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CHAPTER V

THE FOURTH DECADE (1849-59)

TOWARDS the close of 1849, there returned to Singapore Song Hoot Kiam and Lee Kim Lin, two out of the three Straits Chinese youths who had been taken to England by Dr Legge to finish their education. Song Hoot Kiam¹ was born in Malacca in 1830. He was the second of three sons of Song Eng Chong, who was also born in Malacca, in 1799, and who died at the age of 76 years (in 1875) in Singapore. At the age of 11, Hoot Kiam was placed as a boarder in the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca, which had then the Rev James Legge (afterwards Professor of Chinese, Oxford University) as Principal, and remained there two years until Mr Legge left for Hongkong.² The family then came to this Settlement where Hoot Kiam was brought in contact with the Rev A Stronach, who had known Mr Legge intimately, and who, after having ascertained that both Kim Lin and Hoot Kiam were anxious to continue their studies under Mr Legge, arranged for the lads to proceed to Hongkong at Mr Legge’s expense. For the next few months after their arrival there, they were placed in the Anglo-Chinese college situated in the Chung-wan district to learn the Cantonese dialect.

Dr Legge and his three Chinese pupils

Song Hoot Kiam

Writing to his brother in Scotland on the 18th November 1845 on the eve of his departure on furlough, Dr Legge says:

You know I am bringing home three Chinese boys with me. They must just go to school as other boys. [77] The principal object is that they get hold of the English, so as to be able to read it with intelligence and to speak it.³

After a six-month voyage on a sailing vessel, the Duke of Portland, Dr Legge’s party arrived in London, and the three lads were sent on to Huntly, in Banffshire, Scotland, and entered at the Duchess of Gordon’s School. There they remained till the spring of 1848, attending the services at the Rev Thomas Hill’s Congregational Church, where the Legge family worshipped, and where in November 1847 they received baptism in the presence of Dr Legge. Travelling southwards, the party halted at several places en route. The following letters are quoted from Miss Edith Legge’s Biography of her father:

LEICESTER, Jan 24, 1848

… Tuesday morning took me and the Chinese lads to Manchester. … The same evening we went on to Rochdale, and thence on Thursday to Hull. … On Saturday we came on here, and I addressed about 1,000 children in the afternoon and preached in the evening. A meeting to-night, for which I have retained the lads, but to-morrow I shall send them on to London, following myself on Thursday. The fatigue and excitement have been too much for them and for myself also.⁴

LONDON, Feb 5, 1848

The principal engagement of to-day was a private audience first of Prince Albert and secondly of the Queen, along with the Chinese lads. I knew not of it till a letter came from Lord Morpeth, saying if I would be at the Palace at 3 o’clock to-day he would be there to conduct me to the presence. Our audience was very pleasant and courteous on the part of the Queen and His Royal Highness. He is a fine, handsome, gentlemanly looking man, and she is a sweet, quiet little body. She was dressed simply and unpretendingly.… Our conversation was all about China and the lads. The boys were much taken by surprise, having been expecting [78] to see a person gorgeously dressed with a crown and all the other paraphernalia of royalty.⁵

A few months after his return to Singapore, Mr Hoot Kiam married his first wife, Yeo Choon Neo, one of the pupils of Miss Grant, the representative of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, who had come out in 1843 to take charge of the Girls’ School which had been begun by Mrs Dyer of the London Missionary Society. This young couple founded the oldest family of Straits Chinese Christians in Singapore. In 1853 Mr Hoot Kiam joined the service of the P&O Company which had in 1845 established a branch office here, and held the post of cashier until his retirement in 1895. He associated himself with the work of the Rev BP Keasberry, by whom the Malay chapel in Prinsep Street had been built and opened in 1843. Mr Hoot Kiam was the possessor of a fine voice, and in the days before there was such a thing as an organ in that chapel he was the ‘precentor’ and led the singing at the chapel services. From the Straits Directory of 1864, we find that he was at that time the treasurer of Mr Keasberry’s chapel. Under his influence, a number of young men joined this church, among them being Tan Kong Wee,⁶ Tan Boon Chin and Foo Teng Quee.

Mr Hoot Kiam was thrice married. After the death of his first wife, he married in 1870 Phan Fung Lean, belonging to a Christian family from Penang, and the eldest child of this union is Song Ong Siang. Although Mr Hoot Kiam never again met his old master – who had attained a world-wide reputation as a Chinese scholar – he had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Legge’s second son in 1890 when the latter visited Singapore. Says the biographer:

Song Hoot Kiam spoke English perfectly, and was only too delighted to see and entertain his old friend, Dr Legge’s son.⁷

About the same time Dr Legge, ‘the most charming of old men’ – then about 76 years old, but up at four o’clock [79] in the morning working away at a translation of some Chinese classics – had the young fellow, Ong Siang, to spend a few days with him at his house in Keble Road, Oxford. Mr Hoot Kiam died on 7th October 1900 at the age of 70, nine daughters and five sons surviving him.

‘Song Hoot Kiam’, says the Straits Chinese Magazine,⁸

was neither rich nor great, but he was a specimen of the best type of Chinese character. Sober, persevering and conservative, he was a mighty rock to his large family. Early associations and the friendship of the late Dr James Legge made him a Christian, and his sojourn in England from 1846 to 1848, during which he was presented to the Queen, completed his training for the faith which he had adopted. … He toiled on quietly, and in hope and faith, raised up sons and daughters to worship God, and to work for the kingdom of heaven. … He laboured well, though few heard of his arduous toil. … As a servant, as a friend and as a father – he stands pre-eminent as an example for the Straits Chinese. Honest, punctual, sober, industrious and conscientious, he discharged his duties to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for a period of forty-two years. His masters did not overlook his merits, which, on his retirement, were recognised by a gratuity. Half a century of honest, steady and successful work for others is a sufficient commentary on the man’s character. As a friend Mr Hoot Kiam is loved wherever he is known, but he is known only to a small circle. Being of a shy and retiring disposition, he spent most of his time among his family, and those of us who can realise the happiness of this simple domesticity may well envy the coolness, the contentment and the goodness of our friend who has just departed.⁹

On the 21st November 1901 a marble tablet to his memory was unveiled at Prinsep Street Church by the Rev JAB Cook in the presence of a large gathering of his friends and fellow-workers. [80] The threedays’ visit of the Marquis of Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, to this Settlement in February 1850 was an event long remembered by the inhabitants, and before the end of the year the Obelisk, which now stands near the sea-wall on the north side of Anderson Bridge, had been erected by means of a $5 subscription fund, as a permanent memorial of the event. The names of Tan Kim Seng, Seah Eu Chin and Ang Choon Seng appeared on the Committee of the Dalhousie Testimonial. On the day before Lord Dalhousie’s departure, various addresses were presented to him, one of which was from the Chinese merchants. The Chinese people hit upon a happy idea. The Free Press says:

The forenoon of Wednesday, the day fixed for his Lordship’s departure, was signalised by a display of feeling on the part of the Chinese community, which we believe to have been quite spontaneous. About nine o’clock the road up Government Hill was occupied by a long train of toy carriages, splendidly painted and gilded, some drawn by ponies, others by men, which were filled with gaily dressed Chinese children, sent by their mothers to wait upon Lady Dalhousie. It was altogether a most pleasing spectacle, and as a display of feeling on the part of our large Chinese community, is not devoid of importance. Her Ladyship, as well as Lord Dalhousie, received their youthful visitors with the utmost kindness, and appeared to take great delight in the novel and interesting sight. The great kindness and personal notice bestowed by her Ladyship on the children during the visit have, almost more than anything else, gained the hearts of the Chinese.¹⁰

Such a quaint procession, got up at a moment’s notice, is impossible to-day, at least as far as the beautifully carved and gilt toy carriages (‘kreta Wang-kang’) and the diamond-crusted head-dresses are concerned. These have all been consigned to the limbo of the past. More’s the pity!

