Catchick Paul Chater
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| Sir Catchick Paul Chater | |
| Born | 8 September 1846 Calcutta, India |
|---|---|
| Died | 27 May 1926 Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Net worth | millionaire |
| Spouse | Maria Christine Pearson |
| Website biography |
|
Sir Catchick Paul Chater, CMG (遮打;1846-1926) was a prominent businessman in Colonial Hong Kong.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
He was born in Calcutta, India, one of thirteen offspring of Armenian parents Miriam and Chater Paul Chater. His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service.
Sir Paul was orphaned at the age of seven, and he gained entry into the La Martiniere College in Calcutta on a scholarship. He later became a benefactor of the school. To honour his contribution to the school, Sir Paul Chater's name was included in the School Prayer. In the 1860s, at the age of eighteen, he moved to Hong Kong from Calcutta and lived with the family of his sister Anna and sister's husband Jordan Paul Jordan.[1]
[edit] Career
In the early days in Hong Kong, he was an assistant at the Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan. Later, with the aid of the Sassoon family, he set up business as an exchange broker, resigned from the bank, and traded gold bullion and land on his own account[1]. He took sea-bed soundings at night in a sampan and was thus instrumental in plotting the reclamation of Victoria Harbour[1].
In 1868, he and Sir Hormusjee Naorojee Mody formed Chater & Mody, a largely successful business partnership in Hong Kong, although the firm's Hong Kong Milling Company (aka Rennie's Mill) failed in 1908 and resulted in the suicide of Albert Rennie.[1]
He helped Paul Manson establish Dairy Farm, and he established Hongkong Land with James Johnstone Keswick[2], the taipan of Jardine Matheson. Hong Kong Land commenced the land reclamation project under the Praya Reclamation Scheme in 1890.
In 1890 the Hongkong Electric company went into production with his help as an informal member of the Executive Council[3].
Sir Paul was enthusiastic in two sports. He played for the Hong Kong Cricket Club first eleven, and was a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast and set up the Chater Stable in Hong Kong in 1872 that won many races at Happy Valley Racecourse. The Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup, the Group One third leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown, is named in his honor.
Chater became hugely wealthy from his business ventures, and was elected to the Legislative Council, in 1887, Chater was knighted in 1902. He built a large baronial mansion, which he named Marble Hall. Therein, he housed his collection of fine porcelain.
Other titles and positions held by Chater:
- Chair of the Perseverance Lodge 1873
- Steward at the Hong Kong Jockey Club
- Senior Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong
- Chairman of the Board of Stewards of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
- District Grand Master of Hong Kong and South China
- Director of Dairy Farm Co. Ltd set up by Patrick Manson 1886
- Consul for Siam in Hong Kong
- Treasurer and Chairman of the Queen Victoria Jubilee Committee 1887
- Member of the Légion d'honneur by the French Government at Tonkin 1892
- Member of the Public Lighting Committee 1896
- Member of the Governor’s Executive Council 1896
- Chairman of the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Committee 1897
- Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George 1897
- Honorary degree of LL.D. by the University of Hong Kong for services as the Honorary Treasurer 1923
A documentary on Sir Paul Chater produced in 2005 by the Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth, Kolkata specifically for the pilgrimage to Hong Kong to celebration the life of Sir Paul Chater in May of that year, was directed by Henrik Terchonian.
[edit] Legacy
Chater died in 1926, and bequeathed Marble Hall and its entire contents, including his unique collection of porcelain and paintings, to Hong Kong.
The Chater Collection was dispersed and largely destroyed during World War II, and only 94 pieces (now an important part of the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art) are known to have survived. These include oil paintings, watercolours, sketches, prints and photographs, most of which are based on landscape scenes of the South China trading ports in the 18th and 19th centuries, and of British activities in China. [4]
- Chater Garden
- Chater House
- Chater Road[2]
- Catchick Street[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Vaudine England, "Who was this man Chater?", Page 11, South China Morning Post, December 16, 2007
- ^ a b c Jason Wordie, Land-grabbing titans who changed HK's profit for good, April 18, 1999
- ^ Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong - Volume Two. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. Page 11. ISBN Volume One 962-7283-60-6
- ^ "Chater art collection goes on show", Hong Kong Museum of Art Press Release. news.gov.hk, March 23, 2007
