149
NOTES AND QUERIES
"BETHESDA" AND THE BERLINER FRAUENVEREIN FÜR CHINA
The following is an extract from a letter written on 15th August 1968 to the Hon. Editor by Pastor Albrecht Plag of the German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong.
To my knowledge, the first foundling house to be established and built in Hong Kong was the one founded by the "Berliner Frauenverein für China". This body was formed at Berlin in 1850 under the influence and through the efforts of the German Protestant pioneer missionary to China, the Rev. Dr. Karl Gützlaff whose contribution to the early history of Hong Kong is well known. He is buried at the Colonial Cemetery in Happy Valley.*
The history of that foundling house, which was named "Bethesda", is given (at least up to 1897) in the book Aus der deutschen Mission unter dem weiblichen Geschlechte in China (C. F. Winter'sche Buchdruckerei, Darmstadt, 1889, 3. Aufl. 1897) by Miss Luise Cooper. According to this source, “Bethesda” was designed and built by Mr. C. St. G. Cleverly, the then Surveyor-General for the Hong Kong Government. The dedication ceremony took place on 5th July, 1861. The site was bought for HK$720 by the "Berliner Frauenverein für China" (Hong Kong representative at that time: Mr. Ladendorff), probably in 1860 or early 1861. The size of the lot is given as 350 ft. long and 150 ft. wide and the annual crown rent is £23 and 2 sh. per year. It must have been quite a respectable building, situated on a hill overlooking the harbour somewhere in the western part of Hong Kong Island.*
In 1881, on the same property, just next to "Bethesda", the German Lutheran Congregation of the time built their own little church. A few years earlier, they had elected the Rev. E. Klitzke, the then director of "Bethesda", as their pastor. However, soon after Rev. Klitzke died (in 1883) that predecessor of our present German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong (constituted in 1965) declined and ceased to exist. Klitzke is also buried at the Colonial Cemetery.
* See Plates 16 and 17, kindly supplied by Pastor Plag.
149
NOTES AND QUERIES
"BETHESDA" AND THE BERLINER FRAUENVEREIN FÜR CHINA
The following is an extract from a letter written on 15th August 1968 to the Hon. Editor by Pastor Albrecht Plag of the German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong.
To my knowledge, the first foundling house to be established and built in Hong Kong was the one founded by the "Berliner Frauenverein für China”. This body was formed at Berlin in 1850 under the influence and through the efforts of the German Protestant pioneer missionary to China, the Rev. Dr. Karl Gützlaff whose contribution to the early history of Hong Kong is well known. He is buried at the Colonial Cemetery in Happy Valley.*
The history of that foundling house, which was named "Bethesda", is given (at least up to 1897) in the book Aus der deutschen Mission unter dem weiblichen Geschlechte in China (C. F. Winter'sche Buchdruckerei, Darmstadt, 1889, 3. Aufl. 1897) by Miss Luise Cooper. According to this source, “Bethesda” was designed and built by Mr. C. St. G. Cleverly, the then Surveyor- General for the Hong Kong Government. The dedication ceremony took place on 5th July, 1861. The site was bought for HK$720 by the "Berliner Frauenverein für China" (Hong Kong representa- tive at that time: Mr. Ladendorff), probably in 1860 or early 1861. The size of the lot is given as 350 ft. long and 150 ft. wide and the annual crown rent is £23 and 2 sh, per year. It must have been quite a respectable building, situated on a hill overlooking the harbour somewhere in the western part of Hong Kong Island.*
In 1881, on the same property, just next to "Bethesda”, the German Lutheran Congregation of the time built their own little church. A few years earlier, they had elected the Rev. E. Klitzke, the then director of "Bethesda”, as their pastor. However, soon after Rev. Klitzke died (in 1883) that predecessor of our present German-speaking Evangelical-Lutheran Congregation in Hong Kong (constituted in 1965) declined and ceased to exist. Klitzke is also buried at the Colonial Cemetery.
* See Plates 16 and 17, kindly supplied by Pastor Plag.
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