York Lo: Shanghainese Wood Carvers and the Development of the Wooden Furniture Industry in Hong Kong As mentioned in the article “There was Something About Hong Kong Old Mary…”, Chiuchow natives Mary Wong and her son Jimmy Tse of HK Old Mary Sing Shun Co. were pioneers of the export carved wood furniture industry in Hong Kong and Jimmy himself actually […]
» Read more
Our recently posted article, Lt. Col. M.H. Logan connected to KCR, Logan and Amps, Palmer & Turner…, mentioned the company Palmer & Turner and I thought it might be of interest to learn more about the firm, now known as P&T Group. The following timeline comes from the company’s website. P&T Group The origins of P&T Group date back to […]
» Read more
York Lo: The authorized agent for YKK zippers in Hong Kong since the 1950s has been Hung Cheong Import & Export Ltd ( 鴻昌進出口有限公司, incorporated in 1972), which was founded by Kwok Tak-seng (郭得勝, 1911-1990) and Yeung Yiu-chung (楊耀松, 1921-2003). The profits from selling YKK zippers formed the foundations of […]
» Read more
IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald in a 1930s long series entitled Hong Kong Personalities. HF: I have retyped the original article to aid clarity and searches. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped copy of the article. Hong Kong Personalities MR. VINCENT SORBY This is the thirty-sixth of the […]
» Read more
York Lo: J.H. Vaughan – An American Shipbuilder in Hong Kong San Pablo from the movie The Sand Pebbles – JH Vaughan’s highest profile creation (Source: Sand Pebbles movie website) Americans have been involved in the Hong Kong shipbuilding industry since the early days of the colony when two Bostonians – Charles Emery and George Frazar set up their shipyard in […]
» Read more
York Lo: Fred Westphal – the American Oil Taipan from New Orleans who helped to power Hong Kong Fred Westphal (right) with Governor Sir David Trench (centre) and Lord Lawrence Kadoorie (left) at the opening of Peninsula Electric Power’s Tsing Yi power station in 1969. Source: HK Heritage On October 11, 2016, Frederick Clement Westphal Jr passed away in his native […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Queen of Pens – Holia Chow and Rox Industrial In the 1960s, Hong Kong had a pen manufacturer by the name of Rox Industrial (樂士實業), which made a variety of writing instruments including ballpoint pens, fountain pens, markers, sign pens and mechanical pencils. Although Rox focused on the export market, the firm was known locally as it […]
» Read more
HF: “Henry B. Endicott joined Butterfield & Swire as Head Shipping Clerk in February 1873, after being headhunted from the US firm of Augustine Heard & Co. An American and a fluent Chinese speaker, he was known to have excellent connections throughout the chartering and shipping community, and John Samuel Swire believed he was the right man for what he […]
» Read more
Thanks to IDJ for sending the following newspaper article titled New Year Honours for H.K. Residents. Of particular interest is mention of U Tat-chee, “genial Ginger King and Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Manufacturers Union, who becomes an officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division).” HF: I have retyped a further extract from the original article and […]
» Read more
Ralph Wood has kindly sent the following article. George Underhill Sands was Ralph’s Great-granduncle. Ralph has compiled a substantial amount of information about George Sands’ family as well as the man himself. This can be found on Ralph’s website which is linked below the article. This website has posted a couple of articles about George Underhill Sands which are also […]
» Read more