Witchell, Samuel Job (St. John's)

Updated March 25, 2015

[Chaplain, St. John's Lodge 618 ([n.d.])]

Read feature article about Samuel Job Witchell: Job and James Henry Witchell: the Story of a Corrupted Police Inspector and His Son, a Briton Wanted in USA for White Slavery

Winchester, Charles Alexander (Aberdeen)

Updated March 25, 2015

temp. Notes:
Physician-turned-diplomat

Qualifications: M.D., University of Aberdeen, 1841, dissertation on dysentery; Winchester studied at the University of Aberdeen on other subjects from 1836 to 1839. He had some medical training at University of St. Andrews in 1836-7.

A 1884 Winchester letter sent from Amoy

Charles Alexander Winchester (b. year unknown, Aberdeen - d. July 10, 1883, London) was in the British Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon of HMS Cornwallis (appointed on November 20, 1841). He arrived in China at an opportune time, towards the latter part of the First Opium War, that allowed him to witness the signing of the Treaty of Nanking on August 29, 1842 on board the Cornwallis. Some time before the establishment of the British occupation government on March 31, 1842, Winchester was made the island's first assistant Surgeon. He was appointed to the Committee of Public Health and Cleanliness on August 17, 1843. The committee was headed by Peter Young. On October 19, 1843, he was made surgeon for the British legation in Amoy (Xiamen) and appointed British Consul at the same station in the beginning of 1850s, from there he gave up medicine and became a full time diplomat. The photo on the left shows a 1884 Winchester letter sent from Amoy. Winchester went to Japan in 1862, assuming the position of British Consul in Nagasaki, a year later he became the British Consul in Yokohama. He went back to China in 1865 as the British Council General in Shanghai. A small road that ran down the side of the Bank of China's art-deco warehouse which overlooked Soochow Creek was named after him, the Winchester Road 文极司脱路 (present day Wenanlu in Zhabei District 上海閘北區文安路). He retired in 1871 and left Shanghai for London where he died in 1883.

Winchester was born to Charles Winchester (b.1781) and Margaret Day. Winchester senior was a notary public by profession. He was at one time Clerk to the Commutation Road Trustee of the Town of Aberdeen District. He was a member of the Aberdeen University's General Council, a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen, as well as a prominent member of the Aberdeen Lodge of Freemasons. Winchester's elder brother, James Webster Winchester, had a doctor degree in law. He was at one time the Deputy-Inspector General of Hospital, Indian Medical Services, Bombay (Mumbai); and subsequently Secretary of the Conservative Club in Edinburgh. Winchester was married to Jane Black (b. August 18, 1820 – d. October 11, 1967) who died in Shanghai and was buried at the Shantung Road Cemetery 山東路公墓. Their son, Charles Blake Winchester (b.1852, probably in Amoy), was a barrister, who at one time was the assistant Collector and Magistrate of Bombay.

Selected bibliography: Biographical Dictionary of Medical Practitioners in Hong Kong: 1841-1941 [online].

Yule, John Alexander (Celtic [Edinburgh & Leith])

Updated March 23, 2015

[Entered Celtic Lodge 291 (October 20, 1857).]

Yule was born in Scotland in 1837. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. He joined the British Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon on October 20, 1859. Yule came to Hong Kong no later than 1864 as he was appointed Superintendent of the Government Civil Hospital on June 21, 1864 (vice John Dollman, new appointment as Health Officer and Surgeon, Stone Cutters' Island Convict Hulk). He resigned in November the same year. Yule died on board SS Euxine on the homeward passage from Hong Kong on April 10 (or 16), 1866.

Yule was born to John Yule Jr. (d. May 15, 1851), Writer of Signet, and J. Morrison Browne (d. August 29, 1870), daughter of Robert Browne and Marion Morrison. Yule had two daughters, Jane Yule and Georgiana Yule. #11 St John Street, Edinburgh was listed as Yule's address in 1857.

Biographical Dictionary of Medical Practitinoers in Hong Kong: 1841-1941 [online].

McGregor, Gregor (Zetland)

Updated March 23, 2015

[Senior Deacon, Zetland Lodge 525 (1850).]

McGregor was a British Army civilian employee; he worked for the Office of the Deputy Inspector General of Hospital as a clerk in 1850. Hollywood road was listed as his address in 1850.

Selected bibliography: Biographical Dictionary of Residents of Hong Kong, the First 10 Years (1841-1850) [online].

Inglis, A.L. (Perseverance)

Updated March 22, 2015

Inglis was the acting Registrar General (vice Samuel Fearon) in 1846 and became the Registrar General in 1848. He was the Assistant Harbor Master in 1851. He went to California for the gold rush in 1851.

Selected bibliography: Biographical Dictionary of Residents of Hong Kong, the First 10 Years (1841-1850) [online].

