HF: A visit on 6th Feb 2014 to the Hong Kong Museum of History led to the following information about The Hongkong Cotton-Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Company Ltd 1898 -1914. This was the first major cotton spinning company in Hong Kong and was formed in 1898 by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co Ltd. (see article below). A photograph of the works […]
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HF: Our recently posted article, Beryl Mining at Devil’s Peak, brought forward a comment from Fiona Soliman which I repost here: Thank you for a fascinating article. I am currently researching my family tree, and among some of my grandfather’s documents I discovered a mini-autobiography in which he explains that, while he served in Hong Kong with the RAEC in 1952-55, […]
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Hugh Farmer: Kai Tak was named after two businessmen, Sir Kai Ho Kai and his son-in-law Mr. Au Tak, who were involved in a company formed to reclaim land in Kowloon Bay in 1912 for a residential housing scheme. However the scheme failed and the land was left vacant. Sir Kai died over ten years before the airfield welcomed its first […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS No.23) dated 14th March 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two during the middle of March 1943. These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in a […]
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HF: From our archives with thanks to IDJ for the source of information. “Stonebreakers in the early twentieth century. Granite in Hong Kong is of high quality and abundant. As a common construction material for columns, door frames and floors, the demand for granite was large. Because of its weight granite was transported by stone-boat by water from the quarry […]
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“Mount Butler quarry is located between Jardine’s Lookout and Sin Ma Shan on Hong Kong Island. The quarry started operation in the 1940s and ceased operation in the 1990s. Part of the quarry is now the base of [the] Explosive Ordinance Disposal Bureau for the handling and storage of explosives; while part of the site is the Firing Range of […]
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York Lo: Famous HK Tailors (Part One): the Cantonese – Tak Cheong, A Man Hing Cheong, Yee On Tai, Tailor Cheung, and Others Earlier in the group, a SCMP article was posted about the rise and fall of the tailor industry in Hong Kong but the article primarily told the story of Sam’s Tailor. The following series of articles […]
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Elizabeth Ride has British Army Aid Group (BAAG) records of shipping movements for 1944-45 in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two. These provide information not only about the ships themselves but what cargo was being brought into and out of Hong Kong during the latter stages of WW2, passengers carried, and of godowns, docks etc that were […]
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Carol Webster has been in touch asking if we have any information about her great grandfather, Walter George Babb. Carol knows that at the time of the 1911 UK census he was working for the Asiatic Petroleum Company as a watchman and living at 42 Victoria Square, Portishead, Somerset, England. She asks if we have any records of the APC’s […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS No.22) dated 10th March 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two during late February nnd early March 1943. These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in […]
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