HF: THe Audit Commission’s Report 41, published in October 2003 includes chapter 8 titled, The acquisition and clearance of shipyard sites. This appears to have been undertaken on behalf of the Lands Department and Civil Engineering Departments. The report is dated 18th October 2003. The report begins with a summary which states: The Government may acquire land for public purposes […]
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York Lo: Watch Case Pioneer: Ernest C. Wong (王澤流) and Danemann Watch Case Factory (德明錶壳廠) Left: Ernest C. Wong (HK Album, 1967); Right: Ernest Wong receiving the chairman of the Swiss Watch Manufacturers Association in front of the Danemann factory in 1958 (WKYP, 1958-12-23) Founded in 1952, Danemann Watch Case Factory was one of the first and largest manufacturers of […]
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IDJ: While many people in HK will recall Taikoo Dockyard and Hong Kong & Whampoa Dockyard or the Hong Kong United Dockyards as they were later known, few will be aware of Bailey’s Shipyard or the Cosmopoliton Dockyards which were quite substantial operations. The following account of W.S. Bailey & Co., often called Bailey’s Shipyard, is from Twentieth Century Impressions […]
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York Lo: The Ngai brothers of Yuen Hing Weaving & Dyeing Works (元興織染廠) and the CMA Left: Yuen Hing label with factory building; Right: Ngai Shiu-hung (HK Factory Survey) Founded in 1927, Yuen Hing Weaving & Dyeing Works was one of the oldest and largest weaving & dyeing mills in Hong Kong and its proprietor – the Ngan brothers played […]
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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 […]
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Hugh Farmer was recently on holiday in Burma (in 2013) and visited the town of Pathein (Bassein) where he visited the Shwe Sar Umbrella Workshop which produces exquisite hand-made parasols. He mentioned this to group member Malcolm Morris, who lived in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Malcolm remembers his mother using a parasol which he thinks she bought in the […]
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It’s 1952, summer presumably, two policemen are walking into Lock Road, TST. Mohan’s Tailors is on the left, well known at time and I believe continuing on to today. Pretty obviously the subject of interest is the person in the centre. What is he or she carrying? What was it used for? Why was it being moved around TST? It’s […]
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IDJ has unearthed an article first posted in June 1931 in the Far Eastern Review titled Military Aircraft in China. The article mentions the Aviation Department of Arnhold & Co Ltd (“agents for the Blackburn Aircraft Company”). This supplements information we have posted in recent articles on both companies, linked below. The article begins: Military Aircraft in China. Of the […]
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York Lo: Teh Hu Steamship (德和輪船公司) Left: T.Y. Wu at an international shipping convention in Taipei in 1971 (National Repository of Cultural Heritage, Taiwan); Right: “New Teh Hu” on slip at the Taikoo Dockyard (presumably in the 1960s) Since 1949, Shanghainese shipowners had dominated the shipping industry in Hong Kong but while most are familiar with Y.K. Pao of Worldwide […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS 26) dated 7th April 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two between mid March and mid April 1943. These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in a […]
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