30.
Street should be mentioned in the inscription, for it is hardly discernible, and only the roofs of some of its taller houses can be made out (that is, in the larger-size original). Possibly the name having important associations, it was considered worth including.
Some of the points in the picture might be taken particular notice of: the blocks of stone in the foreground, for example, indicate the partly unformed condition of the area (possibly Pottinger Street, then probably not yet named); while the troops marching from Lyndhurst Terrace down Wellington Street depict the uniform of the time full parade dress, bearskin headgear, and fixed bayonets, in a Hongkong August!
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The troops were presumably the British infantry unit stationed here at the time - His Majesty's 95th, or Derbyshire Regiment, of whom the chronicles tell us there were six service companies in Hongkong then. The artist apparently wanted to show them on a ceremonial march (with standards), and he has cleverly caught the interest of the usual knots of Chinese spectators.
One of the most interesting features of the buildings in the background is the obvious chapel, with turret-like spire, seen in the left middle distance immediately behind the rearmost standard. This chapel was very likely the old Union Church: it stood in 1846 in Hollywood Road, evidently near the junction of Lyndhurst Terrace, as indicated by Bruce's drawing.
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Wellington Street was, of course, named after the famous Duke of Wellington, the great soldier.
Lyndhurst Terrace commemorates Lord Lyndhurst, who was four times Lord Chancellor of England.
Cochrane Street was named after Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, who in the early Forties commanded the British naval forces in these waters, and took part in a demonstration against Canton in 1842.
All three personages were living at the time Bruce's picture was published.
Various descriptions of what Hongkong appeared like within a few years of its foundation have been quoted in these articles on occasion, but a connected narrative has not hitherto been given here, and the opportunity having occurred to quote from an authoritative account, written in 1845, an extensive portion is given to-day. The extract is from an article contributed by the Hon. H. A. R. Johnston, who was the Deputy Superintendent of Trade in Hongkong, to Vol. 14 of the London Geographical Journal. It gives a good idea of the Colony at the time the Bruce sketches were made.
I quote as under with my own comments and notes in brackets where thought necessary.
"There are no towns on the island (in 1845) excepting the flourishing one of Victoria, which was founded by the English in 1841, and formally ceded to the English under the