Ang Choon Seng¹¹ was born in Malacca in 1805. Coming [81] to Singapore at an early age, he started business in Philip Street under the chop Chin Seng as commission agent and provision merchant. He owned two schooners, Patah Salam and Kong Kek, trading to Saigon and Bangkok, and went in for nutmeg planting, which was for a little time successful. This nutmeg plantation was situated somewhere in Moulmein Road. At his death on 2nd February 1852 his elder son Ang Kim Cheak (who was born in 1827) continued the business, in which he was joined by his younger brother Ang Kim Tee (born in 1839) when he came of age. When Kim Cheak died in 1870, Ang Kim Tee carried on the same business as its sole proprietor, which ceased with his death on 14th December 1901. He married a daughter of Mr Lim Kong Wan and three of his daughters became successively the wives of the Hon Mr Tan Jiak Kim, while another daughter is married to Mr Lim Tek Wee of the Straits Times office. His son Mr Ang Hock Siew is chief cashier to the Straits Steamship Co Ltd. Both Ang Kim Cheak and Ang Kim Tee took a special interest in the Kim Seng Free School for Chinese boys in Amoy Street, and held successively the post of treasurer.

A letter dated 23rd March 1850 to Governor Butterworth and signed by Tan Kim Seng, Seah Eu Chin, Lim Keng Liak, Chan Koo Chan, Cheang Sam Teo, Sim Ah Khay, Ang Choon Seng, Chee Teang Why, Yeo Hoot Seng, Wee Chong San and Ang Chat Wat is quoted in extenso as it sets out the nature of the petition of the Chinese inhabitants of that period praying for more sympathetic treatment:¹²

We have been requested to wait upon your Honour by the Chinese who signed the petition to the Most Noble the Marquis of Dalhousie, KT, Governor General of India, praying for liberty to observe the rites and customs appertaining to marriages and funerals and which are essential to their due celebration, the annual oblations to the manes of the deceased in the open air in front of each house, the oblations of the Fokien and [82] Kwangtung temples and the ‘cho-hi’ or plays in the enclosures in front in honour of the ‘Sin’ or deified mortals on their respective birthdays: the New Year festivities and worship extending over fifteen days, the annual procession and offerings to the queen of heaven of the people of the Junks from China and the beating of gongs on board the Chinese junks in the harbour on the arrival and departure of a junk.

We have communicated to our fellow petitioners your Honour’s gracious compliance with the wishes of the Chinese community, and have intimated to them your objection to the firing of crackers, save on occasion of marriages when there is only to be one ‘ko-phau’ on leaving, and one on entering the house. We have also informed them that besides complying with the prayer of the petition, your Honour has been pleased out of consideration for their feelings to discountenance the practice hitherto prevailing amongst the police of seizing persons by the ‘thau-chang’, and that it has now been prohibited. They desire to join us in expressing our gratitude for the kindness and regard which you have evinced on this occasion to the Chinese community, and assuring you that if we had not been under a misapprehension as to the sentiment entertained by your Honour we would have long ago addressed you on the subject,

We have the honour to be, Honourable Sir,

Your most obedient humble servants

(sd.) TAN KIM SENG & OTHERS

The interior of the Settlement had been for some time in a disturbed state, owing to the steady persecution of the Chinese converts to the Roman Catholic faith by the Hoeys, whose headmen found that the conversion of the Chinese in the interior had the effect of placing, everywhere throughout the island, men who did not require the protection and assistance of the Hoeys: while, as it were, acting as a check upon their activities. The result was a general attack in 1851 upon the Christian Chinese in the country districts. The disturbances lasted for over a week, the Indian convicts were sent [83] out in gangs to follow the rioters into the jungles and disperse them, and finally it required the presence of the military to quell them. ‘As it was’, writes Major McNair, ‘over 500 Chinese were killed, and among them many of the well-to-do Christian converts who had become planters.’¹³ The Chinese Roman Catholics were not altogether free from blame, for they regarded themselves as a distinct brotherhood – the Hong-kahs – and any quarrel occurring between their members and outsiders was at once adopted by the whole body, and riots ensued. The readiness also of the Roman Catholic priests to espouse the grievances of their converts and to look after their Court cases doubtless was another source of irritation to the Hoeys. The Grand Jury, in their presentment in February 1851, again complained against the Chinese secret societies, ‘whose power was dreaded by Chinese of all classes, and which by their recent destruction of numerous bangsals belonging to Christian Chinese and by their outrageous attack upon the police in the vicinity of Bukit Timah had exhibited a most dangerous combination against public security and peace’.

Again, in their presentment of August 1853, the Grand Jury drew attention to the necessity of adopting stringent measures to detain witnesses in very grave cases until the trial of the prisoners, particularly where the Hoeys were concerned, as it was believed that witnesses were frequently tampered with and disposed of by the secret societies, consequently defeating the ends of justice and encouraging crime. Notwithstanding these repeated warnings of the Grand Jury and the strong comments of the local papers, the Government did not appear to realise fully the seriousness of the danger to the population due to the growing activities of the various secret societies and to the great accession to their strength by the arrival of rebels from China who had been routed by the Imperial troops. Then, like a bolt from the blue, occurred in May 1854 the [84] biggest Chinese riots that have ever been known in Singapore.

Among the Malacca lads who ventured to Singapore in 1851 to seek Dame Fortune’s favour was Wan Eng Kiat, then 17 years of age. For a little time he worked as a watchmaker, and then entered the service of Messrs Martin Dyce & Co. At the age of 24, he married Toh Nya Chik, who is still living. Mr Wan Eng Kiat, after his marriage, worked with Messrs Puttfarcken, Rheiner & Co and later with Messrs Puttfarcken & Co as storekeeper, retiring at the age of 68. He was a shrewd and careful investor in house properties, which at his death at the advanced age of 85, on 3rd May 1919,¹⁴ were worth half a million dollars.

In November 1851, on the departure of Governor Butterworth for a holiday trip to Australia, the Chinese merchants, among others, presented an address, and the following passage appears in the Governor’s reply thereto:

I take the advantage of this opportunity to notice the obligation the Chinese community, and the public generally, are under to Seah Eu Chin for his management of the Pauper Hospital, which involved great responsibility, pecuniary and otherwise, prior to the establishment of the present very efficient Committee, one of whose members, my friend Tan Kim Seng, is at the head of this deputation. I commend to the special attention and liberal support of the Chinese community, the aforesaid institution, founded by Tan Tock Seng, whose premature death prevented him endowing it, as he had proposed, with funds sufficient for the maintenance of a given number of its inmates.¹⁵

Wan Eng Kiat

It is deserving of mention how much before the notice of the general community was the Tan Tock Seng Hospital of those days. Lord Dalhousie¹⁶ during his brief stay here in 1850 presented the Hospital with 1,000 rupees, while in 1866 the English and Germans (who mixed together a great deal in social life) respectively staged a parody of an old opera and a farce for [85] its benefit. Mr Buckley tells the story of how at the eleventh hour, with the help of Mr JD Vaughan, a farce, with four characters in it, had to be studied and rehearsed to take the place of another previously arranged farce, and it was pronounced a great success, after just thirty hours’ preparation.

The first St Andrew’s Church, which was completed in 1837 and ceased to be used in 1852 as it was in a dangerous state, will be remembered as the alleged cause of the first two ‘head scares’ among the Chinese, Malays and Indians. The first scare is recorded by Abdullah in his Hikayat. He related how he himself made inquiries into the rumour that the blood of thirty-six men was required for the sanctification of the new church, and how he argued with several persons who really believed the truth of the rumour and how he failed to allay their fears. The matter became worse after respectable and intelligent Chinese had made inquiries and believed that nine heads had already been secured. What was the origin of the rumour or who was responsible for it remains a mystery.

Again, in 1853, the Press reported a most extraordinary delusion prevailing amongst the native population, and especially the Chinese section. Major McNair, referring to this incident, attributed it to the bad characters among the Chinese who resented the employment by the Government of convict labour in public works and tried to get the convicts into trouble.

Placards in Chinese appeared all over the town that the Governor and all the Europeans had left off worshipping in St Andrew’s Church, owing to the number of evil spirits there, and that in order to appease the spirits, the Governor required thirty heads, and had ordered the convicts to waylay people at night and kill them! The Governor, with a view to allaying the panic, issued a notice declaring the reports to be false and offering $500 reward for the discovery of any person propagating such reports. As this notice only called forth other Chinese placards of a very improper nature, some [86] thirty of the leading Chinese merchants, at the request of the Government, signed a long appeal to their countrymen, in which they pointed out the benevolence of the English Government, and its anxiety to protect the lives of all persons under its care, even to the extent of offering rewards for the destruction of the tigers which killed people. This appeal was lithographed and distributed, and in two days the fears of the Chinese population were dispelled. In 1875 a similar ‘head scare’ occurred during the construction of the ‘puddle trench’ for the new Impounding Reservoir. In 1885 it occurred again, the rumour being that heads were required for the new market at Telok Ayer, and natives in the town, especially children, were afraid to go out at night. There were other later scares, e.g. when the Memorial Hall was begun and at the early stages of the construction of Anderson Bridge: and it is believed that these rumours were started by persons who were engaged in extensive smuggling or housebreaking operations.

