Ah Hoo BANKER (aka Ah Woo) [c.1846-1906] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Ah Hoo BANKER (aka Ah Woo) [c.1846-1906]

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Submitted by Admin on Fri, 2014-08-01 01:07
Names
Given: 
Ah Hoo
Family: 
Banker
Alias / nickname: 
Ah Woo
Sex: 
Female
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
c.1846-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Death
Date: 
1906-11-23

Henry Ching writes:

Thank you to annelisec for posting the very interesting St John’s Cathedral Baptism, Marriage and Burial notices. 

I notice that for 1906 there is, under Burial for 24th November, the name Ah Woo Banker, aged 60 years. That would place her birth date as 1846. In the UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects 1627-1965 (accessible on Ancestry.com) there is a marriage record for Ah Hoo and William Swallow Banker in Shanghai in 1888.  Ah Hoo’s age is given there as 42, and it seems likely this was the same person as Ah Woo Banker. In the Hong Kong Cemetery records there is a  Hee Mong Banker, wife of William Swallow Banker, buried in 1906, aged 60. I wonder if anyone can confirm that this was the same lady as Ah Woo Banker?  The Banker family was a long-established Eurasian family in Hong Kong and China. There was a W.S.Banker in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service 1876-1878.

Connections: 
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Comments

Submitted by David on Fri, 2014-08-01 01:16.

Given the matching dates & husband, it's very likely they all refer to the same person. 

Hoo / Hu / Wu / Woo are all common transliterations of the same Chinese character, so that explains the Ah Hoo / Ah Woo.

The cemetery record shows:

01---/03/06-

In affectionate remembrance
of
HEE MONG
widow of the late
WILLIAM SWALLOW BANKER
of NEWCHWANG and the dearly beloved mother of
GEORGE BANKER
who departed this life on the 23rd November 1906
aged 60 years.
Asleep in Jesus

That was transcribed from the gravestone, so Hoo could easily have been misread as Hee. Does the son's name George Banker confirm they are all the same person?

Regards, David

Submitted by David on Sat, 2014-08-02 17:55.

The China Mail, 1906-11-23, page 4:

DEATH.

BANKER. - On the 23rd November, at 31 Seymour Road, H. H. BANKER ((sic.)), aged 60 years, the wife of the late William Swallow Banker, of Newchang. Shanghai papers please copy.

Hong Kong Daily Press, 1906-11-24, page 2:

DEATH.

On November 23rd, at 31 Seymour Road, A. H. BANKER, wife of the late WILLIAM SWALLOW BANKER, of Newchang, aged 60 years. Deeply regretted. Shanghai papers please copy.

The Hong Kong Weekly Press, 1906-11-26, page 1:

DEATHS.

On November 23rd, at 31 Seymour Road, A. H. BANKER, wife of the late WILLIAM SWALLOW BANKER, of Newchang, aged 60 years.