[ { "id": 204543, "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-1963", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "PROTESTANT CEMETERY IN MACAO\n\n19\n\nCochin China, Siam, and who died in Macao while en route to Japan in an attempt to open that country to American trade.\n\nTo the south of Crockett is Ljungstedt, a Swedish merchant, a philanthropist, an educationalist, and a Knight of Wasa, and alongside him are three small humble altar-tombs of the three children of an American girl, Caroline Shillaber of Danvers, Massachusetts, who married an English doctor, Thomas Richardson Colledge in Macao in 1833. After their return to England in 1838/39, Dr. Colledge practised his profession in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, for about forty years, and both he and his wife are buried in the churchyard of the small village of Shurdington just outside Cheltenham. Their tombstone supplied us with the Christian names of one of their children buried in Macao whose memorial does not give the child's name, for it merely refers to \"the infant son of\" Dr. and Mrs. Colledge. The name was Lancelot Dent, the head of a famous merchant house here in those days.\n\nOne cannot mention Mrs. Colledge without referring also to her school friend Harriet Low. She came out to Macao in 1829 as a companion to her aunt. Her uncle was William Henry Low, head of the American firm of Russell & Co. Together they all three left Macao to return to the States in 1834, but the uncle died in Cape Town while on the journey home. Harriet, fortunately for us, kept a diary from the day she left Massachusetts, and it gives us most valuable information of the community life in Macao in the early thirties, as well as of many of the individual members of the community itself.\n\nAlong the eastern wall near the north-east corner of the Lower Terrace is the grave of another Boston merchant, Captain Nathaniel Kinsman. His wife too was a diarist, but whereas Harriet looked at everything through the sparkling and bewitching eyes of a gaiety-loving girl of twenty-one, Rebecca Kinsman viewed the life amongst the members of this predominantly masculine society from the viewpoint of a married middle-aged Quakeress.\n\nYet a third feminine writer to whom we also owe much was the widow of Dr. Robert Morrison. She wrote a biography of her husband which was published in two volumes, and although it necessarily deals mainly with the Morrison family, it nevertheless gives much information too about their contemporaries in Macao.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204546, "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-1963", "page_number": 27, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "22\n\nD.\n\nLINDSAY RIDE\n\nDAVID, J. Ferdinand\n\nDAVIES, Joseph\n\nDE VOGEL, Emile Willem Eugene\n\nDANIELL, Edmond Murray\n\nDENSON, Thomas A.\n\nDINNEN, John\n\n++\n\nDRINKER, Sandwith\n\nDUDDELL, Frederick\n\nDUDDELL, Harriet\n\nDUFF, Daniel\n\nDUNCAN, George H.\n\nDUNCAN, J. George\n\nDURANT, Euphemia\n\nDYER, Samuel\n\n++\n\n+\n\nJ\n\nייי\n\nייי\n\nE.\n\nELLIS, William\n\ntr\n\nENDICOTT, Fidelia Bridges\n\nENDICOTT, James Bridges\n\nENDICOTT, Rosalie\n\nENGLE, Isaac E.\n\n+\n\nEVANS, William Thomas Bowen\n\nF.\n\nFEARON, Elizabeth\n\nFITZGERALD, Edward\n\nFRASER, Sir William\n\nFRENCH, Maria Ball\n\nFORBES, Thomas T.\n\nFORREST, Andrew\n\n...\n\nG.\n\nGANTT, Benjamin\n\nGILMAN, Agnes\n\nGAILLARD, Helen Baptista\n\nGANGER, Charles F.\n\n+r.\n\nGILLESPIE, Elizabeth McDougal\n\n++\n\nrr\n\nGOVER, Samuel\n\n+++\n\nGRAHAM, Charles\n\nGRIFFIN, John P.\n\nH.\n\nHADDON, Elizabeth Lewis\n\n+++\n\nFr\n\n-\n\nHAMILTON, Lewis\n\nHARRISON, George W.\n\nHAVELOCK, William\n\nHAWKINS, Charles\n\nHICKMAN, Washington F.