Tymon Mellor: To some, the workings at Cha Kwo Ling were not a mine as there was no shaft or entrance, but there was a large open excavation to remove a local occurrence of the mineral kaolin or ‘China Clay’. As one of the longest operating mines in Hong Kong, from 1928 to its closure in 1983 the mine had […]
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Paul Mark Onslow kindly sent me a manuscript of The Hongkong Land Company’s 90th Anniversary 1889-1979 which I intend to post on the website shortly. The manuscript contains a section entitled Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd, Part of Asia’s History featured in this article. HF: I have retyped the article to increase legibility and aid searches on the site. Please […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) report from 1st March 1945, An Outline of Conditions in Occupied Hong Kong which was compiled in early 1945 for use by the Civil Affairs Committee which was to take on the rehabilitation of HK after the planned allied invasion. HF: The report is lengthy so I am going to divide it […]
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The Chinese Engineering & Mining Company Limited was established in 1900 to mine coal for steamships in the area around Tientsin, China. The company was reformed in 1912 as a public company registered in London. Also in 1912 the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company and the Lanchow Mining Company Limited formed the Kailan Mining Administration to administer the coal mines. […]
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York Lo: Yan Chim Kee (甄沾記) – the Life, Death and Rebirth of the Century Old Coconut Candies & Ice Cream Maker The history of the confectionery industry in Hong Kong would not be complete without including the history of Yan Chim Kee, the prominent maker of coconut candies and ice cream. Founded in 1915, Yan Chim Kee has gone […]
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‘Scheduled seaplane services were a vital fixture in Victoria Harbour for more than two decades starting from the 1930s, and some of the floatplanes flying between Hong Kong and Macau had a special mission – shuttling gold between the two colonies. James Ng, an expert on Hong Kong’s aviation history and a member of the Hong Kong Collectors Society, […]
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James Chan: I found this while looking through the Public Records Office images. I don’t think we have anything about this company. A quick check finds that it was started in 1950 and is now (as HAECO) one of the world’s largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service providers in terms of capacity. It is owned by Swire Pacific Ltd. […]
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Arthur Rylands Lowe (22 June 1873 – 31 May 1924) was a British accountant and the first full-time professional accountant in Hong Kong. Lowe was born on 22 June 1873 in Manchester. He was educated at the Hulme Grammar School and later joined Parkinson, Mather & Co., chartered accountants of Manchester and London. He moved to Hong Kong to join Butterfield […]
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Elizabeth Ride: I’m afraid this material is very raw, but I hope will be of interest and value to those researching ship building and shipyards during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War Two. I apologise for the the state of some of the documents, which were obviously attacked by white ants while they were stored in GHQ […]
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Tymon Mellor: The acquisition of Kowloon was primarily undertaken as a military exercise, but with it came the responsibility to provide fresh water for the existing population and the new large military contingent. The solution was to establish a number of wells and an associated rudimentary water distribution system, elements of which can still be seen today. The first official […]
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