[ { "id": 210712, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 63, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "46\n\nHENRY THOMAS JACKMAN (1874-1928), ENGINEER, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG\n\nSTEPHEN SELBY*\n\nH. T. Jackman came to Hong Kong in July 1903 to take up the post of executive engineer in the Public Works Department. Born in England on 4 June 1874, Jackman attended the Crystal Palace Engineering School in London from 1890 to 1893. He left the engineering school to take up three years' practical work on drainage and waterworks engineering with the firm of McLandsborough and Preston, where he was pupil and then assistant engineer. During that period, he was in charge of a new sewage works in Ripon. Following his indenture, he was appointed in 1897 as Assistant District Engineer for Sheffield, where he was responsible for electric tramways, drainage and highways works.\n\nThe early 1900's in Hong Kong were years of severe water shortage and sanitation problems. The total population of the territory stood at just over 300,000, about 94% of whom were Chinese. The first few years of the decade showed a particularly high death-rate from plague, although 1902 showed a slight drop. Severe damage was regularly caused by typhoons, particularly in 1900 and 1906: flash floods and strong winds brought down many of the poorly-constructed buildings in the “Chinese Quarter\" of the city, frequently killing or injuring the occupants. Shipping and small sampans on which whole families lived suffered huge losses.\n\nA report had been undertaken in 1882 by Osbert Chadwick on the sanitary condition in the Colony. The report resulted in the establishment of the Sanitary Board in 1883 amid some controversy over how far some of the report's more draconian recommendations should be implemented. The report was elaborated upon by Chadwick over the period from 1883 to 1903, and further recommendations were developed that works on sewerage, water supply and drainage should be put in hand forthwith.\n\n*Stephen Selby is an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong Government and a member of the Society.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210714, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "48\n\nSTEPHEN SELBY\n\noverseeing the design, laying and maintenance of a system of sewers, stormwater drains and nullahs on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and the New Territories. However, vacancies which he filled during the leave of other officers (which was usually on a half-pay commuted basis and lasted from six months to one year) brought him into contact with road-laying, marine and reclamation engineering works as well.\n\nSocially, H. T. Jackman was popular and well-liked in Hong Kong. He was keen on soccer and tennis and, as he got older, he took up golf. He was a member of the Hong Kong Club, Royal Hong Kong Golf Club and the Civil Service Cricket Club.\n\nFrom 1904 to 1905, Jackman was appointed sanitary surveyor under the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance of 1903 with the job of surveying built-up areas in Hong Kong and, where necessary, condemning and demolishing slum areas (mainly in Western) to allow for the construction of sewers and rebuilding of proper accommodation for the residents. It must have been a difficult task, for the provisions of the Ordinance were generally unpopular and corruption was rife among the staff tasked with its enforcement.\n\nIn 1908, Jackman accompanied A. J. Darby of the Crown Lands Office on secondment to China to carry out route surveying work (possibly for the Kowloon Canton Railway, for which surveys on the Hong Kong side were carried out in 1905. However, the railway was not built by the P.W.D.).\n\nMuch of the sanitary work required in Hong Kong at that time was for the provision of water supplies to residential areas. Jackman was closely involved in the enlargement of the Albany filter beds and increasing the capacity of water mains serving the Peak and Western (at that time the latter was the most densely populated area of the Colony). This involved drawing water from the Tytam reservoir via new mains along Caine Road and Bonham Road and the re-design of the Bonham Road water pumping station. He was also involved with the construction of rider-mains in Central and the construction of the Tytam secondary reservoir while the resident engineer was away on leave. In", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210715, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 66, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "49\n\n1916, he was responsible for road works in New Kowloon and the New Territories, extending the network of metalled roads in the Territory. By this time he was on a salary of £630 per year with a conveyance of £360 per year (presumably to cover the costs of running a car).\n\nJackman married Dorothy Smith in the Peak Chapel on 26 August 1910. Dorothy Smith had come to Hong Kong around the beginning of the century with her brother, Crowther Smith, who had a legal practice in Queen's Road Central together with F. X. d'Almada e Castro. Also in Hong Kong at the time was Dorothy Smith's uncle, Horace Percy Smith, a well-known accountant and eminent Freemason. Immediately after the wedding, the couple went off for their honeymoon in Macao with a very rowdy send-off at the Macao Ferry Pier. So many firecrackers with red confetti were set off at the pier that one paper reported that the couple were mistaken by passers-by for the Governor of Macao, and many people joined the crowd to see what was going on. After their honeymoon, Jackman and his wife lived in Des Voeux Villas on the Peak. They had no children.\n\nH. T. Jackman was the father of urban planning in Kowloon and New Kowloon. In the early part of the century, development in the territory of Hong Kong had mainly been restricted to the island, while Kowloon had provided bases for the Army as well as major wharfage areas. The construction of the Kowloon Canton Railway greatly increased the development value of Kowloon and the population there started to grow rapidly. The land necessary for the Railway station, shunting yards and workshops was reclaimed from the sea to the east of the Tsim Sha Tsui peninsula (the hongs having taken up much of the available land to build godowns in anticipation of the opening of the railway). Writing in 1908, H. A. Cartwright, felt that “it requires no great prophetic instinct to predict that in time, the whole of Hung Hom Bay will be reclaimed.”\n\nFrom 1919, Jackman was closely involved in Kowloon town planning. Many of the old villages in the area succumbed to development clearance: Kau Lung Tsai and Kowloon Tong villages gave way to town house developments which are still there today.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210716, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 67, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "50\n\nSTEPHEN SELBY\n\nPlanning maps for that time show extensive plans for dwelling houses along the alignment of Prince Edward Road out to East Kowloon and the reclamation works undertaken by Ho Kai and Yau Tak (the Kai Tak residential development at Kowloon Bay) were under planning. The plans even show the proposed alignment of a branch railway to Ngau Tau Kok which is very close to the present-day MTR alignment.\n\nJackman was promoted to Assistant Director of Public Works on 1 June 1921 at a salary of £1,000; he had acted in the post for much of the previous year. His responsibilities included overseeing the planning of the Kowloon urban layouts and their implementation, including negotiation over resumption of private building and agricultural lots and arbitrations over difficult cases. In the mid-twenties, the Kai Tak residential development plan failed and the Government took back the partly-reclaimed area in order to form a commercial aerodrome using material dredged from the Harbour. The aerodrome came into use in 1928, although the flying club occupied a corner (as it does now) from about 1925.\n\nIn 1922, Jackman acted Director of Public Works during the sickness of the substantive incumbent, and from 15 May to 29 August of the following year, he again acted during his superior's leave. As DPW, Jackman also served as vice-president of the Sanitary Board and member of both the Legislative and Executive Councils. He was member of the Court and Council of the University of Hong Kong. The period of the mid-1920's was an unsettled one in Hong Kong, reflecting political events in China. A number of seamen's strikes and general labourers' strikes took place causing much uncertainty in the commercial sector and the Government.\n\nH. T. Jackman acted DPW for most of 1927, but at that time was already suffering from ill health. He was seriously ill at the end of the year, and at the St. George's Ball on 7 January 1928 he was invited to the official supper party, but only his wife could attend. On medical advice, he retired at the age of 54 (one year early) on 3 July 1928. He and his wife were given a farewell reception by the Acting Governor, W. T. Southorn, at Government House. The", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 } ]