RAS-1994 — Page 57

36

Paul Ehlers opened an office in Macao in September 1858 as a general agent and commission merchant (FC 9 Sept. 1858). This was during the Second Opium War when foreign merchants who had been trading at Canton had to locate in Hong Kong or Macao. After the British forces occupied Canton, some of the merchants moved back; Paul Ehlers moved on 9 December 1858 (FC 9 Dec. 1858). In January 1859, he and Theodore Hesse entered into partnership as Hesse, Ehlers and Co. (GG 8 Jan. 1859). Mr. Ehlers returned to Europe in 1865 and withdrew from the firm. It continued under the name of Hesse and Co. (GG 18 Nov. 1865). Five years after his departure from China, Mr. Ehlers returned and began conducting business under his own name at Hong Kong (GG 14 May 1870). In 1872, Paul Ehlers and Carl Robert Meuser formed a partnership. Meuser had been doing business on his own account since October 1871 (CM 3 Jan., 20 Oct. 1872). The firm went into liquidation in 1874. The business was taken over by a former employee, Justus Peter Lembke of Hamburg (CM, 29 Sept. 1875). He continued doing business in Hong Kong as Justus Lembke and Co. until 1890, when he transferred the business and goodwill to the China Export and Import Bank Compagnie. Mr. Lembke was appointed the manager of the new Hong Kong office of the Hamburg-based firm, and Hermann Witte and Ernest Brubitz were authorised to sign for the firm (HKT 3 Mar. 1890). Since writing this article, I have received from Mr. Alfred Schmitt, of Hoechst China Ltd, a history of the firm entitled Die China Export-Import-und-Bank-Compagnie, undated but recently published. After the First World War, the company was re-established in Hong Kong with its head office in Shanghai and branches also at Canton, Tientsin, Osaka, and Tokyo.

When Paul Ehlers returned to Europe in 1865, the business of Hesse, Ehlers and Co. was continued by Theodore Hesse under the name of Hesse and Co., with Herman Peter Hase in charge of the Canton office. Under his full name, Anton Hermann Peter Hase, he was admitted a partner in 1867 (GG 5 Jan. 1867). Six months later, Mr. Hesse withdrew, and it was continued under the same name by Mr. Hase. Hase died at Marseilles in December 1873. He named Hermann Stolterfoht, an assistant in his firm, as the executor of his will (PRO Will File No. 221 of 1874 [4/274]). Leonard Stael became a partner of Hesse and Co. in 1869 and retired in 1879 (GG 3 July 1869, DP 1 Jan. 1880).

Hermann Stolterfoht was admitted a partner in Hesse and Co. shortly after the death of the senior partner in 1873. Charles Joseph Hirst joined