Who / What is Wyndham Street named after? | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Who / What is Wyndham Street named after?

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Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2013-03-18 14:34

80skid asks:

anyone know why wyndham street is so-called - the book - signs of colonial times says its origin is a mystery

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Submitted by David on Mon, 2013-03-18 22:03.

The name "Wyndham Street" is already marked on the 1845 map, so it must have been named before then. 

Possibly listing the names of those earliest roads and who they were named after would reveal a pattern that would clue us in on the sources of the unknown names.

Regards, David

Submitted by moddsey on Tue, 2013-03-19 06:47.

I don't think there was a person of stature around in Hong Kong at the time named Wyndham to have a road named after him.

As Hollywood as in Hollywood Road was probably named after the family home of Sir John Davis, perhaps the name Wyndham being associated with a person may not have a tangible connection.

Submitted by Alan C L Yu on Fri, 2013-03-29 03:45.

Another saying is that there were quite a lot of holly shrubs around that area when the road was constructed. Wyndham Street was built to link up Hollywood Road (2nd road built in HK) with Queen's Road (1st road in HK).  Being a winding narrow path, it was therefore called Wyndham  (meaning “hamlet near the winding way”). Actually Wynd is Old English / Scottish meaning a narrow street or alley. According to Wang Gang who wrote a book on this street, Wyndham was probably "transplanted" from a street with the same name in Westminster District in Greater London.