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that of the New World Hotel. A soap factory was built on Shaukiwan Marine Lot which the company purchased at a Crown Land Sale in 1890 (DP 29 June, 6 August 1890) In a series of articles on Hong Kong Industries published in the Hong Kong Telegraph the writer chides British reluctance to invest capital in Hong Kong and cites the soap factory as another case in which German enterprise had outstripped that of the British (HKT 10 September 1895)
At the time of the forced liquidation of German firms in 1914 the partners of Blackhead & Co were F H Hohnke, then of Hamburg, E H Thiel and J E Danielsen. Hohnke had been a partner since about 1888. At about the same time a son of the founder joined the firm. After Germany acquired the concession at Tsingtao, Mr Hohnke went there to open a branch of the firm (DP 7 March 1905).
German Watchmakers
Charles Weiss, Gaupp and Co
The first shopkeeper in Hong Kong with a German-sounding name was Charles Weiss. Aberdeen Street second in the list of foreigners on the China coast published in the Chinese Repository in 1845 gives his nationality as German. In May of the previous year he advertises himself as "Charles Weiss, Chronometer and watchmaker from London and Geneva, Oswald's Hill opposite Gibb, Livingston and Co." This would be in the vicinity of the present Aberdeen Street (FC 24 May 1844) Two months later he moved a bit down hill to the corner of Graham and Wellington Streets (FC 24 July 1844) His brother Alexander A took charge of the business in 1853 during a temporary absence of Charles (FC 6 July 1853). Charles left Hong Kong permanently in 1856 and transferred his business to Henni Vaucher, formerly of Canton (FC 2 June 1856) Henni Vaucher was either French or Swiss; he had been a clerk in the watchmaking firm of Bovet Brothers and Co at Canton from 1851 to the time he took over Charles Weiss's business. He died of chronic diarrhea a year after moving to Hong Kong (FC 6 Nov 1857).
Louis Heermann was an assistant in the shop of Charles Weiss from the year 1854. After the shop was closed upon the death of Henni Vaucher, Mr Heermann opened his own store on Queen's Road in February 1858 (FC 1 Feb 1858). While in his shop notice Mr Heermann calls himself