Charles Gesner van der Voort had started his career in Rotterdam, at Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC). In 1938, he went to Shanghai for the firm. The Japanese interned him, and most other Dutch nationals, from 1943-45. In camp, he met his wife Nancy and they married after the war. After a leave in The Netherlands, they returned to the Orient, where Charles continued to work for HCHC in Hong Kong.
Twenty years before Charles started, in 1918, a photo album was made of the Hong Kong office and office staff.
Fortunately, unlike several other HCHC group portraits, there are names written underneath the photograph, although not the names of the Chinese staff members. If you recognise someone, please let me know.
From left to right: Rosario (Fernando Antonio Maria) - Woudenberg (Gerardus) - van den Poll (Gerard Hendrik) - comprador - A.W. (Alexander Willem) van Andel (Manager) - D.H. (Derk Herman) te Wechel - F. (Franciscus Hubertus Joseph Alphonsus) Lafleur - J.Th. (Johannes Theodorus) de Vries - C.P. (Cecilio Paulo) Pintos.
"de jonge man tussen v/d Poll en van Andel is later compradore geworden tot 1950" (the young man in between v/d Poll and van Andel later became compradore, until 1950). His name is Tong Lai Chuen J.P., his portrait can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/161392673@N02/39997363593/
Cecilio Paulo Pintos is on Hong Kong Juror's lists, from 1899 (working for Hotz s'Jacob & Co, one of the companies which merged into Holland-China Trading Company in 1903) to 1930.
https://gwulo.com/jurors-list-1899
Fernando Antonio Maria Rosario appears on the 1923 Hong Kong Juror's list on gwulo.com. In the 1918 Juror's list, his employer is the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, so he must have started working for HCHC in the year this photo was taken. <a href="https://gwulo.com/jurors-list-1923" rel="noreferrer nofollow">gwulo.com/jurors-list-1923</a>
The Comacrib Directory of China (1925, Google Books) lists the following people as working for Holland-China Trading Company:
A.W. van Andel, Genl.Mgr. for China. [mentioned in caption]
F. Lafleurs [s is not correct] signs per pro. [mentioned]
J. Walle, signs per pro. [mentioned in caption to above photo]
J. Th. de Vries. [mentioned in caption to above photo]
H.E. Meyer. [not there in 1918]
C.P. Pintos. [mentioned in caption to above photo]
C.A. dos Remedios. [could be in above photo]
C.G. Markar. [could be in above photo]
Tong Hok Ting, Compradore. [replacing compradore Tong Lai Chuen, who passed away in 1922]
C.E. Tavares. [could be in above photo]
F.X. Delgado. [could be in above photo]
E.C. Olaes. [could be in above photo]
J.A. Lace. [could be in above photo]
1256 N.V. Internationale Crediet- en Handelsvereniging Rotterdam/C.V. en N.V. Wm H. Muller & Co. (Internatio-Muller N.V.) 1402 Foto album van kantoren in China.
courtesy Stadsarchief Rotterdam, <a href="http://www.stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl/en" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl/en</a>
Source: This image came from Flickr, see https://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=32826316657
Comments
Group Photo - Holland Trading Company
Hi 'Charles in Shanghai'
How about identifying as many of those people in your pictures that you can..... instead of merely posting them ?
Some time ago you asked on this site about the identiy of one portrait and I obliged with a reply ..... for which you thanked me .
My point is , .....why not research these pictures before just clicking " copy and paste " and adding a personal credit?
This group photo has a prominent member of the Holland China Trading Company ( the man I identified for you....Tong Lai Chuen J.P. ) yet you don't bother to identify him now . Some of the others in the front row could probably be identified with a little research..... Yes this is a challenge....but instead of leaving it to others ..... please try doing this yourself before posting .....
Portrait Holland-China Trading Company staff, Hong Kong office,
Hi Chinarail,
Many thanks for your comment. I did think of identification, just thought readers would go to Flickr to see more detail on the photo. I have now added the Flickr comments in Gwulo as well. Identifying more people: yes please! If you or someone else can help with that, like you did before in a great way, it is much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Pieter
Portrait Holland-China Trading Company staff, Hong Kong office,
new information added