Shanghai Gas Company Ltd

Melanie Li, Manager – Corporate and Community History at the Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP), has kindly given permission for the following script archived at HKHP to be used on our website.

HF: Thanks to IDJ for image separation and enhancement, and for supplying their captions.

 

The Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Gas) was formed in 1865 to provide gas lighting to the city of Shanghai. The company was restructured in 1900 with the Kadoorie Family as the major shareholder, and Horace Kadoorie was later made Chairman. The company was temporarily requisitioned by the Japanese Army during the Second World War. In 1952, the company’s properties in Shanghai were taken over by the government of the People’s Republic of China. Shanghai Gas later became Gasco Investments, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hongkong Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd.(2)

If you are interested in what HKHP’s archives have on Shanghai Gas, “Highlights of the collection (1938-1978) include working files, notebooks and items from the collection of James Grant, employee of Shanghai Gas who kept meticulous notebooks at both Shanghai Gas and Shanghai Dockyards in the 1930s – 1940s.”

See: The Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP) was founded by Sir Michael Kadoorie in 2007 to preserve history and promote the appreciation of heritage in Hong Kong. HKHP holds a unique collection of archives originated from CLP, the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and other Kadoorie businesses and interests, which includes oral histories relating to Hong Kong’s wider social and economic development post-war.

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‘This photo shows a “small valve-cover…found imbedded in a sidewalk in the former French Concession [Shanghai} with the word “Gas” printed on it in English.”
The British-run Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd. was founded in 1862 and first produced on November 1, 1865. In the company’s infancy it had 5 miles of gas mains and 58 customers. By the 1930’s the company owned and operated 194 miles of gas mains and served 13,384 customers. (1)

Sources:

1. Shanghai – manholes blogspot
2. Hong Kong Heritage Project – Shanghai Gas Company Ltd

See:

1. shanghai-manholes.blogspot.com While many have dedicated much time and energy to showcasing the buildings and historical sites of the former International Settlement and French Concession in Shanghai, the purpose of this blog is to highlight the forgotten remnants of infrastructure – still dotting the streets – originally installed by the foreign powers that once called this city home.
2.  The Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP) was founded by Sir Michael Kadoorie in 2007 to preserve history and promote the appreciation of heritage in Hong Kong. HKHP holds a unique collection of archives originated from CLP, the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and other Kadoorie businesses and interests, which includes oral histories relating to Hong Kong’s wider social and economic development post-war.

Related Indhhk articles:

1. China Engineers Ltd 1928 Shanghai – 1937 Hong Kong
2. China Engineers Ltd, Hong Kong – 1963 supplementary information
3. Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong Kong’s industrialization, 1947-1955
4. A History of the Wong Family Textile Business – Part One: Life in Shanghai
5. Asiatic Petroleum Company – contemporary photographs of its Shanghai building
6. Asiatic Petroleum Company – Shanghai building , further information
7. Gas, Duddell Street Gas lamps – last working gas street lamps in Hong Kong
8. Gas, The Hongkong and China Gas Company – BAAG report/map – Mau Tau Kok – Sept 1944
9. Gas, The Hongkong and China Gas Company Ltd – early history from 1860s
10. Gas, The Hongkong and China Gas Company Ltd – explosion 14th May 1934, 42 killed
11. Gas, The Hongkong and China Gas Company Ltd – information and images from c1908
12. Gas, The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Ltd – Noel Croucher – philanthropist and director
13. Gas, The Hongkong and China Gas Company Ltd / Towngas – 150th Anniversary 2012 – superb photographs
14. Gas, Samuel Cutler & Sons – Millwall, London and Telford, UK – maker of the Aberdeen gasometer
15. Gas, Town Gas gasometer, Aberdeen
16. Gas, Town Gas gasometer, Aberdeen – Hornsey Gas holder No 1, London – 1892, oldest surviving example of Cutler’s Patent Guide Framing
17. Gas, Town Gas gasometer, Aberdeen – made and erected in 1981 through the collaboration of HUD and S Cutler & Sons, Telford, UK

This article was first posted on 14th February 2018.

Related Indhhk articles featuring HKHP archive material:

1. The Hongkong Rope Manufacturing Co., Ltd – incorporating HKHP archive material
2. The Hongkong Engineering & Construction Company Ltd 1922-1993
3. Tai Ping Carpets – A Brief History