\n\nHIGHT, John Francis\n\n+\n\nHIGHT, Matthew James\n\nHOOKER, James\n\n+++\n\n+\n\nJ\n\n- r\n\n+\n\n++ T\n\n125 L\n\n130 L\n\n25 U\n\n97 L\n\nLL+\n\n5 U\n\n+\n\n17 U\n\n+\n\n39 U\n\n27 U\n\n-\n\n+++\n\n21 U\n\n+\n\n138 L\n\n14 U\n\n48 L\n\nJ\n\n--\n\n111 L\n\n146 L\n\n---\n\n9 U\n\n33 U\n\n165 C\n\n34 U\n\n73 L\n\nJ\n\n10 U\n\n+\n\n84 L\n\n132 L\n\n62 L\n\nJ\n\n26 U\n\n56a L\n\n123 L\n\n32 U\n\n77 L\n\n+\n\nJ\n\n6 U\n\n92 L\n\n30 U\n\n+\n\n53 L\n\nJ\n\n++\n\n66 L\n\n64 L\n\nrrr\n\n+++\n\n28 U\n\nTH\n\n-\n\n72 L\n\nrrr\n\nL\n\n103 L\n\nT\n\nrrr\n\nrtr\n\n47 L\n\nH\n\nTH\n\n++\n\nFFF\n\n51 L\n\n18 U\n\n+\n\n102 L\n\n118 L\n\n+\n\n+\n\n139 L\n\n149 L\n\n110 L\n\n+\n\nJ\n\nTI\n\n57 L\n\n+\n\n137 L\n\n---\n\nJ\n\n+\n\n20 U\n\nHOWARD, Jane\n\nL.\n\nILBERY, Frederick\n\nILBERY, Louisa\n\nINNES, James\n\nJ.\n\nJPLAND, Christian\n\n+\n\nJPLAND, Christian Johann Friedrich\n\nJONES, Henry\n\n+4\n\nL\n\n+\n\n16 U\n\n3 U", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204550, "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-1963", "page_number": 31, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "26\n\nLINDSAY RIDE\n\nUPPER TERRACE — Cont'd.\n\n \n No.\n Name\n Sex\n Row\n Age\n Date of Death\n Nationality\n \n \n 16.\n JPLAND, Johann Friedrich Christian\n M\n Eastern\n 39\n 5 Oct. 1857\n Dan.\n \n \n 17.\n DINNEN, John\n M\n Eastern\n 29\n 20 June 1855\n Amer.\n \n \n 18.\n HICKMAN, Washington F.\n M\n Eastern\n 32\n 21 June 1855\n Amer.\n \n \n 19.\n WOODBERRY, Charles\n M\n Eastern\n 36\n 26 June 1854\n Amer.\n \n \n 20.\n JPLAND, Christian\n M\n Eastern\n Adult (Ship's Captain)\n 5 Oct. 1857\n Dan.\n \n \n 21.\n DUDDELL, Harriet\n F\n Eastern\n Adult\n 31 July 1857\n Br.\n \n \n 22.\n COOPER, Mark Beale\n M\n Eastern\n Adult (Major)\n 26 July 1857\n Br.\n \n \n 23.\n WILLIAMS, John P.\n M\n Eastern\n 31\n 25 July 1857\n Amer.\n \n \n 24.\n SCHAEFFER, Walther\n M\n Eastern\n 28\n 1 July 1857\n Ger.\n \n \n 25.\n DE VOGEL, Emile Willem Eugène\n M\n Eastern\n 19\n 11 Jan. 1857\n Dut.\n \n \n 26.\n FRENCH, Maria Ball\n F\n Eastern\n 1/12\n 18 Aug. 1857\n Amer.\n \n \n 27.\n DUDDELL, Frederick\n M\n Eastern\n 38\n 1 Nov. 1856\n Br.\n \n \n 28.\n HADDON, Elizabeth Lewis\n F\n Eastern\n 28\n 1 Sept. 1856\n Br.\n \n \n 29.\n KERR, Abby L.\n F\n Eastern\n 26\n 26 Aug. 1855\n Amer.\n \n \n 30.\n GILMAN, Agnes\n F\n Eastern\n 11/12\n 8 Sept. 1889\n Amer.\n \n \n 31.\n PRESTON, Charles Hodge\n M\n Eastern\n 2/12\n 6 Dec. 1857\n Amer.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206425, "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-1971", "page_number": 242, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "216\n\nBOOK REVIEWS\n\ncusp of the crescent\" (of the Praya Grande), deserves the derision of every collector.\n\nTheir description of \"the ambroidered (sic) phoenix plastron” conclusively proves the authors know nothing of the eight privileged classes in China. With this lack of knowledge they are in no position to comment on any portrait of a mandarin or hong merchant. To suggest that Gou Qua, a hong merchant, would take to the street as a fortune teller is quite impossible as he would lose face by such an act and never would paint himself in this situation.\n\nThe authors really know very little about Chinnery. They state \"Chinnery's forte was for portraits and these comprise the greater part of his oeuvre\". Pages later they quote him \"I have about 6,000 sketches of Eastern Scenery already - an invaluable collection, I assure you; but you see I am constantly accumulating”. They produce the completely unproven slur that one of the portraits he painted was of “a man of great wealth, an important qualification in the artist's philosophy as he was at his best when a generous fee had been agreed\". They also attempt, again with no proof, to attribute to him “occasional bouts of opium smoking”.