The Lane Crawford Bakery, Stubbs Road, 1938-1948

Brian Edgar’s blog, linked below, is about the experiences of his parents Thomas and Evelina Edgar in Hong Kong 1941-1945. The photograph shown on the Home page is of their wedding on the 29th June 1942.

Thomas was a baker and worked in Hong Kong for the Lane Crawford, Garden and Ching Loong bakeries.

Here we are concerned with the Lane Crawford Bakery which in 1938 moved from Burrows Road in Wanchai to Stubbs Road. Brian continues the story…

“On Wednesday, September 5, 1935, the Lane, Crawford shareholders assembled at noon for an Extraordinary General Meeting to reorganise the company. The Chairman, Sir William Shenton, told them:

Our bakery and cold storage plant is out of date, and if the Company is to maintain its position of supremacy in bakery products and to cope with the requirements for further cold storage facilities, it is essential that up-to-date plant should be acquired in the near future.

The old one was in Burrows Street in Wanchai. The Café Wiseman (the Lane, Crawford restaurant) had its own bakery on the premises, and my guess is that this work was transferred to the new bakery when it finally arrived – The Stubbs. Rd facility didn’t open until the second half of 1938.  The company chair, J. H. Taggart, told the ordinary yearly meeting at the Exchange Building on May 28, 1938:

Commodious and eminently suitable premises have been acquired in Stubbs Road and the preparation of the building and the installation of  plant are progressing with despatch. No expense is being spared in the interests of public health and I confidently affirm that – when completed – the new bakery will be without equal in the Far East in the manufacture of bread, cake and confectionery under the most efficient and hygienic conditions. (Hongkong Daily Press, May 30, 1938, page 2).”

To continue reading Brian’s research please click on the following link:
Brian Edgar’s blog In The Dark World’s Fire: Thomas and Evelina Edgar in Occupied Hong Kong – The Lane, Crawford Bakery in Stubbs Road (1): Before the War

This article was first posted on 15th April 2015.

See:

1. Brian Edgar’s blog In The Dark World’s Fire: Thomas and Evelina Edgar in Occupied Hong Kong – Home Page
2. Gwulo – Lane Crawford Bakery, Stubbs Road includes several comments about opening/closing dates, access to the bakery, the bakery during WW2…
3. Gwulo  – pages that link to Lane Crawford Bakery http://gwulo.com/node/13908/backlinks
4. Gwulo – Wartime wedding of Thomas Edgar, baker at LC Bakery, and Evelina d) Oliveira 29th June 1942 http://gwulo.com/atom/14720

Related Indhhk articles:

1. Two HK bakeries 1864 – The Wanchi and The Colonial, and mention of two other companies
2. Kapok(紅棉) and Golden Gate (金門) – HK Bakery Chains from the 50s and 60s and the family behind them
3. The five Tang brothers – oyster farming Deep Bay, Sui Luen Weaving Mill 瑞麟 織造廠, Sui Luen Towel Mill 瑞麟毛巾 廠, Tung On Cheong Bakery 同安祥餅家 – further information provided by a granddaughter
4. Cheong Alum and the case of mass poisoning at the E-Sing bakery
5. Chun Hing Bakery, Biscuit & Confectionery Manufactory
6. Ching Loong Bakery (正隆餅家) 1889 – 1963
7. Dorabjee Naorojee Mithaiwala, baker, hotelier and founder of the first cross-harbour ferry service (later the Star Ferry Company)
8. The Hongkong Milling Company (Rennie’s Mill)
9. Far East Flour Mills (遠東麵粉廠)
10. Kowloon Flour Mills (九龍麵粉廠)
11. David L.F. Sung (孫麟方) and Hong Kong Flour Mills (香港麵粉廠)
12. The Sperry Flour Company in Hong Kong