George SHE (aka George Samuel Zimmern) [1904-1979]

Notes from Henry Ching:

George She’s grandfather was a German named A.Zimmern.  A.Zimmern’s two sons by a “protected woman” were known as Adolph SHI Chan Kwong and Andrew SHI Ping Kwong.  Adolph’s descendants all appear to have used the surname Zimmern (I think they were based in Shanghai before moving to HK).  Andrew’s descendants in HK, however, appear to have used the surname Shi as well as Zimmern.  George seems to have been the only one who called himself She (with an ‘e’ rather than an ‘i’).  The story I heard was that when he went up to Keble College in Oxford he used the surname Zimmern. However, he found a distant European relative was also at Keble with this surname, and to avoid embarrassment he changed his name to She.

George She was a remarkable man, having been at various times a lawyer and magistrate, an Anglican minister, and a schoolmaster.  During the Japanese occupation he opened  a cafe of sorts called Ivy’s, in D’Aguilar Street. He also used to hold Sunday services, which we attended, in Bishop’s House (Bishop Hall was not in HK). He was headmaster at DBS for only a relatively short time – I think six years.  My understanding is that it was understood that he was a stop-gap to hold the fort until Jimmy Lowcock was experienced enough to take over.