\n\nIt is an error to say \"Russell & Co..... in turn came under control of Low Brothers of Salem\". W. H. Low, Senior was a partner 1830-1833. His nephew, A. A. Low, was a clerk 1833-1837, partner 1837-1840. W. H. Low 2nd worked as a clerk but never was a partner. The famous firm of A. A. Low and Bros. of New York, please, not Salem - was founded in 1841 by A. A. Low after he had retired from Russell & Co. It is a solecism to call the firm \"Russells\". It makes a good story only to the authors that \"W. C. Hunter\", later a partner in Russell & Co., “grasped sufficient of the local dialect to act as interpreter\". It is common knowledge that he specifically was sent to Singapore and Malacca to study Chinese.\n\nIt is inaccurate to state that Harriet Low, in her Diary, mentions seeing the double portrait of Dr. & Mrs. Colledge, plate 79, in London at Daniells' on 19 July 1834. She \"saw pictures of Mr. & Mrs. Colledge, not a single picture. Let us read further in the Diary: \"Ayok\" (the Low Chinese servant) \"burst into quite an hysterical laugh when he saw his father's face in Mr. Colledge's picture\". This is an obvious reference to the Chinnery portrait", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206426, "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-1971", "page_number": 243, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "BOOK REVIEWS\n\n217\n\nof Dr. Colledge in his Opthalmic Infirmary with his Chinese assistant, which was engraved and published in London 25 November 1834. Harriet Low continues \"The pictures\" (not picture) \"were unfortunately all too late for the Exhibition\". To attempt to substitute the double portrait in the place of two separate portraits seen is unethical.\n\n1\n\nAs art experts the authors are careless. The medium in plate not given is watercolor and the \"Chinese Military\" scene was \"later\" engraved not \"lithographed\". It is also poor geography to say that Lord Macartney's Embassy entered the Yangtse, when it was the Peiho River. In the Introduction, they produce two alibis: “Paintings illustrated in the sequence and not otherwise designated are attributed to him\" [Chinnery], “except for portraits of Hong Merchants which are referred to in general terms” and \"Events are necessarily telescoped without rigid regard for precise chronology\". What a multitude of sins one can try to cover up with statements like these.\n\nIs it really necessary to include Richard Henry Dana's \"Two Years Before the Mast\"? The voyage was along the California coast not to the Far East. Bryant & Sturgis, the owners, were of Boston as stated, but never had an office in Canton. Their China Trade business in Canton was handled by J. P. Sturgis & Co.\n\nThere are illustrated 20 paintings by Lt. J. S. Rundle, R. N. of Opium War scenes, also a pen and ink sketch. The medium is not given. All midshipmen in European Navies in the 19th century were taught to sketch and paint watercolors, so presumably these are in watercolor. The authors surmise that Chinnery met Rundle and \"probably saw some of the action paintings actually illustrated in this work\", but offer no factual proof that any meeting took place. No mention is made of W. A. Knell, the marine artist, whose work, of course, is much better known.\n\nIn fact, the authors give a very warped view of China Coast painting. No mention of Webber nor Huggins, nor Borget. The Daniells not to be confused with the Daniells of later date are mentioned, but the one Daniell illustration shown is Indian, inappropriate to a book on China Coast Paintings. Chinnery had European pupils - five at least but apparently they are unknown to the authors.