Holyoak, Percy Hobson 何理玉 (Perseverance)

Updated March 22, 2015

[Treasurer, Perseverance Lodge 1165 (1904)]

temp. notes:
Holyoak was Chairman of HSBC for fiscal 1918. merchant, head of Reiss and Co. and later Holyoak, Massey and Co., Ltd.; Chairman (1917/18, 1920/21, 1925), Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce; Member, Legislative Council (1915-1926); Captain, Royal Hong Kong Golf Club (1921); President, Royal Society of St. George Hong Kong Branch (1918/19); President, Aero Club (1920).

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong Daily Press, December 19, 1904, p.2, Masonic Affairs.

Fraser-Smith, Robert (St. John's)

Updated December 28, 2014

[Worshipful Master, St. John's Lodge 618 (1883)]

Selected bibliography: The Skirret, Lodge St. John No.618 [online].

Dennys, Henry Lardner (Perseverance)

Updated December 26, 2014

Dennys was born in Hampshire in 1852. He was admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong in January 1874 and practiced as a solicitor, notary public and patent agent. He was name partner of the solicitors firm, Dennys & Mosop; his partner was William H.R. Mossop. He was the Secretary, Librarian and Curator of the City Hall from 1877 to 1900. He was appointed Crown Solicitor in 1896 and continued until 1900. He was admitted as a solicitor of the British Consular Court in China and Japan. He was a foreign [non-resident] member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents.

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong's First [online]. Who's Who in the Far East 1906-7, Hong Kong: China Mail, 1907.

Cleverly, Charles Siant George 基化厘

Updated December 24, 2014

temp. notes:

Charles Siant George Cleverly 基化厘, architect, civil servant, was listed as a resident of Hong Kong from 1842 to 1865. He was the acting Assistant Surveyor General of Hong Kong in 1846.  He was the Surveyor General 量地官 between 1847 and 1865. He was a trustee of the St. John's Church in 1850 as well a council of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch in the same year. Cleverly retired in 1865 due to ill health. He received his first pension payment of £416 from the Hong Kong Government on April 28, 1865. Cleverly was responsible for the designs of the following landmark buildings: Government House (1854), Old Stanley Police Station (1859), St. John's Cathedral (1849), and Zetland Hall (1853).

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong's First [online].

Caldwell, George Arthur (Zetland)

Updated December 21, 2014

[Treasurer, Zetland Lodge 525 (1897, 1898). Member, Zetland Hall Trustee (1915).]
Caldwell was an accountant, and later chief clerk, of Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co.

Selected bibliography: The China Mail, December 2, 1897, p.2.

Bridges, William Thomas 必列者士

Updated December 21, 2014

temp. Notes:

Acting Attorney General, Acting Colonial Secretary, in multiple occasions in 1850s when the office-holders were on leave.
Honor: naming of Bridge Street 必列者士街 (better known in its short form 必街)

William Thomas Bridges (b.1820–d.year unclear) studied at Oxford, and at the Middle Temple from 1844. He was called to the Bar in 1847 and came to Hong Kong in 1851 where he started a law practice. Wealth began to cumulate for Bridges as business at the law firm thrived. The first sign of his dubious character unveiled when he started lending money at high interest rates. Because of shortage of lawyers in Hong Kong at that time and owing to the introduction his college friend, William Thomas Mercer who was the Colonial Treasurer, Bridges was asked to temporarily take over the office of the Attorney General when the office holder, Thomas Chisholm Anstey, went on leave in 1855. When Mercer became Colonial Secretary and took home leave from February 1857 to November 1859, Bridges stood in for him as well; assuming the most important government office next to that of the governor, while still carrying on his private law practice and money lending business. Bridges resigned in 1859 after being implicated in a number of scandals, and left Hong Kong in 1861. Bridges was a member of the Masonic order in Hong Kong.

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong's First [online].

Blake, Henry Arthur 卜力 (Quatuor Coronati Lodge)

Updated December 21, 2014

[District Grand Master, Ceylon Freemasons]
Blake was the 12th Governor of Hong Kong (1898-1903)

Selected bibliography: blake-world.com [online]. Transaction of Quatuor Coronati Lodge [online].

Baker, Henry George (United Service)

Updated December 19, 2014

[Worshipful Master, United Service Lodge 1341 (1905)]
Baker joined the Hong Kong Police Force on September 5, 1882. He was made Chief Inspector of Police and Assistant Superintendent of Fire Brigade on April 18, 1903.

Selected bibliography: The China Mail, December 9, 1905, p.4, United Service Lodge

Ayres, Philip Bernard Chenery (Perseverance)

Updated December 19, 2014

[Master, Perseverance Lodge 1165 (1883)]

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong Telegraph, November 23, 1882.

temp. notes:

MRCS, LM (Eng.); LRCP (Edin.) August 1, 1865. Hong Kong 1873. Hong Kong Government, Colonial Surgeon November 4, 1873. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 3, 1884 through 1888. Residence: #27 Caine Road 1884.

