HF: Alfred Herbert Rennie, came to Hong Kong from Canada as the sales representative of the American Company, Portland Flouring Mills. He started the Hongkong Milling Company in what was then called Junk Bay. However, despite backing from several prominent local businessmen his company quickly became mired in multiple problems and Rennie committed suicide while travelling by boat to his […]
» Read more
York Lo: Three Generations and Three Industries: From Budson Watch to Casey Diamonds to Ingrid Millet The Liu family in 1949. Budson Liu (second row, second from right), his sons Pak-fei, Wan-fei, Casey and Ping-cheong (back row left to right) and their spouses and children. For close to a century, three generations of the Budson Liu family have been at […]
» Read more
HF: The Old Dairy Farm in Pokfulam, Hong Kong, was once an extensive complex of farm buildings erected by the Dairy Farm Company. The Dairy Farm was founded in 1886 when Dr Patrick Manson (a Scottish surgeon and a pioneer in the fields of hygiene and tropical medicine) persuaded five influential businessmen in the city, including Paul Chater, to invest […]
» Read more
‘Leung Kit-lam’s eponymous steelware store is…probably the last of its kind in Hong Kong. For decades, he has operated the business alone. Tucked away in an alley, with a barely visible storefront, Leung works seven days a week making strainers, rat traps and crab pots. “Some neighbouring hotels have bought a few of my rat traps,” he says. The years […]
» Read more
Fung Chi Ming has sent a 1959 essay “Ping Chau”, an alternative name for Peng Chau, by Wei Kit Ling, Minnie, 1959, deposited at HKU Main Library. Wei Kit Ling writes about the Lime Industry, the Match Industry ie the Great China Match Factory, Porcelain Decoration, Rattan Ware, the Tanning Industry, and the making of Shrimp Sauce. All of these are […]
» Read more
1930 Additional information and an image sent by Peter Crush in July 2020, highlighted in blue. Unless otherwise stated all the information below comes from an in-house company publication, The Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry Co Ltd: Golden Jubilee 1923-1973, published in 1973. 1923 The company was incorporated on the 5th November. The Promoters of the company were Messrs. Lau Tak Po, […]
» Read more
HF: The Douglas Steamship Company was a British merchant company and maritime trading company founded in 1833 in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong by John Steward Lapraik and dissolved in 1987. After arriving in Hong Kong in 1858 to join his uncle, Douglas Lapraik’s shipping empire at Douglas Lapraik & Company, John Steward Lapraik quickly became one of the […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Directly after the Pacific War, like many other places, Hong Kong was struggling to recuperate. There was limited capital available and the Government had few resources. Mining was seen by many as a low cost investment, creating employment, generating hard currency and providing revenue to the Government. Unfortunately, this vision was not shared by the Government’s Interim Mining […]
» Read more
James Chan: This advert from the Hongkong Government Gazette of 9th January 1886 caught my eye. Further investigation brought up the announcement shown below the advert, published in Australia and New Zealand, warning readers that Norman Electric was an “unmitigated fraud and swindle” and exposing one Emil Bassett of New York who was operating under the alias Marsh Bassett. I […]
» Read more
HF: First some information about these companies extracted from the excellent HK Memory Project: In 1937, after buying the assets of Keung Hwa Aluminium and Enamelling Company, Mr. Dung Ji-fu founded I-Feng Enamelling Company in Hong Kong to sell aluminium and enamel ware. In 1940, Freezinhot Bottle Co., Ltd. was founded in Hong Kong also with Mr. Dung as the general […]
» Read more