Rat bin in Quarry Bay, c.1910-1912

Wed, 01/29/2020 - 17:48

[Updated location to Quarry Bay, and date to c.1910-12, see comments below.]

Street in Shaukiwan, Hong Kong, c.1910-1913. Image from the Historical Photographs of China web site (www.hpcbristol.net), HPC ref HR01-142. Link: https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/hr01-142. Signs for: ENTRANCE TO THE TAIKOO RECREATION GROUND and FOOK WAH COMPRADORE. Note the rat bin on the lamp post on the right. 

Date picture taken
1910s

Comments

Thanks Jamie, that's the earliest photo of a rat bin we have so far!

Looking at the tram lines and the curve of the building, I think we're looking at the buildings that are out of sight to the left of this scene:

Taikoo Sugar Refinery Village
Taikoo Sugar Refinery Village, by G Warren Swire

Can anyone confirm?

That would put the photographer in Quarry Bay, rather than Shaukiwan.

The Signpost "Entrance to the Taikoo Recreation Ground" shown in the photo tells us that it was taken in Quarry Bay, not Shaukeiwan. In fact, the site of the recreation ground can be seen on the 1952 map

http://www.hkmaps.hk/mapviewer.html

The Ground was just to the south of the building shown.

Besides, as the man walking on the track was still having a Ching Dynasty hair style, maybe the photo could be a few years earlier, say, late 1900s. 

Thank you for help locating this interesting photograph to Quarry Bay. I've now amended the information for the image on the HPC site: https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/hr01-142.

Re dating the photo, the album is inscribed: “Henry Rue. 46 Brougham Street. Photographs from China 1910 to 1913”. The queue was generally abandoned from 1911 onwards. All this suggests a date of c.1910-1912, if the photograph was taken while Henry Ruhe was in Hong Kong. If he bought the photograph, it may have been taken earlier...