D. Jaffe and Tai Tam Tuk reservoir - historic photos - and query re marriage certificate

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 04:09

My grandfather was Daniel Jaffé (after whom Jaffe Road was named), who was a special engineer working for the Govt. on the Tai Tam Tuk reservoir completed in 1918.  I have historical photos of him, the building team, the opening ceremony etc.  Are you interested in my uploading them ?

Another question: I know that he married his English fiancée Hilda Sleemin on 29th September 1904 in the Peak Church, but I have not been able to obtain a copy of the marriage certificate so far.  I was in Hong Kong for the first time recently and tried at the Public Records Office; The Birth,  Marriage and Death Registry in Queensway and also the St. John's Cathedral archives - this latter because Public Records Office said St. John's had some Peak Church archives.  No luck.  Had previously tried at the Family Records Office in Islington London. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Sylvia

 

Yes,  please do upload the photos.

As to the actual Marriage Certificate, it looks like the first file of them for the Peak Church is not listed at the PRO.   File 2 and onward starting 1913 are listed, but I wonder if it might not acutally be there anyway.

Did you find the marriage ceremony listed in the Peak Church Services Book at the PRO ?

For the newspaper listing try the date of and the date after the wedding in the newspapers online. 

1. Click here http://hkclweb.hkpl.gov.hk/hkclr2/internet/eng/html/welcome.htmland enter 2. Click "Basic Serch"

3. Enter the date as 1904-09-24 in the keywored section and check "Old HK Newspaper" box.

Hi Sylvia,

To add to Annelise's notes, I'd suggest typing the date as 1904-09 to give you a whole month's results. That lets you check a few days either side, in case there are any other reports of the marriage that didn't come out on the actual date. Here are more tips on searching the old newspapers.

Your photos sound very interesting too. I'll look forward to seeing those. Here are some tips on how to upload them.

Regards, David

Thanks to you both, David and Annelise, will check out the old newspapers, also upload the photos asap.  By the way, PRO said any Peak Church registers would be at St. John's, they didn't tell me they had any.  St. John's had some, but not the year I needed.   Tho' I did find my uncle's baptismal certificate from St. John's at PRO which was at least something.

Regards,

Sylvia

Hi David and Annelise,

I finally found time to upload the first photo today.  Please check whether it was ok before I load some more.  I put it in the "others" gallery, but actually thought you might put a little gallery out for Daniel Jaffé.  Besides a few photos, I have various scanned items on him from different times e.g.  invitation to his wedding in Peak Church 1904, death announcement 1921 from Hong Kong Weekly Press, article about naming of Jaffe Road 1931 in South China Morning Post etc. It seems to me they should all be together some how.

I also have items like a menu card from the Hong Kong hotel for his bachelor's dinner prior to the wedding, a letter from St. John's cathedral confirming the date of the wedding, baptismal certificate for his son Cecil - Peak Church 1905, ,  his Blue Book entry.  Are such items of interest at all?

I couldn't find a "place" of Tai Tam Tuk to put the photo under.

One more question: he was also responsible for " the typhoon shelter at Mongkoktsui".  Does this still exist?

Thanks and best wishes

Sylvia

I suppose the typhoon shelter mentioned is the old Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, which had been reclaimed in the early 1990s.  The area is roughly bordered by Cherry Street in the north, Ferry Street in the east and Yan Cheung Road in the south.  The new Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter was built to the west of the old.

See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yau_Ma_Tei_Typhoon_Shelter (as well as the external link of the entry:  http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/44/4401251.pdf)

Hi Sylvia,

The new photo looks great, thank you. I've created a new gallery for you: Danniel Jaffé. Yes please to all the other bits and pieces you mentioned, it's all interesting to see.

But before you upload any other photos, I recommend you create an account and log in. That'll let you go back and edit any photos you've uploaded, and also make it easier to check for any comments to your posts.

You can see the "the typhoon shelter at Mongkoktsui" in this map from 1924. The breakwater that marked the edge of the typhoon shelter is the line in the sea appx one quarter in from the left edge:

1924 Kowloon map - Quadrant 2

Regards, David

Hi Sylvia

It's great to see your grandfather's photo. I am leading a research team on the study of construction of Tai Tam Tuk reservoir dam at The University of Hong Kong. We would like to see related photos and stories about the construction. I wonder you still have other photos and stories to enrich our findings.

Thank you.

SW Poon

Dept of Real Estate and Construction

The University of Hong Kong

There is an article about the building of Tai Tam Tuk reservoir here:

C.A.Middleton Smith (1934) Water Supply in Hong Kong. Far Eastern Review, August 1934, Vol. XXX, No.8 p.353

Daniel Jaffe was evidently much admired for his work. I particularly like this bit, about the dam:

“…..there is nothing weak about the magnificent structure that he designed and built. It will survive the shock of conflicting political theories; outlive the struggle of rival religions; witness the decay of the fruits of selfish and cruel ambitions.”

They don't write engineering articles like that these days, I suspect.