Text on Flickr:
This house stood in the district of Tsim Cha Tsui, Kowloon, on Chatham Road S., between Prat Ave. and Cameron Rd. View is north, with the Gun Club Barracks in the distance. Marie-Félicité, "Bigsis" and her Amah (Nanny) greet a passerby who looks a lot like Jules. More likely they're seeing him off to work.
Of course, the district looks nothing like this now. The mansion, a double house (note second gate), appears in a 1908 picture of the Observatory, but now it's gone. The name on the near gate pillar (and maybe the far one, too) is "Holyrood," after the Scottish castle.
So if I ever go to the Hong Kong Public Records Office to look them up, I have some names (Semichon, Grandel), dates (1908-1912) and an approximate address to go on.
Probably the house was south of (todays) Prat Avenue. On Gwulo it's "Building on Chatham Road, south of Cameron Road". In the distance, Observatory Villas can be seen.
Source: This image came from Flickr, see https://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=122603999
Comments
Similar view
1912 Home in Tsim Sha Tsui
Thank you Klaus for the photo. Peace, quiet and friendly come to mind when I look at it, considering it was shortly before WW1 and about the start of the Republic of China.
Excuse me if this sounds mundane. I am sure that is a drainage ditch along the sidewalk and the photo captured the opening which appears to be shallow unless it goes deeper than shown. If it was concrete, how did they clean out the trapped debris? Mind in the gutter this time and place! Regards, Peter
Re: Drainage ditch
Peter, I think there is an open storm water drainage running along Chatham Road. The water would be running towards the photographer. To block e.g. stones and other heavy stuff, a stone slab is in front of the gully. The opening (side inlet) is usually covered with a metal grating or grid to prevent debris to enter.
Already in 1888, plans were presented for the separation of household and storm water drainage. In this report under no.6 is stated: ..His roof draining and the rain which falls upon his back-yard may in most cases be allowes to escape over the surface through gutters into side-channels, and thence in the nearest of the numerous street gratings which everywhere communicate with the storm-water drains.
Street Gutter Drain
Thanks Klaus for the information. Regards, Peter
Jean-Baptiste “Jules” Semichon
Jean-Baptiste “Jules” Semichon (1867-1915) and his wife Marie Félicité Joséphine, née Grandel, (1870-1950), were married in Paris in 1896. Between 1897 and 1907 they had 6 children, 4 girls and 2 boys, all born in Paris. Eldest daughter Geneviève died in infancy. The other children all survived to adulthood and lived relatively long lives. They were in order: Hélène Marie Joséphine (b 1898), Jules Joseph (b 1900), Marie-Louise Antoinette Lucie (b 1902), Pierre Marie Etienne (b 1903), and Madeleine Marie Jeanne Renée (b 1907). On the children’s birth registrations in Paris, their father’s occupation is given as ingénieur électricien (electrical engineer). Was he perhaps employed by China Light & Power, founded in 1901 and whose premises on Chatham Road began operations in 1903? Or perhaps Whampoa/Kowloon Docks in Hung Hom also had need of electrical engineers? Logically, Hélène was the oldest surviving “Big Sis” which would make her around 10 years old if this photo was taken in 1908. However, I think the child in this photo looks younger than that, so this is more likely middle daughter, Marie-Louise who would have been around six years old in 1908. There are more photos of this family in the Old Hong Kong on Flickr section of this site, but only two of the children are depicted, "Bigsis" and baby "Lilsis", not very French-sounding nicknames - perhaps this is something the amahs called them? Where were the other three children? Were the two boys and the eldest daughter perhaps left behind in Paris with relatives (of which there were many) for the sake of their education? If the sources on here are correct, the Semichon family were in Hong Kong between 1908 and 1913.
Re: Date of the photo
Robbot27, thank you for digging into the history of this family. And yes, "Bigsis" is about six years old. She can be seen here together with "Lilsis" who is about one year old. Therefore, 1908 is a good estimate, and I have amended the date.