HF: Magazine Island (火藥洲; Fo Yeuk Chau), originally known as One Tree Island (一木島) is located off the southwest coast of Hong Kong Island, and off the northwestern tip of Ap Lei Chau. Administratively, it is part of Southern District. The former Magazine Building on Magazine Island is now a Grade Three Historic Building. It was built by the British Dynamite Company, which later […]
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Dodwell & Co. (天祥洋行) or Dodwell’s, was one of the leading British merchant firms, or hongs, active in Hong Kong, China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co., Dent & Co., and Russell & Co. Swire oulived the latter two and remains a major commercial power in Hong Kong, China and […]
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York Lo: The “Five Treasures” of the HK Sauce Industry While many industries and its players in HK have come and gone, the sauce industry is one where the players have particularly strong staying power and within the sauce industry, five firms – Pun Chun, Mee Chun, Tung Chun, Koon Chun and Pat Chun- collectively known as “Five Treasures” (as […]
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York Lo: Kowloon Flour Mills (九龍麵粉廠) Aerial view of Kowloon Flour Mills. Kowloon Flour Mills (hereafter referred to as “KFM”) at 161 Hoi Bun Road in Kwun Tong is the only surviving flour mill in Hong Kong and received a lot of attention in 2011 when the then Secretary for Development Carrie Lam cited the mill as an example of […]
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A festival of light in Hong Kong this week will, among other things, champion the city’s neon signage. As well as teaming up with artists to create 16 works at sites on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, Lumieres Hong Kong, which runs from November 23 to 25, has joined forces with the Hong Kong Neon Heritage group to draw […]
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HF: Jan Hendrik Marsman, was born in 1892 in the Netherlands and died in 1956, I think in the Philippines. He was known as Hank to his friends. He started his working life as an engineer and later developed extensive business interests in the Philippines. Marsman is of interest to us because he became involved, through his company Marsman Hong […]
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York Lo: From Bicycles to Lamps and Stoves: Union Metal Works (合衆五金廠) and the two illustrious families behind the firm Left: 1962 Unimet ad showing its entire line of SOLAR brand products; Right: Unimet lamp made in 1965 Union Metal Works (aka Unimet) was one of the leading manufacturers of pressure lanterns in HK alongside World-Light, Glory, Lea Hin […]
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The following article about Augustine Heard and Company was written by Gillian Bickley, Peter E Hamilton and George Cautherley and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012. This article incorporates one […]
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“Abdoolally Ebrahim & Co (HK), Ltd. was formerly known as Ebrahim Noordin & Company. The company was founded in 1842 and is based in Hong Kong. It has branch offices in China, India, and Pakistan In 1841, Seth Ebrahim Noordin, a man who survived a shipwreck and arrived in India on a bale of cotton, came ashore in Hong Kong […]
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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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