Sir Paul Chater – further information
HF: Sir Catchick Paul Chater was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong, whose family roots were in Calcutta, India.
Sir Paul Chater in 1924 Source: Wikipedia
Chater was born Khachik Pogose Astwachatoorean in Calcutta, British India, one of thirteen offspring of Armenian parents, Miriam and Chater Paul Chater. His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service.
Chater was orphaned at the age of seven. In 1864 he moved to Hong Kong from Calcutta and lived with the family of his sister Anna and her husband, the Armenian born Jordan Paul Jordan (1820-1875).
In the early days in Hong Kong, he was an assistant at the Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan. Later, with the aid of the Sassoon family, he set up business as an exchange broker, resigned from the bank, and traded gold bullion and land on his own account. He took sea bed soundings at night in a sampan and was thus instrumental in plotting the reclamation of Victoria Harbour. He is credited with a pivotalessful business role in the colonial government’s success in acquiring lands then held by the military, at a cost of two million pounds sterling.
In 1868 he and Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody formed brokerage company Chater & Mody, a largely successful business partnership in Hong Kong, although the firm’s Hong Kong Milling Company (aka Rennie’s Mill) failed in 1908 and resulted in the suicide of Albert Rennie.
In 1886, he helped Patrick Manson establish Dairy Farm, and he entered the Legislative Council that same year, taking the place of F.D. Sassoon. Also in 1886 Chater established Kowloon Wharf and Godown, predecessor of the Wharf Holdings.
Dairy Farm undated Source: Gwulo
In 1889, he established Hongkong Land with James Johnstone Keswick. Hong Kong Land commenced the land reclamation project under the Praya Reclamation Scheme in 1890. Persuaded by the suggestion of temporary councillor Bendyshe Layton that Hong Kong should have electricity, they secretly acquired an old graveyard in Wanchai where they built one of the earliest power stations in the world. In 1890 the Hong Kong Electric Company went into production.
Source: Wikipedia
This article was first posted on 9th October 2025.
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