Why become a Catholic at 37?

My grandfather’s brother, James Hunter was baptized November 29th, 1911 at St Peter’s Church in Hong Kong. It was also  known as the Seamen’s Church and was Catholic. He was 37 years old and married with a 12 year old daughter. However, both his wife Emma and his daughter were Catholic.

From what I know of the Hunter family, none were Catholic. My grandfather and and his brother George were both married in Anglican churches; my grandfather at St Andrews in Kowloon and his brother George in Leeds, England. Their sister May was either  church of England or Anglican, but not Catholic as far as I know.

When James’s wife died in 1933 she was buried at St Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Happy Valley and when their daughter passed away in 1944 she was placed with her mother and her name was added to the grave.

The cemetery record book from St Michael’s has the two burials cross-referenced to each other as pictured in the entries below. The graves are 9347 and 5877. There’s a discrepancy in Ellen Hunter’s Chinese name, which was apparently a transcript of a Chinese name. It was Fok Shuk Wah. She was not married.

James Hunter himself died in 1937 and is buried in the main colonial Cemetery at Happy Valley and NOT with his wife and daughter even though it seems he had become a Catholic, and even if not, from what I’ve heard, he’d have been allowed to be buried alongside his wife and daughter.

A recent new theory has come to light. James was a teacher or so it is stated in his obituary. There’s a possibility that maybe he converted in order to obtain a teaching position. Maybe a Catholic school would have required or at least preferred their staff to be of the faith?