This school gets a mention in the Education Department's Annual Report for 1938. The introduction is a brief history of education in Hong Kong and on page O3 says:
During the war years (1914-1918) a gradual expansion of the Educational system took place and in 1918 the average attendance had risen to 8,962 in English schools and 16,582 in Chinese schools. The Ellis Kadoorie School, previously a Grant school, was in 1915 handed over to the Government and began its existence as a District school from which boys passed to the upper school in Queen's College, and in 1916 a new Ellis Kadoorie School for Indians was opened by the Governor, Sir Henry May.
The Report of the Director of Education for the year 1916 in its report on this school, shows that its main intake was children from Chinese families (page O15):
It is still necessary, however, to give attention to pronunciation on all Classes, the common Chinese errors in both consonants and vowel sounds being frequently met with.
Photos that show this Place
Comments
The Ellis Kadoorie Chinese Schools Society
The Ellis Kadoorie Chinese Schools Society was organized in 1901. to establish schools in Hongkong and in China for the education of Chinese boys in the English and Chinese languages, and in such other subjects as shall be approved by the administrative council of the Society. Voluntary subscriptions to the amount of $127,098 have been collected, of which amount nearly one-half was given by Mr. Kadoorie. Six schools have been opened, one in Hongkong, two in Canton, and three in Shanghai, with a total attendance of 1,000 pupils.
The East of Asia Magazine: Special Educational Number [June, 1904]
read more ... https://books.google.com/books?id=ueERP-CwWmQC&dq=kadoorie%20school%20h…
Ellis Kadoorie Chinese Schools Society's Annual Report 1901-1902
In the captioned report, mention is made that the first school was opened on 1 October 1901. The Chinese Community granted the Society a lease of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for a period of 30 years for the moderate fee of $10,000. This sum is to be spent on improvements to the property which occupies a very desirable site, fitted in every way for a school.
Source: Hong Kong Telegraph 30 August 1902
one school, produces many
Ellis Kadoorie School (育才書社), 26-28 Hospital Road
It is said that some 15 schools have resided on this location over different periods. Some outstanding schools in Hong Kong for later years have in turn spawned from it. Apart from the original Ellis Kadoorie School for Boys, it includes below at least, up to the post war decades :
i) Queen’s College (e.g. in 20’s; also as Science Block 1927 – 1941)
ii) Belilios Public School (1946 – 1964; new premise in Tin Hau from 1965) , BPS for short [1]
iii) Ellis Kadoorie Girls’ School (1946? - 1964?) [2a] [2b]
In fact, last two schools shared the premises with mornings for BPS and afternoons for primary school. [3] Apparently, the practice of sharing school premises have been popular among government schools in that era, when education resources are in shortage.
We could see page with such long title in slashes in gwulo also :
Ellis Kadoorie School for Boys /Science Block Queen's College / ...
https://gwulo.com/media/24150
Readers who are familiar with these schools or from the education field, kindly add your observations and enrich information of above history, for other interested readers here.
References
1. https://www.bps.hk/history-timeline
2a. there was a commonly used name in Chinese 育才女校 in the 50s and as numerous Chinese newspapers coverage it is closely related to BPS. Well-known graduates from this primary school are not few (some promoted to BPS for Secondary education and entered HKU). As an article in SCMP in 1952 for its Speech Day, we could see the two are the same and adopt the quoted English name here. No access to primary documents or school magazines at hand about its official name.
2b. same school name is mentioned in the Hong Kong Heritage Project website
see also : https://gwulo.com/The-Hong-Kong-Heritage-Project
3. few sources have named it as 官立漢文小學, but Government Vernacular School is just a generic name which are used for similar schools in other districts too. It is also possible that the school had no formal name for some time but got a name and sponsor later. Post WWII years was a time in which primary education had been in great needs. In the PWD annual report of 1961-1962, an Ellis Kadoorie School (Western) is cited and coming...
Interested researchers may try if some luck for the official name of iii) used by HK government, from the Public Records Office on site, by browsing the Education Department Annual Reports of 1946 up to the 1950s.
p.s. reading between the lines of different sources, a glimpse of the striving efforts from different walks, government, individual persons and NGOs, could be seen over the years to provide and improve education. So are some individual students diligent. True education is no easy undertaking, but the continued efforts in HK had seen prominent results by the 70s, I think. As part of a related saying goes, “... it takes a hundred year to grow persons” .
Demolition date
I've added 'c. 1966' as a guess for the demolition date. That's based on the timeline at https://www.bps.hk/history-timeline which includes the entries:
So Belilios Public School had moved out of this building by 1964.
The building is still shown on a 1966 map:
But it is gone on the 1968 update:
If anyone knows more accurately when the building was demolished, please let us know.
demolition date, more info for reference
On the PWD Annual Report 1965-66, it was recorded that :
Completed also was a project by a private architect* which combined, on a
steeply sloping site, the Central District Primary School+ and the Ellis Kadoorie School (Western). ^
This survey map is dated year 1960 (link), which I think is the origin of the maps ‘1966 Hong Kong’ displayed on hkmaps.hk (in fact, same is shown on maps 1960 up to 1967.2).
From my limited map reading knowledge (slopes !), what these sources depicted are rather compatible. PWD reports did not mention these schools any more after the 1965 issue.
For the Belilios Public School building, do you think the demolition date may be well within 1965 ?
Other details or inputs from all readers are welcome.
maps source
Hong Kong Map Service (all these maps kept are listed and individually saleable)
e.g. sheet no. 196-SW-5 (1:600) of 1960 and 1968
(*) architect Mr. W. H. Kwan, as the PWD annual report 1961-62
(+) on completion, I think it is named Sai Ying Pun Government Primary School [1966 photo, MMIS]
(^) in other words, I think, am-pm usage of the one ‘BPS’ building becoming two separate schools by 1965