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29.
"VICTORIA" AS A SCHOOL NAME
In the article on Queen's College, published a few days ago, it was seen that this well-known institution, formerly the Government Central School, had for a time in the early Nineties, been known as Victoria College; and owing to the written objection of the headmaster of the time, Dr. G.E. Bateson Wright, the name was changed to "Queen's" in 1894. Dr. Wright pointed out that a Victoria School already existed.
It is interesting to note that schools with the name "Victoria" were in existence in Hongkong for a good many years; yet at the present date the name is not borne by any local scholastic institution. The last of the line, the Victoria British School, at Causeway Bay, closed down three years ago.
In my previous reference, I quoted a note by Dr. F.J. Eitel, a former Hongkong educationist, that the Victoria English School, started in the Seventies by Mr. and Mrs. Hanlon under the management of Mr. Phineas Ryrie, had eventually developed into a Portuguese school. Dr. Eitel's comment was written in the late Eighties; and for some years after that, a Victoria School was flourishing, still connected with the Hanlon family. While it seems the original institution of that name was actually taken over by the Roman Catholic Mission, the designation was preserved, and Dr. Eitel's note is not sufficiently clear, or accurate.
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Anyhow, in 1880, we find a Victoria Boys' School, with Mr. J.M. Hanlon as headmaster, and a Victoria Girls' School conducted by Mrs. J.M. Hanlon. By 1890, there was merely a Victoria School - listed as a Roman Catholic institution at the corner of Peel and Staunton Streets. Mr. J.M. Hanlon was conducting it, while Mr. W.D. Braidwood was headmaster.
By 1900, the name had been changed to the Victoria English Schools, situated at "Craigengower," Caine Road, being apparently inter-denominational, with Mr. Braidwood as headmaster of the "boys' department." This is of interest, also, because of the fact that Mr. Braidwood, on founding the Craigengower Cricket Club, took that name from the Caine Road premises. In 1902, he became head of the newly-founded Ellis Kadoorie School for Chinese (see 14-6-34). This became known as the Hongkong College, and Mr. Braidwood was its superintendent for over a decade. It was at No.1, Hospital Road.
About that period, the Victoria English Schools appear to have merged in the St. Joseph's English College (as the institution of that name was then known); certainly within a few years, the old Hanlon-Braidwood school had quite disappeared. In 1905, however, the name was adopted for a new venture, which became a Government school, and of this, we might take particular note.
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