The Free Press mentioned that among the arrivals from Amoy in 1853 were the wives and families of several of the most respectable Chinese merchants, and made a true remark that if the practice of the wives and families of our traders following them should continue, it might be expected to exercise a beneficial influence on the Chinese part of the population.

In the same year there arrived from England Miss Sophia Cooke¹⁷ to take over from Miss Grant the charge of the Chinese Girls’ School (then with twenty girls), which was for many years the only institution giving elementary English education, along with religious instruction, to Chinese girls. It was also an orphanage where many a Chinese orphan girl was brought up and educated and trained in household duties. This school has supplied wives to many of the early Chinese Protestant converts, and to-day in China, the Straits and FMS and the Dutch East Indies, there are still some of the old girls who have settled down there with their [87] husbands. For some years in the ‘Seventies, the School had a branch establishment for day pupils under Miss Foster and Chinese women teachers in a shop house at Middle Road, and later in a lane off North Bridge Road. This branch school got to be known as the ‘Ragged School’. Miss Cooke died in 1895, and for two years the work of the School was carried on by Miss Ryan, who, although now old and feeble, still takes an active share in the work she loves so well. Soon after the arrival of Miss Gage-Brown as its head, the School passed from the control of the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East to that of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Owing to ill-health, Miss Gage-Brown had to return to England and the School is now under the charge of Miss Tolley, doing quiet but good work among the eighty Chinese girl boarders, orphans and day pupils.

The outstanding event in the year 1854 was the émeute between the natives of Fukien and Kwangtung. The ostensible cause was a quarrel on the 5th May between a Hokien and a Cantonese about a trifle of five catties of rice. Mr Vaughan cites this riot as an illustration in support of his contention that most of the riots that occurred in Singapore did not originate with the secret societies, and says that on this occasion the solemn obligations of the secret societies were thrown to the winds, and members of the same Hoey fought to the death against their brethren. Mr Buckley, however, says that the casus belli was the refusal of the Hokiens to join the Kwangtung people in a subscription to assist the rebels who had been driven from Amoy by the Chinese Imperial troops.

Half an hour after its commencement, the town was a scene of fearful confusion: the police confessed their inability to quell the riot; brickbats were flying about in all directions: broken heads were plentiful: shops were pillaged: and, had it not been for the timely intervention of some Europeans, serious consequences might have ensued.¹⁸

[88]Governor Butterworth did not share the views of Mr Dunman, the Superintendent of Police, that the disturbance was going to develop into a serious affair which the Police could not cope with, and which would require the aid of the military forces. On the following morning the Governor rode into Hill Street near River Valley Road and was pelted by the mob, his hat being knocked off by a brickbat, and he had to retire. The military were called out and a body of marines landed from the British men-of-war in the harbour. The European community, to a man, offered their services and were sworn in as special constables.

Mr WH Read¹⁹ was the first special constable sworn in and was immediately directed to proceed, along with Mr Tan Kim Seng, to collect the headmen of the different Hoeys for a palaver at the Reading Room in Raffles Square. Some thirty headmen were brought in, and after the Governor had addressed them they were told to sign a document binding themselves to use their influence in restoring peace. When they had done so, Mr Read was again detailed to take eight constables and a well-known bad character named Moh Choon to proclaim peace through the town. Every hundred yards or so, Moh Choon²⁰ shouted something in Chinese which his escort did not understand. One of the special constables, naturally nervous as the party was surrounded by hundreds of Chinese, said to Mr Read: ‘Suppose he was to call upon these fellows to assault us,’ to which the prompt reply was given: ‘I can’t help that, but you may depend that, on the first hostile movement, I shall shoot my friend Moh Choon and take my chance afterwards.’ Matters got from bad to worse, especially in the country districts where the Chinese rioters had been murdering, burning and destroying in all directions and committing unheard of atrocities. Men were impaled and chopped to bits: women had their breasts cut off and were tortured to death. During these disturbances, which lasted ten days, it was estimated that fully six hundred Chinese had been killed, besides a larger number wounded, and three hundred houses had been burnt or pillaged.

Referring to this émeute in his address to the Grand Jury, Sir William Jeffcott²¹, the Recorder, said:

These people had hitherto lived peaceably together, transacting business with each other and living intermingled in the same street. Without any apparent cause, however, a spirit of discord appears suddenly to have arisen amongst them, which on the 5th of May broke out in acts of violence, riots occurring in different parts of the town, and at length resulting in houses being attacked and plundered. This state of things continued for seven or eight days, although after the first three days the rioting in town gradually diminished. The police were incessantly employed, the military were called out, and the marines landed from the ships-of-war: and with a most praiseworthy alacrity, the European inhabitants came forward and offered most valuable assistance in preserving order, for which they were entitled to the gratitude of the community.

After the first two days, the disturbances spread into the country, where they assumed a very different character. The riotous proceedings there were much more serious and aggravated and quickly led to the plundering and burning of property, and eventually to the destruction of life and the committal of excesses of every kind of the most barbarous nature. The Grand Jury could easily understand how this difference should have taken place. While in town the people are comparatively civilised, the mass of the population in the jungle consists of men who have never for any length of time come in contact with Europeans or with the more orderly part of the town residents, and who live in a state of secluded semi-barbarism in the jungle, with little or no idea of what law or order is. When, therefore, the disturbances spread amongst them, they naturally plunged at once into far greater excesses than had characterised the town population, and the consequence was that for a series of days the rural districts were the scene of the most lamentable outrages – huts and villages being burnt down in every direction, and [90] murders committed, many of which had come to their knowledge, while it was to be feared many more had been perpetrated but remained unknown. Another cause, perhaps, of the different character which the disturbances in the country had assumed compared with those in the town might be found in the fact that while in the town the two parties were nearly equal, in the country one of them had the preponderance, and had the other party in a great measure in their power.²²

About five hundred men had been arrested, of whom half were committed for trial. The Sessions lasted seventeen days. Six men were sentenced to death, but only two were executed: sixty-four were sentenced to various terms of hard labour, and eight were transported for fourteen years.

The year 1855 saw an increase in piracy. The most formidable pirates were Chinese who waylaid and fired on the junks and other native craft in their voyages to and from Singapore, in the China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. A public meeting was held in May to memorialise the Secretary of State on the subject. Among other resolutions, the following were passed:²³

Proposed by Tan Beng Swee and seconded by JP Cumming:

that this meeting views with deep concern the ravages committed by pirates, Chinese especially, in the immediate vicinity of this port, to the great destruction of human life and detriment to trade.

Proposed by WH Read and seconded by Tan Kim Ching:

that in order to remedy the present insecurity of life and property, petitions be prepared and forwarded to the Supreme Government, the Houses of Parliament, and the Admiral on this Station, urging them to take vigorous measures to repress piracy in these parts.’

Mr Tan Beng Swee²⁴ was born in Singapore in 1828. [91] At an early age he went into his father’s shop. The firm of Kim-seng & Co had been established before 1840 by Mr Tan Kim Seng. In 1847-9 Tan Soon Lim was a partner in that firm, and in 1850-1 his place was taken by Tan Koh Teow. In 1852 Mr Beng Swee was admitted his father’s partner and upon Mr Kim Seng’s death in 1864 he became head of the firm, both here and in Malacca. The firm had also a branch office in Shanghai. Mr Beng Swee was one of the committee of five merchants who prepared the appeal to the Chinese public in 1853 in connection with the ‘head scare.’ For seventeen years he was the president of the Chinese Temple in Malacca, presented the clock tower there to the Government and also founded and endowed the Kim Seng Free School in that Settlement. He also supported the Kim Seng Chinese Free School in Amoy Street, Singapore, which had been founded by his father. He was on the list of Grand Jurors in 1864 and later was appointed a JP. In 1879 when he was a member of the Committee of Management of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, he built at his own expense three wards, one of which was of permanent materials, accommodating about thirty patients. He died on 4th November 1884 (his eldest son being Mr Tan Jiak Kim) and was buried in Malacca. He was of a quiet and retiring disposition, but always open and obliging to those with whom he came in contact, either in business or otherwise.

