Chu Yan-Kit and Cheung Yue Lan

My grandparents known by their Canadian and British grandchildren as Lawrence and May Chu although she wrote letters in Hong Kong from Madam May Cheung. This may have been a studio photo taken in Shanghai but there is no date or official record of the marriage from St John's Cathedral in Hong Kong. They were both apparently Catholic; he went to St Joseph's School and she went to the sacred Heart Canossian School in Caine Road. 

They had a daughter Pauline Shamash (Chu Pui Lin) born in 1936 and 2 sons Robert (Kim Leung) born in 1938 and Michael born in 1940. I do not know exactly how many women Chu Yan-Kit had children with or how many children but assume that some will still be in China and Hong Kong. All the ones I have met were in England or Canada. 

They did not live in the villa in Tai Po built by Chu Yan-Kit's father but used it as a summer house at weekends and holidays. On Hong Kong Island they seemed to use addresses in Moreton Terrace and Ying Fai Terrace but also owned property in Queen's Road Central, Kowloon and the New Territories. 

Chu Yan-Kit seems to have started making donations to the Catholic Church from the 1950's. He donated a piece of land in Fanling on which St Jospeph's Church was built and still stands. He also apparently sold his father's house in Tai Po Market in 1958 in 2 parts to commemorate his father; one part became a care home for older people and the other became a Catholic Church with a school on Wan Tau Street. His stipulations for how the land should be used and the importance he atached to the education of his children suggest that he was enlightened about how to make use of his money as well as immensely generous. It is tempting to speculate that his generosity might have been partly to attone for his lifestyle or even the way in which his ancestors aquired their wealth. Some of his family were a bit more cynical about the reason. I am sad that I did not meet him until he was 93 and knew so little him and his life so am hoping that people will share any stories or documnets they have about him.