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207147, "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-1974", "page_number": 218, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "212\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nsurvey. Sir E. Belcher, accordingly, landed on Monday, January 25, 1841, at the foot of Taipingshan, and on the hill, now occupied by the Chinese Recreation ground, Captain Belcher and his officers, considering themselves the bona fide first British possessors, drank Her Majesty's health with three cheers, the spot being thenceforth known as Possession Point. The Point remained an open space and came under the management of the Chinese Recreation Ground Committee created in 1890.\n\nIn 1887 there was a rearrangement of streets to the south of the Recreation Ground. With the change there was a renaming. The western terminus of Hollywood Road was shifted from the present Possession Street to what was known as Gap Street, so that Hollywood Road emptied into Queen's Road on the south side of the Recreation Ground rather than on its east side.\n\nOn the south side of old Gap Street across from the Chinese Recreation Ground the original St. Stephen's Anglican Church opened in 1866. Here also the Baxter Memorial School was built in 1872 in memory of Miss Sophia Harriet Baxter. She had come to Hong Kong in 1860 and until her death five years later established schools for Chinese, Eurasians and orphans. St. Matthew's Anglican Church now occupies a part of the original site granted to the Church in 1864.\n\nThe neighbourhood could have been regarded as a good missionary area for it was dominated by establishments devoted to pleasure. Nearby was a theatre, and the present Possession Street was lined with brothels in the nineteenth century. It was also, however, near a more sobering district.\n\nThe hillside between Possession Point and West Point was used as a Chinese burial ground. The I-tsz Temple, built to house commemorative tablets for Chinese residents who died without a family to remember them, and, temporarily, for those whose families were in their home villages in China, was behind Possession Point on Tai Ping Shan Street. It adjoined the burial ground and thus, in accordance with Chinese practice, was in a convenient location to be used as a depository for those who were about to die. Publicity regarding conditions at the temple started a movement to provide better medical services for the Chinese community. This resulted in the formation of Tung Wah Hospital. It was opened officially in 1872 across the street from the I-tsz Temple, occupying land that was a part of the old burial ground.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210623, "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-1985", "page_number": 230, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "211\n\nThe Osborn's ornate, timber caravan was high and brightly painted, and almost every time it returned to the village it appeared to have an additional occupant.\n\nIn later years the family comprised father, John Robert Senior, and mother, Harriet Susanna, four sons one of whom was killed in World War I as well as a daughter. In fact John Robert Junior, so people say, was born in that caravan in Foulden. And while people generally had not, unfortunately, much time for gypsies, they had to admit that the Osborns were pleasant, peace-loving people.\n\nBy the start of World War II the caravans had long stopped coming to Foulden, and John Osborn Junior had emigrated to Canada in 1920. However 12 days after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbour, 42 year old (some records state 41) Sergeant Major Osborn, together with his Company of Winnipeg Grenadiers (which consisted of both French and English-speaking Canadians), found himself on the 436 metre high Mount Butler\n\nwith its spectacular view in the centre of Hong Kong Island, waiting to take on the might of the Imperial Japanese Army.