LINSTEAD & DAVIS
In continuation of the series of brief histories of old firms in the Colony, we might take two which to-day retain the names of the original founders, and, though not commercial concerns in the generally accepted sense of the term, are well-known business institutions with a record going back to the "spacious days" of the past.
In Messrs. Linstead and Davis we have associations which go back to the very early years of Hongkong. The name is one which recalls Mr. T.G. Linstead, a prominent resident of his time, and one who took part in many public activities. It is worthy of note that he was one of the supporters of a protest against the original Military Contribution when its levy on the Colony's revenues was mooted in 1864. Earlier, he was to the forefront in sports activities, and it was under his leadership that the Victoria Regatta Club, which had become practically extinct from want of support, was revived in 1860. A keen Volunteer of his time, Mr. Linstead held a commission in the Corps in 1864, when the Volunteer movement had received a fresh lease of life, and was also a prominent Mason, becoming in due course District Grand Master. He died in April, 1881, in Hongkong. In 1882 a memorial tablet was erected in St. John's Cathedral to Mr. Charles May, a former Chief of Police, and to Mr. Linstead, who was Mr. May's son-in-law.
Mr. Theophilus G. Linstead came to the Colony in the Fifties, and joined the old firm of Lindsay and Co., whose offices were on Queen's Road, adjoining the old Praya. By 1864 he was manager of the firm, but later joined the firm of Margesson and Co., a Canton concern which had opened a branch here about 1865, the founder being Mr. H.D. Margesson, in succession apparently to Lindsay and Co. The following reference to the change over is of interest. In an advertisement contained in the Hongkong Telegraph (a newspaper of the time, since defunct) dated in June 1866, it was announced that Mr. T.G. Linstead, of Messrs. Margesson, Hongkong, was to sell by auction Section A of Marine Lot No. 2 having a frontage on the Praya of 60 feet and upon Ice House Street of 200 feet, "together with the substantial and recently-erected buildings upon the same." The Annual Crown rent was $202. This house, described as the nearest house on the Praya to the site of the new City Hall, was the property of Messrs. Lindsay & Co.'s business in Hongkong about that time. Mr. Margesson had been Lindsay's assistant at their Canton office at the beginning of the Sixties.
At this period Mr. Henry William Davis had established himself in the Colony, having originally been a merchant with a Canton office, in the late Fifties. In 1861 he was the number two in Davis Brothers and Co., of Canton, the senior being Mr. George Davis. In 1864 we find Mr. H.W. Davis a principal in Sharp and Co., in Hongkong, bill and bullion brokers, being in partnership with Mr. Granville Sharp.
Mr. Davis also took a prominent part in welfare movements in the Colony, and it is interesting to note that he was one of the three (with Dr. Wm. Young and Mr. J.G. Edge) who formed a Medical Mission Committee in 1871 which established the public dispensary for poor Chinese at Taipingshan, that shortly afterwards blossomed into the Alice Memorial Hospital (see 3-1-34), and was one of those who supported the appeal for funds in 1872 towards the establishing of the hospital.
In due course Messrs. Linstead and Davis became associated and formed the concern which bears that name to-day, being one of the leading Chartered Accountants' firms in the Colony.
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