[Ayres was one of the first nine doctors who registered as medical practitioners in Hong Kong immediately following the enactment of the "Medical Registration Ordinance, 1884" that required all doctors to be licensed before they could treat patients for monetary reward. The nine were: William Stanley Adams, Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres, Johann Gerhard Heinrich Gerlach, Antonio Simplieio Gomes, William M. Hartigan, John H. Lockhead, Patrick Manson, James Stockwell, and Richard Young.]

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, November 8, 1873, Notice #172; May 3, 1884, Notice; May 5, 1888, Notice #181.

The last Colonial Surgeon (1873-1897)

Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres

b.July 13, 1840 Oxfordshire – d. October 12, 1899 Kent; son of Philip Burnard Ayres (M.D., London; Chief Medical Officer of the Civil Hospital, Mauritius; lecturer in chemistry at Charing Cross Hospital); M.R.C.S.Eng; M.L.R.C.P.Edin; government medical officer posted in Mauritius and India; arrived in Hong Kong (November 1873) to take up the position of Colonial Surgeon and Inspector of Hospitals (and would become the longest serving Colonial Surgeon – twenty four years); the following establishment were under the purview of the Colonial Surgeon: Police, Troops, Government Civil Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital, Victoria Gaol, Lock Hospital, Health of the Colony, and Sanitation, the Lunatic Asylum was added in 1884 when it as established; annual salary GBP600, allowed to carry on private practice whilst holding the public office aiming to make up the difference of GBP200 ( Ayres had asked for GBP800 per year); oversight the opening of the Government Civil Hospital; instituted the nursing staff of trained nurses from the London Hospital (1889); played a pivotal role in fostering a higher standard in sanitation including institutionalized the Sanitary Board (1883); handled the epidemic of Plague (1894); Master of the Hong Kong Masonic Order, Officer of the District Grand Lodge of China; health began to fail in 1895; home leave (1896, this is the first and only home leave Ayres had ever took since arriving in 1873); retired (1897); died two years later at the age of 59; wrote in his last report before retiring, "What all my reports could not do the epidemic has done.", referring to the drastic improvement in sanitation standard following the epidemic; after his retirement, the position of Colonial Surgeon was changed to Principal Civil Medical Officer.

Annual Salary of some government officials in 1875 (in GBP)

Chief Judge	2,500
Puisne Judge	1,700
Attorney General	1,000
Postmaster General	900
Registrar General	800
Captain Superintendent of Police	800
Superintendent of the Gaol	700
Colonial Surgeon	600

(It will be interesting to find out why the Postmaster General was so generously paid...)

Arnold, C.D. (Naval & Military)

Updated December 18, 2014

[Worshipful Master, Naval and Military Lodge 848 (1911)]

Selected bibliography: The Skirret, A Brief History of the District Grand Lodge of the Far East, 1961, Lodge Naval and Military No.848, p.1.

Andrew, John Ingram (St. John's)

Updated December 18, 2014

[Worshipful Master, St. John's Lodge 618 (1895). District Grand Superintendent of Works, Hong Kong and South China, SC (1906).]
Andrew was born in Scotland in October 1866. He was educated at Normal Training College, and Robert College, Aberdeen. He had worked for Douglas S.S. Company [probably was Douglas Lapraik & Co.] between 1890 and 1892, Taikoo Sugar Refinery Company between 1893 and 1896, He joined George Fenwick and Company in December 1896 as engineer and was promoted to be manager in 1909. He was authorized by the Hong Kong Government as acting surveyor of boilers of unlicensed steam ships under 60 tons (vice William George Winterburn) on March 15, 1901. He served in the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps; he was promoted from Company Sergeant Major to be 2nd Lieutenant on October 12, 1908, and Lieutenant on October 11, 1909. He served as a common juror between 1894 and 1911. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1909. Andrew married Sophia Berg (daughter of Captain [s.n.] Berg) in 1894. Andrew retired to Aberdeen probably in 1912 and died in 1936.

Selected bibliography: Gwulo: Old Hong Kong [online]. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, March 16, 1901, #153; October 16, 1908, #727; October 15, 1909, #647; March 13, 1936, supplement, advertisement. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, March 8, 1909, p.4. Who's Who in the Far East 1906-7, Hong Kong: China Mail, 1907.

Anderson, George Cobban (Zetland)

Updated December 18, 2014

[Member, Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong and South China Masonic Benevolence Fund (1893, at the time when an application was made to the Legislative Council to incorporate the Fund). Member, Zetland Hall Trustee (1915).]

