International Funeral Parlour 萬國殯儀館 - original location [1951-1963] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

International Funeral Parlour 萬國殯儀館 - original location [1951-1963]

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Submitted by philk on Thu, 2020-09-10 21:09
Current condition: 
Demolished / No longer exists
Date Place completed: 
c.1951-01-01 (Month, Day are approximate)
Date Place demolished: 
c.1963-12-31 (Month, Day are approximate)

The International Funeral Parlour (萬國殯儀館) in Hung Hom was originally located on the corner of Lockhart Road and Fenwick Street. Appears to have been demolished in the early 1960s. It was replaced by the East Town Theatre.

I've added an opening year of 1951 thanks to Jimmy's comment below, and have set a tentative demolition year as 1963 because the East Town Theatre that replaced it opened in early 1964. 

Tags: 
Funeral Parlour
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Photos that show this place

1955

Comments

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2020-09-10 22:17.

Hi Phil,

There is an Wiki entry (in Chinese) for it.  The Wanchai venue was opened back in 11th Feb 1951.  Just a single floor building with a basement (as the morgue).  The Quarry Bay site (#16 Hoi Tai Street) started construction in 1960 and was inaugurated on 1st July 1962.

The Wanchai site was then reconstructed or converted  to the Tung Shing Theatre (rumoured to have ghosts sitting next to audience watching movies sometimes) and inaugurated on 2nd Sep 1964.  Owing to the haunted rumour and business was not good, it folded and started demolition in February 1974.  The site was replaced by East Town Building (a commercial building) in 1976, which inherited the hauted stories.

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals website did not mention the Wanchai history of this.

T

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2020-09-10 22:31.

thanks Thomas, are the parlours all run by Tung Wah then? I hadn't realised the Hung Hom and Quarry bay ones were related.

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2020-09-10 22:39.

Hi Phil,

TWGH is running three major funeral parlours.

https://funeralservices.tungwahcsd.org/

T

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2020-09-10 22:54.

Hi Phil,

According to Wiki the Threatre was  operated by the Ho-Tung Family .  Likely the same company is the landlord of the commercial building.

T

Submitted by Jimmy K. C. Ho on Sun, 2020-09-20 21:40.

It was revealed that a British jockey (Neel J S C) died on 21st January 1961 after falling off a horse in a race in Happy Valley, aged 41. His funeral service was held at the International Funeral Parlour in Wanchai. If anyone had photos of the funeral service, then it would be possible to see more of the Parlour and its surrounding areas.

I have discovered another photo of the International Funeral Parlour on the web:
https://www.picuki.com/media/1893938458637069701

On this web page, you will be able to see a photo of the International Funeral Parlour in Wanchai back in 1953 where a funeral service was held for a well-known left-wing leader, Mr. Chan Man Hon (transliterated name), who was then the chairman of The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. Right behind the hearse were most probably his family members who were accompanied by a number of funeral workers (or perhaps a marching band?) in white hats on both sides. The photo was extracted from the book "The Story of Hong Kong Workers" (香港工人的故事).

I have also found another web page that might be of interest to the readers of Gwulo-dot-com:
http://www.weshare.hk/madamebianca/articles/757668

Although the text is in Chinese, there are several very interesting old photos related to funeral matters, including an announcement in the newspaper of the opening of International Funeral Parlour in 1951. The address stated in the announcement was No. 41-51 Lockhart Road (in Wanchai) and the telephone number was 36556. The price of "an economical set menu" was HK$300.

Submitted by philk on Mon, 2020-09-21 14:05.

those are great links, Jimmy, many thanks for sharing. I've updated the opening date. Cheers, Phil