Fenwick's Pier (original location) [c.1870-c.1927] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Fenwick's Pier (original location) [c.1870-c.1927]

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Submitted by Klaus on Fri, 2019-01-04 22:38
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1870-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Date Place demolished: 
c.1927-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)

From SCMP Saturday, 28 June, 2008

Honorary adviser to the Museum of History Cheng Po-hung said Fenwick Pier had a long history. He said the first Fenwick Pier, located in Johnston Road, was a private pier for a steel factory and a dockyard owned by the Fenwick Company. The pier was moved to Gloucester Road in the 1940s and Lung Wui Road, Admiralty, in the 1960s during reclamation.

From industrialhistoryhk:

The little stretch of Wanchai waterfront, roughly between opposite where St Francis Street joins Queen’s Road East and Ship Street, was therefore a dense area of ever-changing smallshipyards. In about 1880 George Fenwick bought the premises which had previously been the Inglis Foundry, owned by John Inglis, but which had gone bankrupt.

In 1887 the firm Fenwick and Morrison became George Fenwick & Co. At this point the shipyard was still close to Ship Street in Wanchai.... With the coming of the tramways in 1904, the yard was no longer viable and so it moved to 6 Morrison Hill, Causeway Bay.

So the original pier was probably located at the praya (junction of Ship Street and Johnston Road) from the 1870's to the Wanchai reclamation in about 1927. 

Update after David's comment: There is no evidence that this pier was named Fenwick Pier, but it's a pier used by the Fenwick Company. Therefore the name was changed. 

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Comments

Submitted by David on Tue, 2019-01-08 14:12.

Thanks Klaus, this is interesting to read. I've had a look at HKGRO and the online newspapers, but I can't find any mention of the name "Fenwick Pier" used before the Wanchai reclamation. It sounds very likely though, that if the pier was for the company's private use, it would be known as Fenwick's Pier or Fenwick Pier. Hopefully some contemporary mentions of it will turn up.

There's some more info about the George Fenwick & Co. premises on the page Wanchai's seafront in 1902, which locates them to Marine Lots 31 & 36. Looking at the 1905 map of the area, it's not clear if Fenwick used the small pier off the end of Ship Street, or the longer pier slightly west of there. In that write-up about 1902, I've guessed they used the longer pier because it had the crane on it, but I don't have any firm evidence.

Submitted by Klaus on Tue, 2019-01-08 17:58.

Hi David, thanks for that extra information. Of course, I don't know which of the two piers is the one used by Fenwick. As the yard was closer to Ship Street, I preferd this one. I'll take your proposal to rename the place to Fenwick's Pier.

Regards, Klaus

Just an extra information: Fenwick Street starts at Johnston Road near the place where the larger pier was located. Probably this has no significant meaning.