SIR H. N. MODY
690
Reference was made recently (see 7-12-33) to Sir Paul Chater, one of the most conspicuous figures of his time. Another "grand old man" of the Colony, who was Sir Paul's partner for many years, was Sir Hormusjee Mody, Kt. who died in Hong Kong on June 16, 1911, at the age of 74. The following references to him were made at the time by the Hong Kong Telegraph in the course of a lengthy eulogy.
Sir Hormusjee Mody, destined to become the leading Parsee out here, was a native of Bombay, a son of Mr. Nowrobjee Mody, a Bombay schoolmaster, and Jeevani, daughter of Rramjee Buxey of Bombay. He was born in 1837, and married Maneckbai, daughter of Dinshaw Manatavy of Bombay. He was at the time of his death a member of the eminent merchant firm of Messrs. Chater and Mody. He received the honour of knighthood on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Hong Kong University.
Sir Hormusjee first came out to Hong Kong from Bombay at the age of 21 (in the year 1858) to join the clerical staff of a firm of Indian merchants. From a subordinate position, he set up a business for himself as an auctioneer, and pursued this calling with various vicissitudes until bigger schemes absorbed his attention. Even up to the last, however, he still continued to retain his licence as an auctioneer of opium, though, of course, he had ceased to practise this business for many years.
His narratives of happenings in the Colony were, naturally enough, always interesting. In the old days of the opium trade, the first indication of the arrival of an opium ship from India was the appearance of her topsails or her smoke-stack, as the case might be. Of course, thereupon there was an immediate rush of brokers and dealers to get first on board. Many of them owned fast gigs so as to make the best of such chances, and many exciting races were run in order to be first aboard, for it need hardly be stated that the broker who could find out first from the skipper what the state of the opium market was in India was able, if he was smart, to get ashore quickly and make use of his exclusive information to some purpose in the Hong Kong, Canton, and Macao markets, and perhaps paralyse the trade in these ports.
On the Stock Exchange in the late Eighties and early Nineties, Sir Hormusjee came into much prominence, where his figure soon earned him the credit of being the Napoleon of the Rialto. But even in later days, he had his ups and downs, being at one time, in his own words, reduced to a condition of having "no more than the value of his luncheon in his pocket."
He afterwards embarked on a most ambitious commercial venture along with Sir Paul Chater for exploiting the mineral resources of Tonkin. The Charbonnages Mines, with their inexhaustible resources, brought revenue, and their enterprise was met with good spirit by the French; so much so, indeed, that not long before his death, Sir Hormusjee Mody received from the French Government the honour of Knighthood of the Legion of Honour. A sad thing about this was that the new dignity was not received until the very first day he was confined to bed in his last illness.
While Sir Paul Chater was absent in 1909, Sir Hormusjee acted as Consul for Siam.
Sir Hormusjee was also an ardent supporter of racing in the Colony, and many a "Buxey" winner was led in by him past the Grand Stand. Other forms of sports, too, did not fail of his liberal patronage.
It was not only in his many public benefactions that Sir Hormusjee gained high esteem and public regard.