Tan Beng Swee

That the firm of Kim-seng & Co had exceptionally close and extensive business relations and intercourse with several leading European firms of that period is evidenced by two handsome gifts, photographs of which are here shown, of massive silver epergnes of beautiful design and elaborate workmanship, greatly prized by the family. The earlier one was a gift from the partners of Hamilton, Gray & Co (viz. Walter Buchanan, MP, William Hamilton, George Garden Nicol, John Jarvie, George Henderson and Reginald Padday) to ‘their old and much esteemed friend, Tan Kim Seng’. The [92] later gift was presented by ‘Edward Boustead of London to Tan Kim Seng and Tan Beng Swee of Singapore as a mark of esteem and friendship, and in acknowledgment of the many and valuable services rendered to himself personally as well as to his firm (Boustead & Co of Singapore) during an uninterrupted friendly intercourse of nearly a quarter of a century, January 1862.’

Present to Tan Kim Seng from Hamilton, Gray & Co.

Boustead & Co’s present to Tan Kim Seng and Tan Beng Swee.

Mr Tan Kim Ching,²⁵ the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng, was born in Singapore in 1829. On his father’s death the firm of ‘Tan Tock-seng’ was changed to ‘Tan Kim-ching’ and the business was carried on at River-side (now Boat Quay) from 1851 to 1859 by Tan Kim Ching as sole owner. In 1860 the firm was known as ‘Tan Kim-ching & Brother’, chop Chin Seng Ho, Tan Swee Lim, a brother, having been admitted a partner, but a few months later Tan Swee Lim left the firm. The business which finally became known as Kim Ching & Co chop Chin Seng attained considerable success, owning rice mills at Saigon, Siam and elsewhere. Mr Tan Kim Ching was Consul-General and Special Commissioner for Siam in the Straits Settlements and had the title of Phya Anukul Siamkitch Upanick Sit Siam Rath conferred on him by the King of Siam. He had great influence on the Chinese outside the Colony, especially in the northern States bordering on Siam, viz. Kelantan and Patani. In Sir Andrew Clarke’s time he was instrumental in settling a difficulty which had arisen between the Siamese Government and Perak, for which he received a special letter of thanks from the Governor. He was a commander of the Third Class of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, and the recipient of a special letter and honour from China for his contribution to the Famine Fund in 1890. Reference has been made to the timely assistance he gave in 1852 to the Hospital founded by his father in the shape of wings to the Hospital buildings at a cost of $2,000. When the Tanjong Pagar Dock Co Ltd was started in 1863, Mr Kim Ching’s name was [93] on the list of the committee of promoters. He was made a JP in 1865. Towards the end of his life a prosecution was instituted against him for keeping slaves, but he was discharged. He died in February 1892 and his remains were interred at his private burial ground at the thirteenth mile on the Changi Road. At his death, he was the owner of the steamers Siam and Singapore, and of a large number of concessions, including some at Mount Ophir, Kampong Rusa, Patani and various others which had not been prospected. As head of the Hokien Huaykuan, which was located in the Chinese temple ‘Thian-hok-kiong’ in Telok Ayer Street, he was styled ‘Capitan China.’ It was then quite the regular thing for Hokien Chinese marriages to be registered in his office, and for the marriage certificate to bear his chop, although until the death of Mr Tan Beng Swee (of chop ‘Hong Hin ‘) in 1884, by arrangement the marriage register was kept by Mr Beng Swee and marriage certificates were impressed with chop ‘Hong Hin.’ All the sons of Mr Kim Ching predeceased him, but the five grandsons, Boo Liat, Cheow Pin, Kwee Liang, Kwee Swee and Kwee Wah (all sons of the late Tan Soon Toh) are well-known members of the Chinese community. His daughter, Tan Cheng Gay Neo, who had been taught Chinese and also a little English, was the first among those appointed trustees of his estate to take out probate of his will – one of the rare instances of a Chinese lady being appointed and assuming the duties of executrix of the will of a Chinese testator.

Tan Kim Ching

In 1856, shortly after the arrival of the Rev TM Fraser, as the first minister to the Presbyterian congregation in Singapore, a mission to the Chinese was undertaken with Tan See Boo as catechist. Mr Tan See Boo²⁶ was one of the earliest converts of the Rev William Burns at Amoy, in China. He began his work in Singapore in a small building used as a Mission Chapel in the compound of Miss Cooke’s Chinese Girls’ School, then situated in Beach Road, where, a few months [94] before, the Church of England chaplain, at the request of Miss Cooke, had also commenced mission work among the Chinese. Some six years afterwards, Tan See Boo, along with the Rev Alexander Grant, who had come down from the English Presbyterian Mission at Amoy, left the Presbyterian communion, and founded the Chinese Mission of the Plymouth Brethren. A building site was secured on North Bridge Road, almost opposite the original English Mission Chapel, and in 1867 the Chinese Gospel House was erected thereon. It was then known as the Chinese Presbyterian Church with Mr Tan See Boo as the Ruling Elder. Mr See Boo lived at the back portion of the premises with his family and continued his work as a catechist until his death in December 1883 at the age of 51. He was twice married. Mr Tan Tek Soon²⁷ was the elder son by the first wife (who was one of Miss Cooke’s pupils). Born in 1859, Mr Tek Soon was educated at Raffles Institution, where he won the Guthrie Scholarship for Chinese boys in 1873, being its first scholar, and then proceeded to Amoy, to prosecute his Chinese studies. After his return to Singapore, he was for a time in Government service and later was employed in the firm of Kim Ching & Co (in the Siamese consulate department). He has a wonderful command of the English language, and the wide range of his studies has made him a brilliant and thoughtful writer, especially on subjects relating to China and the Chinese. He co-operated with the Rev A Lamont in producing in 1894 Bright Celestials, a story of Chinese life at home and abroad,²⁸ while he was a valued contributor to the Straits Chinese Magazine (1897–1907). The records of the Straits Philosophical Society, of which he has been for many years a member, contain several articles from his able pen. Mr Tan Tek Soon²⁹ is never ostentatious of his great literary attainments or his extensive and deep knowledge of things Chinese, and never rushes to print unless he has an important message to deliver or warning [95] to give. During recent years he has been living almost the life of a recluse, and it is often with the greatest difficulty and after much persuasion that he is induced to appear before the public as a lecturer. Probably his most recent appearance was at the YMCA Hall when, under the chairmanship of Sir John Bucknill, CJ, he lectured before a large audience on ‘Some Chinese Customs’ – tea-drinking, the ceremonies at a marriage and a funeral – and discoursed on an interesting similarity between Chinese customs and those of ancient Greece in the matter of household arrangements and structure, the seclusion of women from the vulgar gaze, the marriage formalities, puppet shows, jugglers, etc. What Greece and Rome were to the countries of Europe, India and China are to those of Asia.³⁰

Mr Tan See Boo left a number of children by his second wife, two of whom are Dr YW Tan, a medical practitioner in the FMS and Mr YE Tan, a dentist practising with much success in Singapore.

Mention has already been made of the firm of Hooding & Co as a leading Chinese mercantile house in Boat Quay in 1840. This firm continued until 1865, when owing to the death of several of the partners it was dissolved. In 1851 two pieces of land comprised in Grants Nos 5 and 6 and containing the total area of 128 acres at Telok Blangah (now Pasir Panjang) were granted to Yeo Hooding, Yeo Chi Guan, Yeo Hoot King, Yeo Hoot Seng and Yeo Hoot Hin carrying on business in co-partnership under the firm of Hooding & Co chop Kong Cheang. This property, commonly known as Hooding Estate, was by a trust settlement made the 8th November 1882 between Tan Geok Hup (a sister of Mr Tan Beng Swee) of the one part and Yeo Hong Tye and Tan Jiak Kim of the other part dedicated as a burial ground called ‘Hiap Guan Sun’ for the burial, free of any cost or expense, of all persons of the Hokien tribe of the surname ‘Yeo’, and was duly licensed as such by the Municipality on the 10th April 1899. Of the five brothers, only one, Yeo Hoot Seng, was men [96]-tioned in public records. He was on the committee of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital in 1852–3.

