Monthly Archives: April 2021

Diocesan Boys School  The Diocesan Boys School (DBS) was a boarding school/orphanage that began about 1870 in Hong Kong. While it did take in orphans, it was also a paid tuition school for the ex-pat community. I found my grandfather … Continue reading →

Choa, Chua, Choy, Choi I’ve found that the above names all have something in common. They are all basically the same character, 蔡 Cài, which is apparently not a widely used name in China overall, being something like 41st usage, but in … Continue reading →

 Who was at the funeral? When my great aunt Emma Hunter passed away in 1933 her funeral was posted in the newspaper. It seems to have been a well attended affair and as there were a list of attendees, I … Continue reading →

 11 Shelley Street A change of tack. When I keep drawing blanks in my search for relatives, I turn to the neighborhood, the street, and the people who lived nearby for clues. Shelley Street was in the heart of a … Continue reading →

Fok Shuk Wah The family name “FOK” is shown below. This is a simplified text version. This is an explanation of the name I received from a friend:  Both Fok and Huo refers to  the same Chinese surname 霍 only the spelling … Continue reading →

 A brother from another mother? It seems there were four children fathered by William Leyland Hunter during his time in China. My grandfather Tobias and his sister May I knew first hand as they were both alive until 1970. My … Continue reading →

 One more hint of Chinese heritage My grandmother Maud was a Thomson. Her father, William Mitchel Thomson was career military, having joined the Royal Engineers at 14 years of age. There were eight children in the Hong Kong family. Five … Continue reading →

A case for Coutes? After what seems like irrefutable evidence that my mysterious great grandmother was “Anne Hunter alias Kot Choy” there is one more little snippet of evidence that can’t be ignored.  A photocopy of a typed “Carl Smith … Continue reading →

 Tobias and Maud Hunter Wedding The wedding took place at St Andrews Church on Nathan Road in Kowloon, April 14, 1909. I think the wedding photos were done at their home, 4 Humphrey’s Ave, Kowloon. Most of the women in … Continue reading →