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GIBB LIVINGSTON & CO.
The
In the course of a recent search through some old records, the name of another of Hongkong's pioneer firms was noticed, that of Gibb, Livingston and Company, who came here in the first year of the Colony's foundation. The firm can indeed claim to be one of the oldest in this part of the world, as they commenced business in Canton in 1836, being established by certain officials of the Honourable East India Company, and soon developed into one of the highest concerns engaging in miscellaneous trade in the Far East. Operations were extended to Macao, and in 1839 the company was granted permission to engage in the importation of opium to the Portuguese colony.
In 1841, on the founding of Hongkong as a British possession, Gibb, Livingston and Company came over here, erecting premises on a site off Queen's Road just below Gough Street; and have been in the forefront of local mercantile operations ever since, with a particular development along the lines of shipping and insurance.
The company was made a limited liability concern in 1920.
In 1845 we find the following principals and others in the firm: Thomas A. Gibb, W. Potter Livingston, Joseph G. Livingston, J. Skinner, Thomas Jones, George Gibb, W.H. Wardley, and J.D. Gibb.
Messrs. George and J.D. Gibb were at the Shanghai office, Mr. Thomas Gibb at Canton, and Mr. W.P. Livingston represented the interests in London, the remainder being out in Hongkong. The firm's address was given at this period as Aberdeen Street, which had by then been named.
Messrs. T.A. Gibb and W.P. Livingston were among the first Justices of the Peace ever appointed here, in 1843. Mr. T.A. Gibb is mentioned in several of the old records as a leader in various activities of the merchants of his time; and Mr. W.P. Livingston was also frequently consulted by the Governor, Sir Henry Pottinger, in 1843, as a member of the representative Committee of British merchants formed that year for the better liaison work of business and official interests.
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By 1860 the principals were T.A. Gibb (in England), John D. Gibb and H.B. Gibb in Hongkong, and E.F. Duncanson (in Shanghai). A large staff of assistants were then employed at the local office, still situated at Aberdeen Street.
Mr. H.B. Gibb became a member of the Legislative Council in the late Sixties, and was a prominent figure throughout the Seventies in the Colony's affairs.
Mr. J.D. Gibb was one of the Colony's unofficial Justices of the Peace in the Fifties, and throughout the Sixties was in the forefront of commercial and public activities, being one of the original trustees of the old Sailors' Home, which was founded in 1862.
The
W.H. Gibb, one of the assistants, had become a principal by 1864; and besides Canton and Shanghai the firm had now branched out at Foochow, Hankow and Kiukiang. Aberdeen Street premises continued in use for a considerable time longer, and it was only the Praya reclamation that prompted the firm, as with others of the period, to move outward towards the seafront.