Very early in the fifties there landed in Singapore a Hylam lad, eight years old, just as thousands of Hylam lads have done ever since, because their elder brothers or relations are already here, and can at once find employment for them. He was introduced into the service of Mr Song Hoot Kiam, an earnest young Christian who had the sympathy and co-operation of his wife in every good work. As the lad, whose name was Foo Teng Quee³¹, showed steadiness and high intelligence, it was arranged that he should go to school as companion to Ong Boo, the son of Mr Hoot Kiam. It turned out that Teng Quee proved a more apt scholar than his master’s son, and having been carefully taught the elements of Christianity by Mr Hoot Kiam, Teng Quee expressed a desire to become a member of a Christian Church and was baptised. Shortly afterwards he entered the service of the P&O Co (where Mr Hoot Kiam was employed), and then became a salesman at John Little & Co, from which place he acquired all the necessary knowledge and experience to start a business of his own, ‘Teng Quee & Co’, which formed the foundation of his fortune.

His career as a shopkeeper and then as a merchant was one long series of strenuous work, and by dint of perseverance, patience and upright dealing he became a rich man. His most amiable disposition and obliging nature made for him countless friends. A man unassuming and unpretentious, he nevertheless did not allow a single opportunity in life to pass unchallenged, but made the most of his chances – which generally proved successful, more by reason of his arduous work and zealous attention than by virtue of any good luck. He was a man of humble disposition and was always content to take a back seat, in consequence of which the Chinese community lost the services of a good citizen of great business ability and sterling worth.

To the end of his days Mr Teng Quee showed the [97] great appreciation and esteem he truly felt towards Mr Hoot Kiam for the turn given to the whole course of his career, and he always had the greatest regard for, and took the warmest interest in, all the members of Mr Hoot Kiam’s family. He joined the Prinsep Street Chapel, then under the ministration of the Rev BP Keasberry, and succeeded Mr Hoot Kiam as treasurer of the church funds. Mr Teng Quee was a loyal friend to the successive missionaries in charge and was ever ready with his extensive business experience to assist in all building operations of the Mission. He gave of his means liberally and his time and attention with unflagging assiduity to the work of the Mission.

He was well known as a man with a large and liberal heart, and many a poor man did not have to appeal to him for help in vain. On the other hand, many unscrupulous persons took mean advantage of his generous nature, and returned evil for the good he had done them.

He was never ashamed to own himself a Hylam, and to the Hylam community he was for a great many years their ‘Twa-koh’ (or elder brother) who was certain of imparting sound and valuable advice freely and ungrudgingly. He married an old pupil of Miss Cooke’s School who had been left a widow with three young children and brought them up with tenderness and care as though they had been his own children: and by her he has an only son. Mr Ong Sam Leong was a partner with him in several profitable ventures. At the time of his death, which took place on 31st March 1906, he had large interests in Pahang.

Towards the close of his life he accepted a seat on the Chinese Advisory Board. His funeral took place on 1st April and was largely attended by people representing all classes of the community. ‘It was a sight to move men unto good works, for the good word spoken of him on all sides and the deep and sincere regret expressed by everyone present amply testified to the universal esteem in which he was held by everyone with whom he came in contact in life, and it was a great [98] incentive to all to emulate his example.’ A mural tablet to his memory in the Prinsep Street (Baba) Church bears this inscription:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

FOO TENG QUEE

(1843-1906)

A LEADING MEMBER OF THE HYLAM

COMMUNITY, A FRIEND TO THE NEEDY,

A CHRISTIAN WORKER, A DEACON AND

TREASURER OF THIS CHURCH FOR

MANY YEARS.

DILIGENT IN HIS BUSINESS.

Mr Ong Sam Leong³² was born in Singapore in 1857, and at the age of 21 started a small commission agent’s business on his own account. His early land transactions turned out profitably, and he became interested in timber concessions in Pahang and Kemaman. In 1899 he secured the contract as universal provider to the Christmas Island Phosphate Co Ltd at that island under the name of Ong Sam Leong & Co, and the firm still holds the monopoly of the contract with the Company. He also owned the well-known Batam Brickworks and held large interests in numerous sawmills in Singapore. As part of his business activities, he engaged in house-building and rubber-planting, and at his death on 7th February 1918 his estate consisted of substantial landed properties and rubber estates, both local and outside the Colony. He was a popular member of several old and respectable Chinese clubs in Singapore and for many years was president of ‘Ban Chye Ho’ Club. He was keenly interested in the patriotic movement of the Straits Chinese community during the Great War and subscribed liberally to all local funds necessitated by that War. He further erected, at his own expense, the garage at the SVC Drill Hall, for the use of the Corps motor lorry, as an expression of his appreciation of the valuable work [99] which was then being done, at a number of outposts, for the defence of the Settlement by volunteers belonging to the various units. He continued to be a very busy and hard-working man till the end of his days, and the only relaxations he gave himself were motoring and sea-trips. He started life handicapped with a meagre education, but his perseverance and business acumen helped him to build up his own fortune, and before his death he had erected a fine house in Bukit Timah Road known as ‘Bukit Rose’, in which he entertained his friends on a lavish scale. His widow belongs to an old ‘Yeo’ family, several members of which were of the Christian faith: an aunt being the first wife of the late Mr Song Hoot Kiam, and an uncle being the well-known Yeo Koon Ho (alias Toleap Young). His surviving daughter is the wife of Khoo Pek Lock, the third son of Khoo Phee Soon, at one time one of the leading shipowners and rice merchants of Singapore

Foo Teng Quee

Ong Sam Leong

Of his two sons, the elder one, Ong Boon Tat,³³ was born in Singapore in 1888 and educated at Raffles Institution, where he won the Guthrie Scholarship, which had been resuscitated after having been in abeyance for some years. At the age of 19 Mr Boon Tat commenced his business training under his father and is now a prominent man among Straits Chinese merchants of this Colony. He extended the business of Ong Sam Leong & Co., of which he is the chief, by opening a branch house in Penang which is meeting with much success. He is a JP and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, and is one of the group of young Straits Chinese who are taking a practical interest in public affairs, having realised the duties of citizenship which devolve more especially on the men of education and standing in our community.

The younger son, Ong Peng Hock, who also received his education at Raffles Institution, was carefully trained by his father in the timber trade, and was [100] managing director of United Sawmills Ltd during the brief period of its existence. As a partner of Ong Sam Leong & Co. he goes on frequent visits to Penang to supervise the management of the branch business there.

There were several firms during this decade having large dealings with outports. Among these were Low Poh Jim & Co chop Joo Tye in Boat Quay (established in 1859) with the principal partner Low Poh Jim stationed in Bangkok; and Yap Sian Tee & Co chop Hong Tye in Boat Quay, whose managing partner Yap E Gin resided in Bangkok. These two firms had previously traded together as Yap E Gin & Co, the partners being Low Poh Jim (Bangkok) and Yap E Gin (China). Low Poh Jim & Co were the first consignees of the steamer Chow Phya, which was built at West Hartlepool in 1858 for the King of Siam or his Prime Minister and for many years was running between Bangkok and Singapore.

The firm of ‘Teang-why & Co’ carried on business in Market Street as merchants from 1840 to 1858. The proprietor was Chee Teang Why, who died in Singapore on the 8th October 1861, leaving a will in which he directed that his house in Bukit China district, and his plantation in Pringget district in Malacca, and his plantation in the district of Toah Pyoh (Thomson Road), Singapore, were not on any account to be sold or mortgaged but were to be reserved for ever as ‘ancestral heritages’, and the rents and profits thereof were to be applied towards paying the expenses of sacrificing to the sinchew or tablets of himself and his deceased ancestors from time to time ‘agreeably to the custom of the Chinese’. Like a similar devise in Choa Chong Long’s will, this devise was some fifty years afterwards (1908) pronounced to be void as infringing the Rule against perpetuities.

