DOUGLAS LAPRAIK (1)
"Another curious bit of old Hongkong is to be found in the Stamp Office on the second floor of the General Post Office Building, namely, a clock with the name of D. Lapraik, Hongkong, across its face. Many years ago, I was informed that Messrs. Douglas Lapraik & Co., were clock-makers before they became owners of steamers, and this clock seems to lend some colour to that suggestion. It would be interesting to know whether any other offices in the Colony have in them a clock with D. Lapraik's name on the face.
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I am able to confirm that Mr. Douglas Lapraik commenced business in Hongkong as a clock maker. An old chronicle of 1847 describes him as Mr. Douglas Laprak (note the spelling) altered to Lapraik, so it may be a misprint. He started business in the Forbes in D'Aguilar Street as a watch and chronometer maker "and had as assistant a Mr. Harry Rutherford. He was still in business in D'Aguilar Street in the Sixties with a larger staff, the most senior of whom was Mr. George Falconer, founder of the present Falconer & Co.,
LAPRAIK DOUGLAS (2)
2)
A COMMEMORATION WINDOW.
In the course of yesterday's article on the old Clock Tower, the clock for which was donated in 1862 by Mr. Douglas Lapraik, mention was made of the stained glass window in the Chancel of St. John's Cathedral, which commemorates that pioneer of local shipping. As I have mentioned in previous references, Mr. Lapraik came out to Hongkong in the early Forties, and he first set up as a watch-maker. In 1845, he is listed as an assistant to L. Just one of the Colony's earliest watchmakers, and by 1846-7 Mr. Lapraik had established his own business. In 1860, he founded the local line of steamers, which has developed into the Douglas Shipping Company, Ltd. (see 8-11-33) and shortly after that sold his watchmaking interests to a former assistant, Mr. George Falconer, who founded the present Falconer & Co.,
Let us, however, see what the old chronicles have to say of the memorial window.
About
An account dated August 10, 1870, is as follows:-
Having had an opportunity of inspecting the stained-glass window just completed for the Cathedral at Hongkong by Messrs. Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, we have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be a very fine work of art, worthy alike of the place it is to occupy and of the object of the donor, Mr. J. S. Lapraik, who erects it as a memorial to his late uncle, Mr. Douglas Lapraik.
It is intended to be substituted for the existing east window of the Cathedral, and from this fact, some idea may be formed of its large size.
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