The Hong Kong Printing Press – Pedro D’Alcantara Xavier (1886-1952)
New Information
HF: The Hong Kong Printing Press seems to have operated from 1888 to 1980 according to the website linked below dedicated to the company. The site appears to have been researched by descendants of family members who were involved in the company for several generations.
I would like to hear from anyone contributing to the website linked below. I have had difficulty leaving a comment indicating that I am extracting material to be used in this article.
Please contact me: Hugh Farmer indhhk{at}gmail[dot]com
I thought the company could be introduced through this extract:-
Pedro d’Alcantara Xavier was born in Hong Kong on the 19th October 1886. He was the eldest of 5 children from Lisbelo and Estephania Xavier. Pedro left school at the age of 16 in 1902 and worked in the Booking Department at Carlowitz & Co at a commencing salary of $50 per month.
He quit and joined his father’s Printing Press in June 1904 until 1906. Whereby he again quit and joined the Kowloon Canton Railways as an Assistant Bookkeeper where he was promoted to Head Correspondence Clerk. He resigned from this position later that same year and re-joined the family owned Hong Kong Printing Press for the rest of his working life.
Hoito Wong adds: I checked my database from Directory and Chronicles and found many entries, the earliest from Directory 1895 (located in D’ Aguilar St. and later Wyndham Street, the printing industry hub of HK). So the printing press must have started the business since 1894.
Before starting his own business, National Printing Press, L. Xavier worked for the two renowned Macanese printing presses De Souza & Co. and Noronha. I think it explains many Noronha decendents in his family tree. Certainly the Macanese community back then was quite small. He briefly worked for the famous Kelly & Walsh in the 1880s too.
I do not have P.A. Xavier tomb stone’s photo in the Happy Valley Catholic cemetery in my photo gallery. I hope I can find it in my next visit. Noronha’s can easily be found.
Xavier died on the 31st May 1952 and is buried at the St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley, HK.
Pedro & Amelia Maria Xavier
This article was first posted on 7th July 2015.
See: The History of the Hong Kong Printing Press website
Apparently, The Authors of this website have deleted it.
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