Shewan Tomes & Co. [????-????] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Shewan Tomes & Co. [????-????]

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Submitted by ChrisR on Mon, 2011-08-01 21:56
Name: 
Shewan Tomes & Co.
Type: 
Business
Status: 
Inactive

Hello everyone,

I came across a reference to Shewan Tomes & Co (founded in the 1890s) and they were a very large company in HK. I have however been unable to find any published information on this company. Does anyone know anymore about Shewan Tomes?

Chris

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Submitted by moddsey on Tue, 2011-08-02 06:34.

At the turn of the last century, their offices were in St. George's Building, Praya Central. More info: http://www.archive.org/stream/twentiethcentury00wriguoft#page/212/mode/2up

Submitted by IDJ on Wed, 2011-08-03 01:57.

Shewan Tomes was the company that effectively started China Light & Power Co, the supplier of electricity to Kowloon, the New Territories and China. See the Book "Power" by Nigel Cameron, Oxford University Press 1982. This is the history of CLP up to the 1980s. Also try https://www.hongkongheritage.org/html/eng/index.html# although I find this site very slow to load. See the sample pages from the book in the "Photos" section.

Submitted by Philip on Mon, 2011-09-26 20:24.

In addition to the above there is a reference to Rudolf Lederhofer who was an employee of Shewan  Tomes on Page 41 of "The Hidden Years" by John Luff (1967) . Rudi ended up in Stanley with his wife and daughter. He was involved in the war efforts with trucks and transportation. Phil Cracknell

Submitted by belz on Fri, 2011-09-30 01:14.

Hi Chris:

My father. G. T. Palmer worked for Shewan Tomes after the War.  We were friends of the Lederhofers, Rudi & Olive.  Their daughter went to South Africa to live if I remember correctly.

Dad worked under Rudi.  He was a roofing specialist and took on work for Shewan Tomes around the City.  I remember one project out in the New Territories in Yun Long where the Army had housing for the families.   Dad refurbished all the roofs in those homes.   I remember being on the roof "helping" out.

There was also a building in Ice House Street where the FNCB was located and near where Club Lusitano was.   It was not as tall as the buildings are now, and that was one of the Shewan Tomes jobs Dad was on. 

During this time, Shewan Tomes were located in the building across the road from Dairy Farm (later Dairy Lane) and where Lane Crawfords were.  I have forgotten the name of the building.  You have a picture of the building in that book.   The board room was on the first floor,  3rd or 4th window on the right hand side and that's where I sat and did my homework waiting for Dad to finish up for the day.

Nice to see the Lederhofer name and recall the memories of those days.

Submitted by p.susanne on Fri, 2012-11-02 00:40.

I'm glad to see the Lederhofer name too, because Rudi Lederhofer was my grandmother' brother. He was born in Austria (Wien), and my latest information fom him, that he lived in Florida (USA) with his second wife Edna. Patricia  lived in South Africa, that's correct. But fifteen years ago I heard about them.

Suzanne P. Balla (Budapest, Hungary)

 

Submitted by David on Sat, 2012-11-03 18:11.

There are a couple of mentions of Rudi in Barbara's diary, see:

http://gwulo.com/node/11176/backlinks

Regards, David

Submitted by p.susanne on Sat, 2012-11-03 19:44.

Thanks David!

I must to correct: My oncle's birth place correctly is  Sanok (K.u.K. Monarchy, today Poland), but during his childhood and youth the family lived really in Wien. (Austria)