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 grandfather I saw regularly until he passed away here in Vancouver, Canada. Sadly, during his final two years he was confined to a care home, having suffered a stroke that left him unable to walk to to speak. 

His sister May died soon after in England, but my mother and I had lived with her in Vancouver when we fist arrived in Canada in 1947. We paid frequent visits to her while she lived in Vancouver so I can vouch for her relationship as my mother’s aunt ( my great aunt )

My great uncle, George Hunter, I never met, but my mother spoke of him often and told many stories of life in China that involved him in some way. Letters from my grandfather made numerous references to George and I know he worked for my grandfather in Shanghai. What I did NOT know, was the details of George’s family life; that he had married, or that he had children. It was only in about 2005 that my mother’s sister mentioned George. She said there was a “rumor” that he had twin boys!That began my search and eventual discovery of his granddaughter Diana in England. I subsequently found a record of George’s death in Shanghai in 1955 that had been recorded with the British Consulate.

So, that brings me to “James Hunter” During my entire life I don’t recall there ever being a mention of James or his family. My first knowledge came from the “Anna Hunter, alias Kot Choy” death notices, where James was listed as the eldest of the four children. Further search produced newspaper clippings of his wife’s death in 1933, and photos of their graves. The obits mentioned their daughter Ellen and the now familiar address of 11 Shelley Street, Hong Kong.

There are virtually no records of James in Hong Kong other than his death. He was said to have been a retired teacher. There’s no record of his marriage to his wife Emma or to the birth of their daughter Ellen. 

After WW2 in one of my grandfather’s letters, was a mention of Ellen, but at the time I came across it, I didn’t connect her. Now of course it makes more sense.

Ellen’s chop, Fok Shuk Wah

Ellen Hunter did indeed pass away in 1944, November 21st and was interred with her mother the next day at St Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Hong Kong. She died as Ellen Hunter alias “Fok Shuk Wah” but what’s interesting is her father is shown as James Hunter alias “Fok Chi Sing” Her mother is Emma Hunter but has no alias.

In her probate the administrators were her adopted sister “Ip Fok Shi” nee “Fok Shuk Chun” 40 and “Woo Siu Ying” her step-mother who was 43 ( 3 years younger than Ellen ) To muddy the waters even further, the step-mother ” Woo” was the “concubine of Ellen’s father James Hunter” and Ellen herself was noted in the probate as “the deceased was a Chinese domiciled in Hong Kong”

So, was James Hunter actually a biological son of “Anne Hunter alias Kot Choy”? Remember the Baptism at St Peter’s Church, where James in listed at the son of William Leyland Hunter and is wife “Catharine” Was Anne Hunter the biological mother of any of them? Also Ellen and her mother were both buried at St Michael’s. James died before Ellen so why would she not have buried him with his wife? He’d been baptized as a Catholic and besides, non-Catholics could be still buried with their spouses or family members.