Robin Selby has sent the following information about his great-uncle Thomas Selby (1866-1937) during his time working for The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd (ICSNC) which had been established in 1873 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Jardine, Matheson & Co. Thomas worked for ICSNC from 1895 to 1908 when he was granted 12 months home leave and appears not to have […]
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York Lo: Chung Mei Manufactory (中美製造廠) Chung Mei’s joint booth with Chiap Hua in the 1948 HK Products Expo with Chung Mei on the left and Chiap Hua on the right; Right: Cheng Chek-chee Chung Mei Manufactory was a leading manufacturer of pressure lanterns, hurricane lanterns and kerosene stoves from the 1940s to the 1960s, although it was lesser known […]
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York Lo: The Chan Family of Sun Wui and the Entertainment Business in HK and Macau Natives of Sun Wui in Guangdong province, the family of Chan Wai-ting has been involved in the entertainment business in Hong Kong and Macau for close to a century through the operations of at least five movie theaters, the Kai Tak Amusement Park covered […]
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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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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 […]
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‘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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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HF and IDJ: The latter says this extract comes from a booklet titled ‘History of RAF Kai Tak’ produced by RAF Kai Tak in the 1970s. So much for the Kai Tak Bund area being the high class residential area the original promoters (Kai & Tak) hoped for! If you come across information about other lard factories in Hong Kong please send it in. In […]
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Tymon Mellor: Introduction The Ma On Shan Mine was developed using open cast excavation as the primary means to extract the iron ore following the initial find in 1905 to the early 1950’s. As part of the Japanese managed mine modernisation, mineral extraction went underground with the use of mining techniques. This had a twofold effect, reducing labour requirements, and […]
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