John MacNeile Price, Surveyor General of Hong Kong, the Tai Tam reservoirs

James Chan: While walking around the Tai Tam reservoirs on 11th January 2018 I came across a sign on the Tai Tam Waterworks Heritage Trail, see below, which began: “Before the 1860s, Hong Kong relied on primitive sources such as wells and streams for its water supply. Although the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, the first rainwater facility, was enlarged in […]

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John Laird Wright – MacDonald & Co Shipyard, HK and Green Island Cement, Macau

HF: John Laird Wright worked for MacDonald and Company’s shipyard in Hong Kong from 1907 to 1908. He then worked for Green Island Cement Company in Macau which he left in 1910. This obituary comes from an Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituary in 1934: John Laird Wright was for seventeen years a member of the Anglo- Persian Oil Company’s staff in various […]

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A Century of Riding the Waves: the Hsu Family of Eddie Steamship

Eddie Steamship Detail Image 3 York Lo

On the 25th October 2023 Jim Ting left the following comment – ”My mother was the personal assistant of W.H. Eddie Hsu in the late 1970s until 1982 when we decided to emigrate to the U.S. She had fond memories of her time working there and every so often I still hear her telling these stories.” York Lo: A Century […]

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William Charles Gomersall 1895-1960, China Engineers Ltd

HF: W C Gomersall was born in London, UK in 1895 and died in Hong Kong in 1960. In 1928 he founded China Engineers Ltd in Shanghai. Post WW2 Gomersall and the company moved to Hong Kong. This obituary is extracted from the journal  of the Institution of Electrical Engineers a British professional organisation.  This article was first posted on 23rd July […]

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J. Ullmann (烏利文) – Swiss Watchmaker and Jeweler in HK and China

J Ullman Watchmaker Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: J. Ullmann (烏利文) – Swiss Watchmaker and Jeweler in HK and China Pictures of the interior and exterior of J. Ullmann’sTientsin store in the 1900s. (Directory and Chronicle of China, 1905) Founded in HK in the 19th century by a Swiss native of the same name, J. Ullmann & Co was a leading watchmaker not just in Hong […]

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Wilks & Jack Ltd – early 20th century Engineers and ship designers

Wilks & Jack Ltd Shop Image Early 20thC HK University Library

“This firm was founded in 1902 by Mr. E. C. Wilks, as a marine engineers’ and surveyors’ bureau. Mr. Wilks was joined in 1903 by Mr. W. C. Jack, formerly Ingenieur en Chef of the Tonkin River Mail Service, and late assistant manager at the Kowloon establishment of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company. During the five years of […]

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The Four Taxi Kings – Blue, Central, New and Star

Taxi, Four Kings Image 2 Detail York Lo

York Lo: The Four Taxi Kings – Blue, Central, New and Star From the 1920s to 1960s, taxicab service in Hong Kong was heavily regulated with medallions only awarded to taxicab companies rather than individuals and as a result, the industry was dominated by a few firms. Among these firms, the four most prominent were Blue, Central, New and Star and […]

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Harpers – the Family, the Dealership and the first 50 years of Ford automobiles in Hong Kong

Harpers Ford Automobiles In HK Detail B Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Harpers – the Family, the Dealership and the first 50 years of Ford automobiles in Hong Kong Left: Harper House on Ma Tau Wai Road in To Kwa Wan (now BMW Building); Right: 1938 Ford ad by Harpers promoting the new Ford Ten. For close to a century, Wallace Harper & Co (also known as Harpers) has been […]

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The film The Sand Pebbles – replica of the USS San Pablo built at Vaughan & Yung Engineering Co Ltd

York Lo’s recent article, J.H. Vaughan – An American Shipbuilder in Hong Kong, mentions that the yard built the replica of the USS San Pablo for the well known film The Sand Pebbles. The article has prompted IDJ to send the following: The Sand Pebbles – Production Notes THE BACKGROUND When the late Richard McKenna’s first and only novel, “The Sand Pebbles,” […]

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