Samuel BARFF [c.1828-1897] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Samuel BARFF [c.1828-1897]

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Submitted by Railwayrider on Sun, 2019-06-23 08:20
Names
Given: 
Samuel
Family: 
Barff
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
c.1828-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Birthplace (country): 
Scotland
Death
Date: 
1897-08-25

Samuel Barff was a Hong Kong civil servant, shown living at No.13 Castle Road ("The Hut") in the 1884 directory. He came to Nagasaki, Japan in 1894 with his wife Katherine (Kate) and rented the house at No.15 Minamiyamate in the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement. The couple called the house "Cliff Field." Samuel was bedridden during most of his stay in Nagasaki. He died on August 25, 1897 at the age of sixty-nine and was buried at Sakamoto International Cemetery. In January 1898, Another family tragedy soon followed. Samuel and Kate's son Lionel, an art correspondent with a London magazine, was killed in Tientsin while reporting on the Boxer Rebellion. Kate lived alone in Nagasaki until her death on May 5, 1922 at the age of eighty-nine. She was buried next to her husband in Sakamoto International Cemetery, where the gravestone can still be seen today.

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Submitted by eurasian_david on Tue, 2019-06-25 07:40.

Birth: Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom 21st February 1828

 

Baptism: Saint John, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom 11th June 1828

 

Wife: Katherine Anne Clayton

Married: Islington, London, England, United Kingdom April/June quarter 1853

 

Death: No. 15A Minamiyamate, Nagasaki, Japan 25th August 1897

 

Father: Thomas Barff (6th February 1788-1847)

Mother: Eliza Tootall (1793-18??)

 

Issue:

1) Frederick William Barff (11th August 1859 Kelso, Roxburgh, Scotland -?) – Banker, Hong Kong Shanghai Bank

2) Lucy Matilda Barff (1865-7th April 1884 Hong Kong)

3) Lionel Christian Barff (baptised 8th November 1869 Hong Kong -1900 Tientsin, China)

4) Charles Stuart Barff (18??-19??) – broker Connaught House, Hong Kong and Stockbroker in Shanghai

 

 

 

“GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION No. 24

 

Samuel Barff, Esquire, having reported his arrival in the Colony, is appointed Assistant Postmaster at Hongkong from the 3rd Instant, under instructions from Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.

 

By Command,

 

J. GARDINER AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary

 

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Hongkong, 5th March, 1869”

 

Source: THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, page 99, 6th March 1869

 

In the Government Notification No 81 (17th July 1869), it acknowledged that “Assistant Postmaster” should have read “Assistant Postmaster General”

 

 

“GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION No. 11

 

His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to appoint SAMUEL BARFF, Esquire, to be Acting Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court temporarily and until further notice.

 

By Command,

 

C. May,

Acting Colonial Secretary,

 

Colonial Secretary’s Office, Hongkong, 14th January 1879”

 

Source: THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, page 20, 15th January 1879