The firm of Khoo Cheng Tiong & Co chop Heng Chun at Boat Quay dealt extensively in Saigon rice. The founder was Khoo Cheng Tiong, who came to Singapore with very little means, commenced business about [101] 1850 and gradually became one of the bestknown rice merchants in the Settlement, being worth at the time of his death over a million dollars which, very properly, were mostly invested in this Settlement. He had a wide acquaintance in Singapore, where he was for some time president of the Chinese charitable hospital (‘Tongchay-e-sia’) and one of the recognised heads of the Hokien community. The firm owned large rice mills at Saigon. Khoo Cheng Teow, his brother, was the manager of chop Heng Chun. Seeing that the business was very profitable, Cheng Teow started his own business as rice merchants under the chop Aik Seng & Co, taking Cheng Tiong into partnership with him. He appointed Khoo Syn Thuak to be manager of chop Aik Seng, which, after the death of Cheng Teow in January 1896, owing to bad management had to be closed. One of his sons, Khoo Kok Wah, commenced a new business as rice merchants under the name of Aik Seng & Co in Cecil Street, and this business is in a very prosperous condition to-day.

Khoo Cheng Tiong

Khoo Cheng Teow (left), and his son, Khoo Teck Siong.

On the death of Mr Khoo Cheng Tiong in June 1896, at the age of 76, his second son, Khoo Teck Siong, became the managing partner of the concern. The eldest son, Khoo Teck Him (otherwise known as Khoo Seok Wan), took a literary degree in China. A man of enlightened views, he was strongly in sympathy with the revolutionary movement in China which culminated in the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty in 1911. He took a prominent part in entertaining such distinguished political refugees as Kang-yu-wei and Dr Sun-yat-sen during their sojourn in Singapore. His generous gift of $3,000 towards the fund for starting the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School in 1899 is worthy of more than a passing mention, for at that time our leading Straits Chinese were apathetic, if not inimical, to the cause of female education and refused to contribute anything towards that Fund. Both brothers, Seok Wan and Teck Siong, were executors and trustees of their father’s will. Each of them inherited about $700,000. Seok Wan [102] speculated in land and house property and in six years’ time lost all his patrimony: while Teck Siong held shares in the Opium and Spirit Farm and lost money in that venture, and in December 1907 both brothers figured in the Bankruptcy Court.

Among the principal import and export merchants at this time was Heng Hin & Co, which imported directly French wines, Scotch whiskies and Manila cigars and tobacco. The business was established in 1856 at 12 Market Street by Lim Soon Tee, a Singapore Chinese, and exported largely to the Native States, Borneo and the surrounding islands. The firm also imported rattans, hides, gutta-percha and betelnuts and sold them to local traders. Mr Lim Soon Tee also owned a saw-mill at Syed Alwee Road and a number of bungalows at Almeida Road (now Balmoral Road). Quite recently the firm got into difficulties and in 1915 it ceased to exist. In 1893 Mr Lim Soon Tee had started another firm of Kim Hin & Co at 7 Kling Street which became one of the most important Chinese firms engaged in the liquor trade. The management was placed in the hands of his nephew, Mr Lim Tek Siong, who is now sole proprietor of the concern: his good knowledge of English proving of material advantage in the conduct of his extensive business of Wine and Spirit Merchants, General Importers and Commission Agents, which is now carried on at No. 13 Kling Street.

Another firm of importance was Ah Hood & Co chop Koon Hong at Telok Ayer Street, which was started by Wee Ah Hood and dealt in Straits produce of all kinds. Ah Hood’s father was a Teochew trader named Wee Ah Heng, who settled down in Malacca in 1810. He owned several junks and traded between Selangor and Singapore, running great risks owing to the prevalence of piracy in those early days. He got on friendly terms with one of the old Rajahs of Selangor by whom he was presented with a Malay spear, a kris and a golden image. He had only to place those objects in a conspicuous [103] place on his junk when Malay pirates approached to indicate that he was under the Rajah’s protection, and his vessel was unmolested. He died in Malacca at the early age of 32, leaving his son, Ah Hood, a six months’ old child. Wee Ah Hood was born in 1828, and began life as an assistant in a cloth-dealer’s shop in Telok Ayer Street. By means of his steady application and diligence he was promoted to be manager. On his towkay’s retirement, he established his own business. He was very successful in his transactions and became one of the biggest gambier and pepper merchants of his time. He was highly respected by the European firms with whom he dealt. He died in 1875 at his residence in Hill Street, now occupied by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This building is one of the four well-known typical Chinese mansions in Singapore. Mr Wee Kim Yam, the eldest son, was born in 1855 and was opium and spirit farmer for the three years 1886-8. In his father’s shop premises he carried on his business of Kim Yam & Co chop Khoon Lee, which was wound up shortly after his death on 17th December 1914. He took a great deal of interest in all public affairs concerning the Chinese community and was made a JP, and served zealously on the Committee of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Chinese Advisory Board, the Po Leung Kuk, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Straits Chinese British Association. He has left a son, Wee Hean Boon, who is well educated both in English and Chinese. A young man of progressive views, Mr Hean Boon has been a staunch supporter of Dr Lim Boon Keng in connection with the night school for teaching the Mandarin dialect to Straits Chinese, and also in all movements for social, intellectual and moral reforms on Confucian lines.

Wee Ah Hood

Wee Kim Yam

Another Chinese firm of merchants had come into existence some time before 1859 under the style of Eng-wat, Moh-guan & Bros. Mr See Eng Wat³⁴ was born in Malacca and was one of the first Chinese British subject merchants in Amoy for a great number of years. [104] His second son, Mr See Ewe Boon, was educated at St Xavier’s Institution, Penang, and for a short time was a trader at Amoy. In 1890 he became the compradore of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank at Singapore, holding that responsible post till his death in 1909 at the age of 50 years. Another son was Mr See Ewe Lay, who was for some years compradore of the Hongkong Bank and later started the Chinese daily newspaper, Lat Pau. When Mr Lim Eng Keng died, causing a vacancy on the Municipal Board early in 1892, the Free Press, in putting forward the suggestion for Mr Ewe Lay’s nomination, mentioned that his knowledge of English was as good as that of most of the leading Chinese, and added that being connected with a newspaper as editor as well as proprietor, he had had to keep in touch with the times; but Mr Ewe Lay declined to be nominated. He married a daughter of Mr Chia Ann Siang, and was a well-known and prominent figure among the Straits Chinese community. He died in August 1906 at the age of 55.

See Ewe Boon

Dr Lim Boon Keng’s Mandarin Class

Mr See Teong Wah, the eldest son of Mr See Ewe Boon, was born in 1886 and educated at St Joseph’s Institution, Singapore. He joined the Hongkong Bank as his father’s assistant in 1901 and succeeded his father as compradore in 1909. He takes a keen interest in and devotes a great deal of his time to public affairs, and is a JP and a Municipal Commissioner, as well as a member of Committee of the Straits Settlements Association. He was elected in 1916 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and is (1919) president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Hokien Huay-kuan.

Mr See Moh Guan³⁵ was born in Malacca, but was engaged in business in Singapore, where he died in November 1879 and his remains were embarked on board the SS Benmore for interment in Malacca. His son Mr See Kee Ann was born in the same Settlement, where he first engaged in tapioca, gambier and pepper planting, and in 1897 became a partner and manager [105] of the opium and spirit farms there. In 1895 he was made a Municipal Commissioner and in 1901 a JP. All his activities and interests are confined, however, to Malacca.

