Francis CHOMLEY [1822-1892]
Primary tabs
Thanks for the photo of the Dent fountain.
My 2nd great grand uncle, Francis Chomley (1822-1892) was educated at Trinity College, Dudlin, and after being admitted to King's Inn in 1838 as a lawyer, joined Dent & Co in China. He was made a partner in Hong Kong in 1857 and bcame Principle. He was a member of the Legislative Council in 1862 and was Hong Kong LegCo Senior Unofficial Member 1864 - 1866. He was the founding chairman of Hong Kong & Shanghi Bank in 1866. When Dent & Co collapsed, he joined Jardine Matheson and was British Consul in 1868.
His half brother Charles Albert Chomley (1840-1862) returned from Australia to Rotterdam to learn about trading, prior to joining Francis in Hong Kong but was drowned in Lake Neuchatel with Edward (aged 19), youngest son of Sir James Henry Turing, also a partner in Dent & Co their European factor.
He retired back to co Wicklow, Ireland.
A family story (unproven) is that he visited his half-brothers in Australia around 1864/5 and attempted to purchase a Melbourne Cup race horse to take back to China.
I would be interested if any other details of his life in Hong Kong are found. There is mention of pictures (painting and photos) of him but we do not have them.
Thanks you for you great work on this site.
Peter
Comments
Francis Chomley
Hi Peter,
I've changed this page to be a "Person", to better fit the content.
I guess you've seen them already, but there are a few mentions of Francis here on Gwulo: http://gwulo.com/search/node/Chomley
Here are some more ideas for places to look: http://gwulo.com/node/9374
Good luck, and please let us know what you discover.
Regards, David