Forbes Street [????- ]

Submitted by lolau on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 22:02
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I knew you got lots of documents on the past HK. Is the Forbes Road at Kennedy Town was named by referring to W H Forbes, the boss of Russell & Co.? If yes,  what's the relation of the place(Road) and the company?

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Notes from Moddsey:

I think Russell & Co owned the Rope Works in Kennedy Town before going bankrupt in 1891. The Rope Works was taken over by Shewan & Tomes and situated between Belchers and Forbes Streets.

I also did a quick search for 'Forbes' in HKGRO, and in the newspapers from 1850-1900, but didn't see anything relevant.

Regards, David

Another approach would be to search for mentions of the surrounding streets, which were laid out at the same time as Forbes Street, and see if there's anything about Forbes in the article. So Chater (later renamed to Catchick) Street, Cadogan Street, and Davis Street.

The book "A century of Hong Kong Island Roads and Streets" has an appendix that lists roads built in various periods. It says the above three roads (it doesn't mention Forbes) were built sometime between 1871-1890.

A couple of other books I can think of:

Regards, David