\n\nDawn on the 19th December 1941, which was punctuated with blasts and smoke, came up cool and grey with odd wisps of mist. Shortly afterwards, the Grenadiers recaptured Mount Butler summit. However, the Japanese moved three companies against them, and, owing to superior numbers, by about 10.00 am, the Canadians were driven down the hill.\n\nThey then regrouped and attacked in the direction of Wong Nai Chung Gap, and later turned towards Stanley Gap. As the soldiers charged they came under persistent, merciless fire and their ranks were severely thinned. As a result, the Company became divided.\n\nAt that stage Osborn took over. The mainly young and tired group of 65 Grenadiers, which was all that remained after the charge, was under-trained and previously had had no experience in action, although there were some regular non-commissioned officers.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211074, "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-1987", "page_number": 135, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "110\n\nREDFERN, Adelaide\n\n9.1.1960\n\nREDFERN, Angelica\n\n25.2.1951\n\nMarcaide\n\nREDFERN, Edward\n\n31.8.1938\n\nREDRERN, James R\n\n5.11.1948\n\nKnight\n\nRICHARDS, James\n\n27.8.1906\n\nRICHTER, Else\n\n9.11.1903\n\nRICHTER, Erich\n\n18.5.1941\n\nROBERTS, Stewart\n\n16.11.1908\n\nROBERTSON, John\n\n24.12.1879\n\nROENSCH, Anna Albina\n\n29.2.1873\n\nROHLSON, H W\n\nRUEBE, Adolf\n\nNot known\n\nROUGHTON, Henry\n\n21.4.1892\n\n2.8.1902\n\nSALOMON, Emil\n\nNot known\n\nSANGER, Julius\n\nSCHADENBERG, Dr Alexander\n\nSCHEIN, B\n\n21.4.1886\n\nSAWYER, Mary\n\n4.7.1884\n\nDolores Camion\n\n15.1.1896\n\nSCHAELLIBAUM, Max\n\n28.6.197[sic]\n\n21.12.1914\n\nSCHIPPERS, Tamer\n\nSCHLEINITZ, Robert\n\n3.8.1903\n\nSCHNEER, Edward\n\nSCHNEER, Simon\n\n25.10.1920\n\nSCHULTZ, Ernst\n\nSCHULTZ, Franz Cesar\n\n12.4.1892\n\nSCHWANER, E J\n\n1.1.1968\n\n31.12.1900\n\n16.6.1922\n\n30.1.1887\n\nSCHWURCH, Hermann\n\n24.1.1891\n\nSCOTT, James\n\n6.8.1897\n\nSECKER, Elisabeth\n\n7.5.1890\n\nSETH, John E\n\n23.10.188?\n\nSIEVERS, Otto\n\n28.5.1889\n\nSIMPSON, George\n\n23.2.1899\n\nFrederick\n\nSINCLAIR, Robert\n\n15.8.1869\n\nSINTERN, George van\n\n?.12.1901\n\nSLAFKIN, Lena\n\n14.5.1911\n\nSMITH\n\n15.3.1883\n\nSMITH, Adeliza\n\n14.2.1880\n\nSMITH, Andrew\n\n25.2.1888\n\nSMITH, Mrs John\n\n7.11.1882\n\nSMITH, William L\n\n26.8.1916\n\nSMOLL, John Barton\n\n31.5.1909\n\nSPECTOR, Rashe\n\n25.2.1899\n\nSPURING, Herbert\n\n21.10.1929\n\nSTANLEY, Walter\n\n5.6.1942\n\nSTAUBE, Carl\n\n21.9.1882\n\nSTECK, Frederick Ludwig Philip\n\n1.4.1869\n\nSTEIGER, Theodor\n\n2.6.1872\n\nSTEPHEN, Thomas H\n\n12.11.1926\n\nSTERNBERG, Wilhelm\n\n18.12.1900\n\nSTERNBERG, Mrs Mathilde\n\n22.12.1913\n\nSTEVENSON, William\n\n10.4.1883\n\nSTEWART, Kenneth George\n\n14.7.1936\n\nSTEWART, NR\n\n24.2.1914\n\nSTOLL, Albert (infant son of)\n\n1890\n\nSTOLL, Emil\n\n16.7.1891\n\nSTONE, Charles Edward\n\n26.3.1955\n\nSTRUCKMANN, (1st infant)\n\n?,2,1876\n\nSTRUCKMANN, (2nd infant)\n\n15.4.1876\n\nSTRUCKMANN, Maria\n\n26.9.1879\n\nSURTEES, Alfred\n\n13.5.1924\n\nSUTCLIFFE, Margaret\n\n30.6.1895\n\nSWAP, William H\n\n25.10.1882\n\nHelen\n\nSWEENEY, Patrick\n\n9.4.1912\n\nTAIL, James\n\n31.8.1917\n\nTAYLOR, Frans.