Missionary societies operating in China in the early 20th century found it was not economical for their missionaries to keep returning home for holidays each year, and sought somewhere closer to China for them to escape the sweltering summer heat of the interior. The island of Cheung Chau was settled on as one suitable spot. It offered all the advantages of The Peak of Hong Kong for a fraction of the cost.
In 1909, building plots and labour were cheap on Cheung Chau, and there was a flurry of building activity. House #22 may have been built at this time. It certainly appears in a Missions photo of 1911 (qv).Built of locally sourced granite, it was larger than the average villa and had two storeys. It must have been fairly large as in 1930 the China Mail announced a large party of about 30 were to spend the weekend on Cheung Chau and most of them would be accommodated in 'the Jaffray House'.
The Rev Robert Jaffray was recorded as the owner of this house in the 1938 record of European house owners on Cheung Chau.He was a missionary working for The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Wuzhou, Gwangxi.
He died in a Japanese concentration camp in 1945, and it appears from the 1950 colour photo of houses 22 and 23 (qv) that they suffered the fate of other western-owned houses in the war and were destroyed by the Japanese.
Robert Jaffray may have bequeathed his house to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, because when his Wuzhou Bible School was expelled from China in 1949, it moved to Cheung Chau and based itself in House #22, changing its name to the Hong Kong Alliance Seminary.
At some point*, the Seminary also purchased European House #23 next door and gained a good-sized campus for its operations.It has gone on from there and today has a large campus with sites in Wanchai and Kowloon. It's now known as the Alliance Bible Seminary.
*Possibly 1958, when the owner Sir C G Alabaster died.
Comments
House #22 Origins
[Updated 22/11/25]
Missionary societies operating in China in the early 20th century found it was not economical for their missionaries to keep returning home for holidays each year, and sought somewhere closer to China for them to escape the sweltering summer heat of the interior. The island of Cheung Chau was settled on as one suitable spot. It offered all the advantages of The Peak of Hong Kong for a fraction of the cost.
In 1909, building plots and labour were cheap on Cheung Chau, and there was a flurry of building activity. House #22 may have been built at this time. It certainly appears in a Missions photo of 1911 (qv). Built of locally sourced granite, it was larger than the average villa and had two storeys. It must have been fairly large as in 1930 the China Mail announced a large party of about 30 were to spend the weekend on Cheung Chau and most of them would be accommodated in 'the Jaffray House'.
The Rev Robert Jaffray was recorded as the owner of this house in the 1938 record of European house owners on Cheung Chau. He was a missionary working for The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Wuzhou, Gwangxi.
He died in a Japanese concentration camp in 1945, and it appears from the 1950 colour photo of houses 22 and 23 (qv) that they suffered the fate of other western-owned houses in the war and were destroyed by the Japanese.
Robert Jaffray may have bequeathed his house to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, because when his Wuzhou Bible School was expelled from China in 1949, it moved to Cheung Chau and based itself in House #22, changing its name to the Hong Kong Alliance Seminary.
At some point*, the Seminary also purchased European House #23 next door and gained a good-sized campus for its operations. It has gone on from there and today has a large campus with sites in Wanchai and Kowloon. It's now known as the Alliance Bible Seminary.
*Possibly 1958, when the owner Sir C G Alabaster died.