Ellis KADOORIE (aka Kelly) [1865-1922]

Sir Ellis Kadoorie often seems to be ignored or absorbed into the identity of his brother Sir Elly Kadoorie. He is strangely omitted from the list of members of the Sassoon and Kadoorie families in the book I am reading at the moment "Kings of Shanghai" (2020). Sir Ellis was a major public benefactor in Hong Kong and founded the Sir Ellis Kadoorie School in 1891. Together with Sir Paul Chater and Sir Hormusjee Mody, he was one of the three great racing men of the times. Sir Ellis died suddenly on 24 February, 1922 in the middle of a racing week. Several of his horses would have been running. The Hong Kong Telegraph reported his death on page 6 of that day, but his death isn't even itemised in the headlines listed for that page on mmis. It strikes me as odd that there seems to have been no mark of mourning at the Race Course when his funeral procession passed in the afternoon. According to Austin Coates the "gentlemen of the Press" were always invited to lunch at Sir Ellis's box for curries "beyond compare." The cause of his absence would have been known and regretted.  Perhaps I have missed something.

I'm sure that others with a more detailed knowledge of Hong Kong's history will want to write more about this eminent philanthropist and benefactor to Hong Kong's education.