\n\nTHIESSEN, Johann\n\n5.6.1903\n\n14.10.1889\n\nTELFORD, William\n\n3.5.1942\n\nTHOMPSON, Gerald Philippe\n\n20.2.1949\n\nTHOMPSON, Katherine\n\n14.12.1942\n\nTOMKINS, John Frederick\n\n9.2.1945\n\nTOUGH, William\n\n1.7.1916\n\nTOWER, Edward\n\n7.3.1894\n\nTOWNSEND, Cecilia Edith\n\n20.9.1964\n\nTOZER, Susan Harriet\n\n13.8.1930\n\nTUCKER, Capt George\n\nTURNBULL, Arthur\n\n1891\n\nTUCKER, Percy\n\n23.8.1898\n\n16.2.1928\n\nTYLER, Joseph C\n\n28.5.1890\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216476, "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-2003", "page_number": 235, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "185\n\nTHE MAKING OF CORNELL PLANT THE PILOT\n\nAuthor's note\n\nMICHAEL GILLAM\n\nAlthough Cornell Plant died some ten years before I was born, he had an important place in my early memories of family visits to his younger brother, Uncle Charles Plant, There I heard the story of this grand old man of the river and his untimely death and that of his wife on their way home from China. In later years, when his papers were passed down to my parents I became more interested, particularly in the account of his adventures in Iran, where I had spent a year working with the Iranian Navy.\n\nWhen the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich expressed an interest in his papers and undertook to take some of them into safe keeping, the valuable contribution he made towards the opening up of the Yangtse Gorges to steam navigation became all too evident. Eventually, his remaining books, papers, photographs and other memorabilia came into my possession and, once I had retired, gave me the opportunity to study them in depth.\n\nBut it was not until I read the article on Cornell Plant by AC Bromfield and Rosemary Lee in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society [Hon.Ed.-Vol.41] that I became aware of the world wide interest in his life and achievements. This article dealt mainly with his time in China, with only a brief mention of his early life. It also posed a number of questions about him and his wife Alice. The papers that he left behind him and the information that has come to light through the research of Plant enthusiasts over the years enables some of the gaps in his life to be filled and shines some light on the making of Captain Samuel Cornell Plant - 'Plant the Pilot.'\n\nThe early days\n\nCornell Plant was the third of four children born to Samuel Plant, a Suffolk farmer's son and his wife, Harriet, neé Bennett, daughter of a Suffolk village baker. Perhaps it was the proximity of the North Sea that caused Samuel Plant to make his career in the Mercantile Marine", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216477, "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-2003", "page_number": 236, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "186\n\nalthough for the first few years after their wedding, the family home remained in Suffolk while he went to sea. It was in the village of Hoxne that their eldest son Robert Benjamin was born in 1860 to be followed by Emily Ada in 1864. Young Samuel came along in 1866 after the family had moved to Framlingham and was given the second name Cornell. It would appear from an entry in Harriet Plant's New Ladies' Memorandum Book 1829 in which she recorded important family events, that Cornell was a family name, possibly the maiden name of her mother or Samuel's mother. One entry records a visit to Chedburgh, a village in Suffolk, by a Mr and Mrs TH Cornell. Whatever the origin, Cornell was the name by which he was known throughout his life both inside and outside the family. Cornell's younger brother Charles Henry was born in 1870 and it was not long after that time that the family moved to London and into a house in Tottenham. Perhaps this move away from the country into the big city came about as a result of Samuel Plant's promotion to becoming a ship's master.\n\nIn 1881 he was in command of the Iron Ship Reigate, made of iron but powered by sail, for the trade with India. It so happened that the 1881 Census took place on the very day that Reigate was in Middlesbrough when, in addition to Captain and crew, those on board included Harriet Plant, the Master's wife, with Cornell and Charles, the Master's sons, all shown as passengers. But in truth, none of them were passengers - the 14-year-old Cornell had joined the ship for his first voyage while his mother and brother were there to see him off.