"The Castle" [1868-????]

At last Friday's RAS talk, one of the audience asked for any information about The Castle, but noone had anything to offer. Here's what we know, which isn't much!

• Today, all that's left are a couple of street names: Castle Road, and Castle Steps.
• Both roads appear on an 1863 map (Plate 2-2, Mapping Hong Kong)
• A building named "The Castle", appears at the intersection of the two roads on the 1901 map shown above, and a 1930s map (Plate 3-5a, Mapping Hong Kong)

We've also got a couple of residents' names:

• 1890: Mrs A. J. Gomes
• 1899: Mr Augustus Shelton Hooper, Secretary, Hongkong Land Investment & Agency Co., Ltd

Can anyone add any more information about the place? eg who built it, and how it got its name?

Regards, David

Thanks to Bill Greaves for sending this extract from the AMO's 'Conservation Study on Kom Tong Hall' (which doesn't seem to be available online anymore)

• 2.2.        Castle Road
• 2.2.1.    Castle Road was originally an extension of Caine Road, and it did not receive its own name until 1865 [? We see it has this name already on a 1863 map. David], when five houses along the road were occupied and became subject to government rates.[7]   The 1867 Plan of Victoria also gives the name “Castle Road” (衛城道) to what was previously known as the lower part of Caine Road (10.3). 
• 2.2.2    It is interesting to note that a house named “The Castle” was erected on Inland Lot 577 at Castle Road in 1868 (i.e. after the naming of the road).  This large residence was then owned by Charles May, who became the first Police Magistrate in 1871 and in 1879 became a member of the Legislative Council.[8]
• 2.2.3.    An eye-catching villa named “Lower Woodlands” was erected on Inland Lot 426 in Castle Road in 1889 (10.4).[9]  This impressive complex was divided into two separate houses namely “Lower Woodland West” (IL 426 section A) and “Lower Woodland East” (IL 426 section B) (PN 01).[10]  Sir Robert Ho Tung (何東) was later to buy the whole site in the late 1890s, while his brother Ho Fook (何福) in association with an Indian merchant, Abdoolhoosen Abdollrahim Ebrahim, bought the property from Sir Robert in 1912 (10.6).5 [11]
• 2.2.4.    Ho Kom-tong, lived at “Lower Woodlands East”, in the early years but later in 1912 he purchased this house outright from Ho Fook (his third elder father) and the Indian merchant.  The house was shortly to be demolished by Ho Kom-tong to make way for his new mansion – the Kom Tong Hall.[12]

The footnotes are almost as interesting, as they point to some new sources for checking old building information:

• 7. Hong Kong Public Records Service, HKRS38-2-3—Rates Assessment, Valuation and Collection Books 1865, p. 137; MM-0001*—Plan of Victoria, Hong Kong, 1867.
• 8. Hong Kong Government Records Service, HKRS38-2-5—Rates Assessment, Valuation and Collection Books 1868, p. 56; “Charles, May” in Online Catalogue of the Carl Smith Collection http://www.hkpro.gov.hk/ws/content/big5/searchholding/cark_collection.htm# [Accessed date: 28 April 2004]
• 9. Hong Kong Government Records Service, MM-0003—Plan of the City of Victoria, Hong Kong, 1889; MM-0076-07—Plan of Victoria, 1901.
• 10. Hong Kong Government, Index to the Streets, House Numbers and Lots (Hong Kong : Noronha & Co, 1903), p. 9.
• 11. Hong Kong Government Records Service, HKRS265-11A-840-1—I.L. No. 426, s.A, K.I.L. No. 42, s.F, K.I.L. No. 105, R.P. – Assignment, 29 March 1899; HKRS265-11A-629-12, 1912.
• 12. Hong Kong Government Records Service, HKRS 265-11A-840-8-- I.L. No. 426, s.A, K.I.L. No. 42, s.F, K.I.L. No. 105, R.P. – Assignment, 18 April 1912; HKRS265-11A-840-9- I.L. No. 426, s.A, K.I.L. No. 42, s.F, K.I.L. No. 105, R.P. –Declaration, 22 April 1912; HKRS265-11A-629-12--I.L. NO. 201, s.L, I.L. No. 201, s.M, I.L. No. 426, s.B, I.L. No. 1916, s.A, K.I.L. No. 721, s.A, s.s.1, M.L. No. 67, s.B-Assignment (Copy), 3 December 1912.; “Ho, Kom Tong” in Online Catalogue of the Carl Smith Collection; Frances Tse Liu, Ho Kom-Tong: A Man for All Seasons (Hong Kong : Compradore House Ltd., 2003), p. 53.

The 1863 map shows Castle Steps and Castle Road. I can't think they'd be given that name without some 'Castle' landmark nearby, so I'm guessing there was another building here pre-May.

I also note the name still in use at a couple of other places n the area. There's a 'Castle Lane' running up the hill along the southeast side of Ho Kom Tong hall, and off that lane there are buildings named 'Castle Villa', and a 'Castle Tower'.

Castle Road isn't on the route to Douglas Castle (you'd be going up the hill to Robinson Road, then back down to Bonham Road and Pok Fu Lam Rd - quicker to just go along Queen's Rd then up Pok Fu Lam Rd), so I doubt that's the reason for the name.

Certainly a coincidence though, so there may still be a connection. Could he have had a house named Douglas Castle in this part of town before moving out to the "new" Douglas Castle in Pok Fu Lam? Or maybe it's just that "Castle" was in fashion as a House name around that time?

The death occurred at his home Bucknell Manor Bicester on October 1, of Mr. Anthony Babington a former resident of Hong kong. The late Mr. Babington was one of the older generation of residents, and at the time of his death was 69 years of age. The end came suddenly from, heart failure. He was the youngest son of a distinguished father, Lieutenant. Colonel W. Babington of the 7th Hussars and came out the East in his early twenties, serving in Japan for some time before settling down in Hong kong. Mr. Anthony Babington first arrived in China in the Eighties and was was for some time connected with National Bank of China being for several years thereafter manager of this Bunk's branch in Yokohama. About the year 1892 he joined Messrs. Shewan, Tomes and Company in Hongkong and retired in 1910 when he went home to England. The deceased was a very keen polo player, and was also popular in social circles besides doing a great deal of entertaining himself. He married after leaving China, and settled down in Bicester. He is survived by his widow. In Hongkong the late Mr. Babington made his residence at the at Castle in Caine Road, and it is interesting to note that Babington Path, which is close by, was named after him.

Source: Old Hong Kong by Colonial Vol 1

On the 1845 Map there is a Police Station here; its possible that "The Castle" was named after it. In 1843 the numerous bandits who inhabited the hills above the Upper Bazaar were responsible for many robberies so a police station was constructed in the vicinity to discourage them.