]
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HF: The Tien Chu (H.K.) Company Ltd. was founded by Wu Yunchu (1891-1953). Wu was a chemist and industrialist and known as the “Father of Monosodium Glutamate”. He was involved in the chemical and condiment industries in China especially I believe in Shanghai in the 1930s. York Lo says Wu Yunchu actually went by the name of “P. N. Woo” (probably due […]
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Robin Selby has sent several extracts from the book, The Log of the Cutty Sark, mentioning his great-uncle Thomas Selby. The latter’s life on board the famous clipper has no direct connection with industry in Hong Kong. However, I think the following is of general historic interest and besides Thomas worked for two companies with a direct link to Hong Kong, […]
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HF: The following information has been extracted from the excellent 2015 book, Hong Kong Mining History, which is a mass of information about several mines and quarries: Ma On Shan Mine is situated on the southwestern slope of [the mountain] Ma On Shan, approximately 10 km from Shatin. The total ore reserve exceeds 7,000,000 tons, making it the biggest iron […]
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HF: “In 1910 Ernest James and Walter Reginald Hume (Hume Brothers) established the Humes’ Patent Cementiron Syndicate Limited, which later became Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited. Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited operated factories in Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and abroad, manufacturing centrifugally-spun reinforced concrete pipes by methods patented by Hume Brothers. Eventually Hume Brothers Cement Iron Company Limited became the […]
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Stephen Davies has been researching the period in the early 1900s during which Thomas Selby was master of several ships of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company. He believes Selby worked for ICSNC from early 1901 through to sometime in 1906. The Tungshing (a.k.a. Tung Shing and Tongshing) is the vessel that is mostly clearly attached to Thomas Selby’s name. He seems to […]
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HF. While walking in the Kwun Tong area on 23rd January 2016 I came across this delightfully old-fashioned looking outlet for the Sam Tak Uniform Company. It’s located at 307 Kwun Tong Road which is actually in Ngau Tau Kok. The main window reminded me of shops I used to see in the UK in the 1950s and 60s frequently […]
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Martin Williams wrote the article, Why Hong Kong shouldn’t take clean water for granted, which appeared in the Sunday Morning Post magazine on 24th April 2016. Martin had contacted our group while writing the article seeking information and post publication has kindly given permission to post extracts, a couple of his photos and to link the article. As has the Post’s […]
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Hugh Farmer: While researching Tai Po Kau KCR station, which no longer exists, I came across this film. It’s great fun but does it show TPK station and was it part of a longer film? Any ideas anyone? Click here to watch the mini drama. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSG0IKBqmc This article was first published on 8th February 2014. See: For more information about […]
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