\n\nThe start of a life at sea\n\nThe Reigate set sail from Middlesborough in early May, 1881 for the long passage round the Cape of Good Hope to Madras with no stops along the way. This was young Cornell's introduction to a life at sea and being a dutiful son, he spent some time every Sunday writing a few paragraphs of a voyage letter to his mother in strong, well-formed copper plate writing. It is a remarkably well written letter for a fourteen-year-old young man that now forms part of the Plant Archive at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Although the letter is in good condition, the writing on one side of the paper occasionally obscures the writing on the other side but it is still clear enough to make a full transcription. The letter is almost 2,000 words long but the following extracts give some idea of the young man who wrote them and the dramatic events that he experienced.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216479, "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-2003", "page_number": 238, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "188\n\nnight instead of walking the poop wet through with it blowing and raining hard. This week I began to learn to steer the ship. This week too we crossed the line.\n\nJuly 10th. My Dear Mother, You will have heard this sad, sad news long before my letter reaches you. I am very much afraid dear Mother that it has nearly killed you. It was a terrible blow for me, much more so for you. On Saturday morning July 2nd when I came on deck dear Father was looking quite well and walking the poop as usual. At II o'clock he was at the wheel and suddenly took ill and he fell down the companion ladder and hit his head. The 2nd Mate and David were there as soon as he fell and David came running forward and told the Mate what had happened. The Mate and I immediately ran aft and found my dear Father at the bottom of the ladder with blood coming from his head. The Mate immediately stopped the blood and got him into bed, bathed his head with cold water and poured a teaspoonful of brandy down his throat and did everything a man could to bring him to. But dear Father did not come to. His heart beat violently. He laboured very much in breathing and he shook violently, I had one of his hands in mine to keep it warm. After being in bed a while he grew warm and we thought he was better but he never opened his eyes or spoke and his breath became shorter and he laboured more. At a quarter past one our dear poor Father died without the slightest expression of pain quite calm. He never spoke or opened his eyes once the whole time. Anything that could be done was done to save him but God took him away from us. He had a very calm and peaceful expression on his face and I kissed him once for each of us and cut a lock of his hair from his head which I enclose in the letter for you dear mother.\n\nThe Mate, David and myself were by his bed when he died and when the 2nd Mate, carpenter, steward and sailmaker called in to see him everybody cried. The men forward were deeply touched. Something with me tells me that dear father has gone to heaven and is in a far better place.\n\nThe Reigate arrived at Madras some five weeks later on Sunday 7th August and Captain Samuel Plant's body was taken ashore in the afternoon and buried at six o'clock the following morning in the cemetery behind the Sailor's Home. Cornell Plant's letter goes on to describe these events and his feelings about them including his determination to continue his life at sea. Harriet Plant put the lock of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]