On the 2nd January 1857 all the shops were closed, the markets were deserted, and the boatmen and hack gharry syces refused to work.³⁶ The grievance alleged was that the new Municipal and Police Acts which had come into force had not been explained, and their objects were not understood by the natives. The strained state of affairs in China over the Arrow incident (which shortly after culminated in the Second China War) had given rise to some feelings of ill-will on the part of some of the lowest classes of the Chinese towards the European community in Singapore, and an attempt to induce a shopkeeper to open his shop resulted in a riot in which the police were roughly handled. The merchants lost no time in nipping the trouble in the bud. The Sheriff, who was an officer annually elected among the European merchants, convened a meeting on the same day, and a deputation of nine Europeans, with Messrs Whampoa and Tan Kim Ching³⁷, called on the Governor and asked him to issue a proclamation in Chinese, which was done that very day. It reads as follows:

Now on account of all classes of the people closing their shops, and not wishing to do business because they have heard that the words of the new Act are not clearly understood; people do not understand it, therefore it is difficult for them to obey, and in consequence the present misunderstanding has arisen, and the closing of the shops has taken place. Now be it known that within one month hence, the definitions of the Act will be more clearly explained in order that it may be fully understood. If in the body of the Act there is anything objectionable to the mass of the population, such as know thereof may come within one month to the Court, and to the Governor may make known their complaint. Now you ought all to open [106] your shops and transact your business as usual and do not disobey this. This is given to understand.³⁸

To this there was a counter-proclamation, which was pasted over the Government circular, to the effect that no faith was to be put in the Governor’s promise to have the law explained, that he only wished to gain time and secure provisions, while the Chinese were quite ready to sweep away every ‘barbarian’ from the island. The shops were, however, opened shortly afterwards and general business was resumed. The enforcement by the Police of this Act did cause a disturbance a month later, but it was among the Tamils. This was an unfortunate affair causing much bloodshed and loss of life. The law-abiding section of the Chinese people realised fully the value of British rule, as was shown by the address presented by the Chinese merchants on 6th June 1857 to Lord Elgin, who was on his way to China as British High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary. In that address, emphasis was laid on the great advantage the Chinese population here was enjoying under English government.

In 1855 Mr T Braddell (afterwards Attorney-General) had written his interesting ‘Notes on the Chinese in the Straits’ for Logan’s Journal³⁹ in which he said:

The details of the great European trade of these settlements are managed almost exclusively by Chinese. The character and general habits of an European gentleman quite preclude him from dealing directly with the native traders, who visit our ports and bring the produce of their several countries to exchange with articles of different climates found collected there. These traders – Malays, Bugis, Chinese, Siamese, Cochin Chinese, Burmese – have their own modes of conducting business, founded on a status of civilisation very far below European models and which Europeans [107] cannot condescend to adopt. Here the Chinese step in as a middle class and conduct the business, apparently on their own account but really as a mere go-between. The Chinese puts himself on a level with the native traders, takes them to his shop, supplies them with sireh and other luxuries of a more questionable shape and joins them in their indulgences. Surrounding them with his numerous retainers and studious to make their stay agreeable, he listens calmly for hours to senseless twaddle and succeeds in dealing with the native on terms far inferior to what could have been obtained from the European merchants.⁴⁰

Mr EA Blundell was the Governor at this time, but he was not liked either by the Singapore or Penang people. His action in connection with a quarrel between the Chinese and the police in Penang in 1856 had been strongly condemned by the Supreme Government, and the Pinang Gazette in February 1858 said that of the many unwise things that he had done during his government of the Straits, there were none which attained that which marked his treatment of the Chinese, or more undignified or childish than his reception of them.

In 1858 there arrived here a young man from Amoy, named Low Kim Pong,⁴¹ who commenced business as a general trader. Meeting with success, he added to his business a Chinese druggist’s store which under the chop Ban San has ever since been a profitable venture. He did also a private banking business which was much patronised in days before there were Chinese banking houses. He was on the Committee of the Chinese Advisory Board, the Po Leung Kuk and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, as well as a member of the Royal Society of Arts. As one of the leaders of the Hokien community, he, in conjunction with Mr Yeo Poon Seng, took an active interest in raising funds for the erection of the Buddhist temple known as ‘Sionglim-si’ on Balestier Plain, at the farther end of Kim Keat Road. On the occasion of his sixty-ninth birthday (3rd December 1906) he gave an ‘At [108] Home’ to his European and Chinese friends at his residence in Devonshire Road.

Low Kim Pong

It was at his house that in September 1908 the Chinese and Indian merchants trading with the Borneo Co Ltd entertained Mr and Mrs St VB Down⁴² on the eve of their departure for Europe on a holiday. Mr Kuek Swee Cheng’s⁴³ motor car was sent to fetch the honoured guests, and on their arrival a photograph was taken. Mr Soh Kim Lian of chop Hock Moh read the address which conveyed the appreciation of the signatories for the ‘great ability, tact, impartiality and kindnesses’ shown to them by Mr Down as representative of the old-established firm of Borneo Co Ltd and which also contained a request to him to convey to Messrs PD Thomson and A Currie, the firm’s directors, best wishes for their welfare and that of the firm. The address, which was illuminated and enclosed in a handsome silver casket, was handed to Mr Down by Mr Low Kim Pong, who made special reference to the interest taken by Mr Down in the native trading community. Mr Down replied in Malay, remarking that:

people sometimes said there was no friendship in business, but, from many years’ experience, they all knew that those who met daily in business could esteem and respect one another without any arrière-pensée, and that matters were made much easier for all concerned when business men were on friendly terms.⁴⁴

Low Kim Pong owned considerable property at his death, which took place on the 18th December 1909 at the age of 72. As he left no will, there was a great deal of litigation in connection with his estate among persons claiming to be his next of kin. One of these claimants was Ngai Lau Shia, who sued Low Chee Neo, the administratrix of the intestate’s estate, for her share as a lawful daughter of the deceased. The evidence led on her behalf that her mother had been [109] married as a tsai (i.e. with first marriage ceremonies) to the deceased was rejected, and it was then argued for her that her mother should have been presumed from the fact of cohabitation and repute to have been a tsip (or secondary wife) of the deceased. The Court upheld this contention and decided that such presumption might be made upon satisfactory evidence being offered. This case went before the Appeal Court, which decided that the ‘Six Widows’ Case’ had concluded the point that the law would presume marriage from repute and cohabitation. The Court further held that it was not necessary to prove in each case that the Chinese were polygamous. It could accept that fact without proof. Mr Justice Earnshaw commented on the need for legislation, after an inquiry by a properly constituted Commission of Inquiry, as he considered the position with regard to Chinese marriages somewhat unsatisfactory.

The ‘Siong-lim-si’ Temple⁴⁵ was begun about the year 1902 and took more than six years to complete. The total cost, it is believed, was in the neighbourhood of half a million dollars.

… Besides its fine architectural proportions there are deposited in the building several large marble Siamese Buddhas, and a fine specimen of Kuan-yin, the Buddhistic Goddess of Mercy. …

On the temple walls is a long series of pictures depicting the tortures of souls of men and women after death, preparatory for the various stages of transmigration, prior to admission to Nirvana, the state of non-existence or perfect bliss.

‘Siong-Lim-Si’ Buddhist Temple in Kim Keat Road

Group of Chinese Buddhist monks

The pictures show scenes of prisoners at the bar, arranged before a judge and his officers – in fact a Mandarin’s yamen and all its accessories – and the punishments inflicted are gruesome, cruel and terrible. …

Lost souls are depicted in chains or wearing the cangue and are being driven along by whips of thorns.

Others, who have been beef-eaters, or butchers, are being gored by bulls: sportsmen with their guns in hand are having their brains plucked out by the birds they shot: others about to cross a bridge are being [110] hurled by pitchforks into a river of fire: while others are allowed to pass on. Another scene is where arms and legs and other parts of the body are being cut off, and one woman is having her eyes scooped out with a gouge: others are hung on trees the leaves of which are sharp knives, or are thrown on to banks where they are pierced through by projecting sharp stakes.

Liars are having their tongues cut out: while those who have used false weights and measures have their limbs and other portions of their bodies hung up or spread on the stalls of what looks like a butcher’s shop. Other scenes illustrate human beings boiling in oil over fierce fires, being pounded to death, or having their entrails cut out while still alive. The last pictures in the long series show the final stage of the Buddhistic purgatory, where human beings rise at last after ages of sinning and suffering to reach Nirvana.⁴⁶

The firm of Lee Cheng Yan & Co chop Chin Joo commenced its career in 1858 as commission agents and general traders. The founder was Lee Cheng Yan, who came from Malacca, where he was born in 1841, and who started, as usual, a small business in Telok Ayer Street. He was joined by his brother Lee Cheng Gum, and in ten years’ time the firm had become one of the principal Chinese houses dealing with Europeans. The firm later removed to No. 10 Malacca Street and developed its business as financiers and house-property investors, and is now as prosperous as ever. Mr Lee Cheng Yan took a great deal of interest in all matters concerning the Chinese, and was on the Committee of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, the Chinese Advisory Board and the Po Leung Kuk, and a JP. Realising the necessity of doing something in the matter of education for the poor, he founded and endowed the Hong Joo Chinese Free School in Serangoon Road which is attended by over seventy scholars. He was also one of the original trustees of the Gan Eng Seng (now known as the Anglo-Chinese) Free School, and on the Committee of the Toh Lam Chinese School in North Bridge Road (since re[111]-moved to Armenian Street). In company with Tay Geok Teat, he visited Europe in 1883. On his retirement from active business, his son, Mr Lee Choon Guan, took over the management, and after his death in May 1911 Mr Lee Choon Guan⁴⁷ became the sole proprietor. The interest of Mr Lee Cheng Gum in the firm ceased with his death. Mr Cheng Gum left considerable property to his son, Lee Keng Hee, who was born in 1870 and was educated at the High School, Malacca. In 1900 Mr Keng Hee opened up 5,000 acres of land at Bekoh, and planted tapioca and, later, rubber thereon. This estate has since been acquired by the Bekoh Rubber Estates Ltd. Mr Keng Hee is a partner of Guan Joo & Co, General Merchants and Commission Agents, carrying on business at No 10 Malacca Street.