Anderson was a marine surveyor who worked for Jardine, Matheson and Co.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, April 1, 1893, p.255.

Ainslie, David Hunter (Zetland)

Updated December 18, 2014

temp. note:
Hong Kong nlt.1860. Hong Kong Government, Acting Colonial Surgeon (vice John Ivor Murray, absence on leave) December 15, 1860 - May 8, 1861.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, December 22, 1860, Notice #143; May 11, 1861, Notice #53.

Adams, William Stanley (St. John's)

Updated December 18, 2014

[Deputy District Grand Master, Hong Kong and South China, E.C. (1882)]

temp. notes:
The Forefather of Drs. Anderson & Partners.

Name variations: William Stanley Stanley-Adams [1]. b.1842, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire - d. January 10, 1898, Brentford, Middlesex. MD, CM (Glas.) April 15, 1862. Hong Kong nlt.1864. RS, Seamen's Hospital 1864-73. Hong Kong Government, Health Officer of the Port (vice James Orr Henderson, resigned) April 21, 1868; Medical Inspector of Emigrants April 21, 1868. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 3, 1884 through 1892. Private practitioner 1887-92; founder, Drs. Adams and Jordan 1885 [or 1887], address: Pedder Street 1887-89; the practice would evolve into Drs. Anderson & Partners. Hon. Assistant Surgeon, HKVDC July 23, 1864. Trustee, St. John's Cathedral May 4, 1885 and May 3, 1886. JP (unofficial) February 21, 1885. Residence: Forest Lodge, #11 Caine Road 1884. Retired, Edmonton, Middlesex 1892. General Council, Glasgow Univ.[n.d.].

s/o John Adams, b.ca.1815-d.1891.
m. Sussy Blanche Mary Hugo [2].

[Adams was one of the first nine doctors who registered as medical practitioners in Hong Kong immediately following the enactment of the "Medical Registration Ordinance, 1884" that required all doctors to be licensed before they could treat patients for monetary reward. The nine were: William Stanley Adams, Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres, Johann Gerhard Heinrich Gerlach, Antonio Simplieio Gomes, William M. Hartigan, John H. Lockhead, Patrick Manson, James Stockwell, and Richard Young.]

[Adams was said to have held the position of Colonial Surgeon, but I found no other references to confirm this. The only thing I could find that linked him to the top medical office in Hong Kong was that he lived next door to Philip Bernard Chenery Ayres, Hong Kong's last Colonial Surgeon (1873-1897, the position was renamed Principal Civil Medical Officer following Ayres' retirement). Ayres lived in a house called Dinder, #13 Caine Road.]

[1] Adams had his named changed to William Stanley Stanley-Adams while sojourning in Hong Kong, for unknown reason(s).

[2] Adams married Susan (Sussy) Blanche Mary Hugo (b. April 11, 1848, Jersey, Channel Islands - d. Jan 28, 1940, Heston, Middlesex) at St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong in 1867. Hugo was the daughter of Harper Richard Hugo and Blanche Leggatt. Adams and Hugo had eight children: Hilda Agneta Bertha Stanley-Adams, Blanche J. Adams, Maude Beatrice Stanley-Adams, Stanley Hugo Stanley-Adams, Mabel Gertrude Adams, Percy Hugo Adams, Ethel Constance Adams, and Herbert Hugo St. Leger Stanley-Adams. They were all born in Hong Kong where the family lived in a house named Forest Lodge at #11 Caine Road. Julia Hugo, Susan's sister, lived with the family in 1885. Her husband, William Kaye, worked for the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in London.

Selected bibliography: Chronicle Directory for China, Japan, & The Philippines (1872) Hong Kong: Daily Press. Family Tree of Edna Killick and Terry Smith [internet]. Dennys, Nicholas Belfield (Ed.) The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, a Complete Guide to the Open Ports of those Countries, together with Peking, Yedo, Hongkong and Macao, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1867. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, April 9, 1864, Notice #63; July 23, 1864, Notice #119; April 25, 1868, Notice #47; February 27, 1869, Notice #20; May 3, 1884, Notice; February 21, 1885, Notice #73; May 9, 1885, Notice #188; May 8, 1886, Notice #159; May 7, 1892, Notice #206. Hugo, F.H.M. (Ed.) A Pedigree of The Family of Hugo of St. Feock, Co. Cornwall, Guernsey: Frederick Clarke, 1932. Private Residences of the Principal Government Officials, the Leading Merchants, the Consuls, Professional Men, and Justices of the Peace (1884), Hong Kong: Daily Press, pp.398-399. University of Glasgow › Biography of William Stanley Adams [internet].

Selected bibliography: Biographical Dictionary of Medical Practitioners in Hong Kong: 1841-1941 [online]. Hong Kong Telegraph, December 12, 1882, p.2.