Early photos of Hong Kong people
Primary tabs
Thank you to Martyn Gregory for sharing these old photos of Hong Kong people with us. They date from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
You can click on any photo to visit its page. There you can zoom in to see more detail, read any notes about the photo, and add a comment if you can tell us anything about the photo.
The first set shows posed scenes of Chinese life. I doubt if the tourists who bought these photos ever saw the scenes in real life, but no doubt they were a good source of stories when they got back home again.
Then we've got a couple of law-and-order photos. The first one I've seen in several different collections while I've been looking for photos for the Central Police Station project. It's still a great photo to see again, showing six policemen in the old style of Chinese policeman's uniform, and clear enough to see some of the numbers on their collars:
??? 203 ???
218 123 ???
The second photo shows a criminal in the stocks:
We've also seen this photo before, and identified the date of the photo and his crime (see http://gwulo.com/atom/16814).
|
Ideas if you'd like to help Gwulo... #6. Quote Gwulo as your source (5 minutes) If Gwulo has helped you in your research, please could you mention us as a source? A link to Gwulo.com is great if you're writing on the web, or a mention of "Hong Kong history website, Gwulo.com" in your bibliography is ideal if it's a printed article. Thanks for helping! |
Next is the Governor, showing off his 8-man sedan chair:
Does anyone recognise him?
I think it could be Governor Blake (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Arthur_Blake.jpg for comparison).
There wasn't any practical need to have 8 men carrying a sedan chair, so this is all about making a statement of power. Come to think of it I don't remember photos of any other 8-man sedan chairs in Hong Kong. Was there a rule preventing anyone else from owning one, or was it just understood to be "not the done thing"?
Here's another Governor photo but a different Governor, Sir John Pope Hennessy.
He's the man in the middle of the front row, one of the few men in the photo without a beard or a moustache. The reason for this photo is the man on Hennessy's right, King Kalakaua of Hawaii, visiting Hong Kong in August, 1881.
And finally, a photo titled "Water famine. Hong Kong":
This scene, people queuing up for water during a water shortage in Hong Kong, would be repeated many times over the following years.
Thanks again to Martyn for sharing these photos from his private collection.
Martyn is a specialist in 'China Trade' paintings and pictures related to the Far East: that is, works of the period 1700-1900, by both Western artists and Chinese artists who painted 'in the Western manner' for the traders and ships' officers who visited the China coast. You can learn more at: http://www.martyngregory.com/
|
Also on Gwulo.com this week:
|
Comments
Nice Photos
Some of the original photos were reproduced into postcards at the turn of the last century. I also believe that it is Governor Blake. The number 8 is also an auspicious number as opposed to having 4 sedan chair bearers. I think one of the last photos I have seen with 8 sedan chair bearers was in the 1922 photo of the Prince of Wales visit upon his arrival in Hong Kong.
Governor in sedan
Shiona writes:
I'm also pretty certain that this is Governor Blake. Also, there are other photos of the water famine in Hong Kong in the Stewart Lockhart collection (Now lodged in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery).
Governor in Sedan Chair
I agree that the facial features of the man in the sedan chair look more like those of Governor Blake than any of the other Hong Kong Governors from the late 1800's and early 1900's when this photo is said to have been taken.
The same photo appears at Page 240 of "East of Suez" (www.gutenberg.org/files/27260/27260-h/27260-h.htm) entitled "A former "His Excellency The Governor" of Hong Kong", which corroborates the handwritten comment on Martyn's pic that this is indeed a Governor rather than someone else. The book was published in 1907 which fits with the photo being of Blake who was The Gov from 1898 to 1903. The background of the photo is clearer in the book than in Martyns pic. Does anyone recognize the building?
The fact that Blake is wearing civilian, rather than ceremonial, garb is explained in part by the caption of a photo in "A History of Hong Kong" (ISBN 0 00 637645 2) of a meeting he attended in 1900. Whilst all the other colonial officials are in uniform, Blake is in civies and the caption states he "was usually photographed in civilian clothes."
Martyns photo should have been taken between 11-1898 and 11-1903, when Blake arrived and departed Hong Kong (Pages 330 & 342, "A History of Hong Kong").
Moddsey has previously posted a photo of another 8 man team of sedan chair carriers at www.gwulo.com/node/6635.