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 on the list of students for 1883. He’d have been just 6 years old. When I contacted the DBS archivist he told me that children were not admitted that young, but I thought, how many Toby Hunters, age 6, could have been living in Hong Kong in 1883?
A link to the School register on Gwulo.com: https://gwulo.com/node/44277
There is a listing for a J. Hunter on the rolls in 1889. This could be the elder brother James.
Thomas Cock, who became my great aunt May’s husband, shows on the rolls in 1889 and again in 1893. Tom Cock had a brother-in-law, Henry Bridges Endicott who was with Endicott Ships Chandlery and then Augustine Heard/China Navigation. Henry was married to Tom’s elder sister Mary Cock who was born in 1865, also in Shanghai
May Hunter also shows in on the school rolls for 1893 ( this could have been a separate school for girls )
It’s probable that this is where our families became connected. Tobias could have introduced his sister May Hunter to Thomas Cock.
It’s also possible that Tobias met his future wife Maud Thomson at the school although she does not show on any student list. It’s possible she attended the Diocesan Girl’s School.
Another student who was at the school at the same time as Tobias Hunter and Tom Cock was Harry Hastings, who also attended in 1889 and remained friends with Tobias Hunter.
Harry Hastings went to Canada in 1913 and later moved to Victoria. He had a brother Robert who married in Victoria, BC and moved to Duncan, BC. Harry and my grandfather apparently kept in touch. Harry Hastings became prominent in the fight for rights in the local Chinese community of Victoria.
As for the age of my grandfather when he was sent to the school as a boarder, I attach a reference from a letter he wrote to my mother.
