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Continuation.
Subsequently Alfred Parker Stokes was admitted in England on September 5, 1879, and in Hongkong on March 13, 1880. He practised in Shanghai in co-partnership with Mr. W. E. C. Platt under the style of "Stokes and Platt" - the firm name afterwards undergoing several changes and becoming in turn "Stokes, Platt and Teesdale", "Platt, Teesdale and MacLeod;", "Platt, & Co.," and now, I believe, "Platt, White-Cooper, Master and Harris."
Godfrey Cornwall Chester-Master was admitted in England on December 12, 1882, and in Hongkong on April 1, 1884. He was a first-class jockey on China ponies, being a popular fancy for Chinese backers at the annual Hongkong races.
He once rowed (in a crew of four) from Hongkong to Canton. He retired to England in 1908 and died in or about 1924.
Herbert Johnson Gedge was admitted in England on July 13, 1888, and in Hongkong on February 18, 1890. One of the best, Mr. Fraser-Smith credits him with "being gifted with consummate assurance" but he was possessed of many more talents than that. He always said what he meant, and meant what he said. Outspoken to a degree, his "bark" was worse than his "bite". He had no use for anything that was not open and above board and consequently was by no means persona grata at all times.
He was a hard worker, but keen on sport. He acted as First Starter for the Hongkong Jockey Club in succession to the late Mr. Henry May, and was Official Referee under the aegis of the Hongkong Boxing Association, which he was very largely instrumental in founding. He was also that rara avis, a good judge of wine but, unlike a famous English judge of the olden days, would not consume any given quantity thereof!
William Wotton was admitted in England on May 12, 1870 and in Hongkong on November 8, 1871, was by many considered to be what I understand is termed in the U.S.A. "a tough guy" though, as Mr. Fraser-Smith indicates, his "toughness" was softened or could be on occasion by a persuasive manner. He was, I believe, a brother-in-law of the well-known local stock and share broker, Mr. George Potts who must, by now, be almost the oldest (in point of residence) European resident in Hongkong as he arrived here as far back as 1885, and (like the dapper gentleman with an eye-glass and cane in a well-known and widely circulating advertisement) is still going strong!
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The last of a series of three articles on barristers and solicitors who practised in Hongkong many years ago, is published below. These articles constitute the reminiscences of a valued contributor "Old Mortality" who writes from long experience with local legal affairs and close personal contact with many of the men who framed the Colony's laws.
Legal luminaries of other days, dealt with in to-day's article are Victor Hobart Deacon, Charles David Wilkinson, Creasy Ewens, Joseph Frederick Reece and Henry Lardner Dennys.