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engaged in business in Canton, Macau and Hong Kong well before the middle of the nineteenth century. Crawford, who joined T.A. Lane in partnership, was a humble stores clerk.
After the attempt to poison the expatriate population by putting arsenic in the bread, in 1857, Lane and Crawford established a bakery in the 1860s. They also conducted auctions. Later the two men built a wharf, started a towing service with a 35 horsepower launch, and initiated the port's first fresh-water supply. In the early 1880s these water-boats were placed at the service of the Government when there was a serious drought. This branch of the business was later merged with the Union Waterboat Company which continued to operate until after World War II. Lane Crawford's bakery and coal yard went on trading until the early 1960s.
The company opened its six-storey Des Voeux Road department store, opposite Alexandra House and designed by architects Leigh and Orange, in 1905. (This was demolished and a new building erected in 1926). Departments included ship's chandlery, grocery, outfitting, hardware, furnishing, upholstery, tailoring, millinery and musical instruments. Anything was said to be available from a pin to an anchor. Business prospered and branches were later opened in Shanghai, Yokohama and Kobe. Eventually, these were taken over by independent managements.
In the last decade of the twentieth century Lane Crawfords in Hong Kong caters for the affluent local community, and the emphasis is still on quality products. The staff are mainly Chinese. This contrasts with a Lane Crawford staff group photograph taken in 1904, of European shop assistants and floor walkers, on a beach. The 33 members mostly wore long, one-piece swimming costumes, and several sported walrus moustaches. They were said to have been accommodated in splendid quarters. (Another European firm of drapers and outfitters that operated in Hong Kong until the 1960s was Whiteaway Laidlaw).
Today, Lane Crawford is a part of the Wheelock Marden Hong Kong Realty, Marco Polo Group. It is a comparatively recent acquisition of Y.K. Pao's Wharf Company although it has a longer history than the parent company and other associates.