Lee Cheng Yan

Lee Choon Guan

Mr Lee Choon Guan was born in 1868 and was educated privately. He served as assistant in his father’s business of Lee Cheng Yan & Co, chop Chin Joo, where he acquired his training as a merchant and financier. In the early days of the Straits Chinese Recreation Club, Mr Lee Choon Guan was an enthusiastic member and a keen tennis player, and for some years held the office of President of that Club. For five years he sat as elected member for Central Ward on the Municipal Board. Following in his father’s footsteps, he has taken a great interest in public affairs and in all movements for the social and educational advancement of the Straits Chinese community. He is a JP and a member of the Chinese Advisory Board and of the Committee of Management, Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He served on the Singapore Housing Commission and on the Board of Food Control. For many years he has been a director of the Straits Steamship Co Ltd and the South British Insurance Co Ltd (Malaya Branch) and is Chairman of Directors of the Chinese Commercial Bank. A number of rubber, tin and industrial companies has [sic] the advantage of his valuable experience and sound counsel as a director. By his first wife, who was a daughter of the late Mr Wee Boon Teck,⁴⁸ he has two [112] sons, Lee Pang Seng and Lee Pang Chuan, both well educated and young men of great promise, and two daughters, Mrs Choa Eng Wan and Mrs Tan Soon Keng. On the death of his first wife, Mr Lee Choon Guan married a daughter of the late Mr Tan Keong Saik⁴⁹ and has a son, Lee Pang Soo, who like his elder brothers was educated in England, and a daughter, Miss Lee Poh Neo. Mr and Mrs Lee Choon Guan have travelled extensively and have made more than one trip round the world. Endowed with a considerable fortune, Mr Lee Choon Guan has given liberally to charitable and educational institutions, including a handsome gift of $50,000 to the proposed Methodist College, and another of $60,000 to the endowment fund of Raffles College. He and his wife each gave $5,000 to the building fund of the St Andrew’s Hospital for Women and Children. During the absence of Dr Lim Boon Keng in China towards the end of 1918, Mr Lee Choon Guan was acting Chinese member of the Legislative Council.

It was in the early days of the year 1859 that a boy of 10 arrived from Penang to stay with his uncle, Mr Hoo Ah Kay Whampoa,⁵⁰ by whom he was sent to Raffles Institution for his education. This was Tchan Chun Fook, whose grandfather, Tchan Faat, had emigrated from the Kwangtung province to Penang, where he started a flour mill. His father, Tchan Yow Chuen, was a great sportsman in his younger days, and in his hunting expeditions penetrated far into the forest regions of the Malay Peninsula. There Mr Yow Chuen and his party came across the savage aborigines who supplied them with all kinds of jungle produce and medicinal roots and herbs in exchange for tobacco, beads, cutlery and gaudy trinkets dear to the heart of the savage. He contracted illness in the jungle and died at an early age. Mr Chun Fook entered the service of Mr Whampoa at the age of 17 and at Mr Whampoa’s death in 1880 he managed the various activities of ‘Whampoa & Co’ along with the eldest son, Hoo Ah Yip, to whom reference [113] has already been made. In 1906 he left the firm after forty years’ service and started business on his own account. He was a jolly character, and always preferred to look at the comic side of things. He was a popular man and always kindly disposed towards the poor. In 1885 he was appointed on the Committee of the Po Leung Kuk and in 1890 was given a seat on the Chinese Advisory Board. He was made a JP in 1916. He died on the 23rd August 1919, and during the later years of his life he was a firm believer in spiritualism, devoting much of his time to the study of the spirit world.⁵¹

1According to Phyllis Ghim Lian Chew, A Sociolinguistic History of Early Identities in Singapore: From Colonialism to Nationalism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Song Hoot Kiam (1830–1900) the father of Song Ong Siang, the author of One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore, was displayed as a ‘Christian’ and ‘reported to speak English perfectly’. Song’s new-found faith led him to reject his parents’ choice of a non-Christian girl. Instead he married Yeo Choon Neo, a well-educated Straits Chinese girl, a union which is regarded as the start of the oldest Straits Chinese Christian family in Singapore. Influenced by his wife’s mentor, the headmistress of the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, Miss Grant, Song took on a position as a teacher at the Singapore Free School. Although Song did not turn to full-time Christian work as Legge had hoped, he remained highly regarded for his Christian work, serving alongside Benjamin Keasberry at the Straits Chinese Church at Prinsep Street.

2On James Legge, see Helen Edith Legge, James Legge, Missionary and Scholar (London: Religious Tract Society, 1905); and NJ Girardot, The Victorian Translation of China: James Legge’s Oriental Pilgrimage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002).

3[Song: James Legge, by Miss HE Legge (1905)]. Helen Edith Legge, James Legge, Missionary and Scholar (London: Religious Tract Society, 1905), at 52.

4Ibid, at 56.

5Ibid.

6On Tan Kong Wee, see Chapter 4, n 32.

7Ibid, at 52.

8[Song: Vol IV (December 1900)].

9(1900) Straits Chinese Magazine.

10See ‘The Visit of the Governor-General’ Singapore Free Press, 5 Mar 1850, at 1.

11Also spelt ‘Ung Choon Seng’ (see Straits Times, 25 Nov 1851, at 5) or ‘Ung Choon Sing’ (see ‘Address from the Inhabitants’ Singapore Free Press, 5 Dec 1851, at 6).

12See ‘Singapore’ The South Australian, 9 Jul 1850, at 3.

13[Song: Prisoners Their Own Warders]. See, J Frederick Adolphus McNair, Prisoners Their Own Warders: A History of the Convict Establishments at Bencoolen, Penang and Malacca from the Year 1797 (Westmister: A Constable & Co, 1899), at 68.

14According to Kua Bak Lim, Wan was born in 1834. See (Singapore: EPB, 1995), at 10.

15‘Address from the Inhabitants’ Singapore Free Press, 5 Dec 1851, at 6.

16A strong believer of western supremacy in every sense, Lord Dalhousie’s administration marked the expansion of British Indian territories and the introduction of reforms and constructive activities. Dalhousie fought the Second Sikh War (1848–49) and annexed the Punjab. He annexed a portion of Sikkim in 1850 and towards the end of 1852 his army fought the Second Burmese War and conquered lower Burma. See Suresh Chandra Ghosh, ‘The Utilitarianism of Dalhousie and the Material Improvement of India’ (1978) 12(1) Modern Asian Studies 97–110.

17On Sophia Cooke, see Chapter 4, n 28.

18See ‘Old Times in Singapore’ Singapore Free Press, 19 Jun 1886, at 7.

19Aged 22, William Henry Read travelled to Singapore to take his father’s place at AL Johnston & Company, Singapore’s leading merchant company at that time, his father retiring and returning to England the following year (1842). Read was highly active in social and public affairs, and commercial life. He was also a generous donor to education, religious and social institutions. He was one of the early political agitators for the transfer of the Straits Settlements from British India control, to the Colonial Office in London. CB Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore (Singapore: Fraser & Neave, 1902), at 367.

20While it was believed that the Ghee Hin secret society was involved in mobilising Chinese opposition to the new sub-post office, not all secret society members were party to the violence. Chua Moh Choon, headman of the Ghee Hock society, instead helped to persuade the rioters to desist. See Straits Times Overland Report