Henry Ezekiel GUBBAY (aka Harry) [1911-1989]

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 10/06/2022 - 18:17
Names
Given
Henry Ezekiel
Family
Gubbay
Alias / nickname
Harry
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Date
Died
Date
Died in (town, state)
Nottingham
Died in (country)
England

Harry is mentioned in the page for Margaret Anne BOND [c.1878-1971]:

angie-r: 

In the group photo taken in front of the house a Harry Gubby is also in it as he was a friend of the family.  Was he part of the family that also lived on Broadwood Road?

jill:

C.S. Gubbay owned no. 16 Broadwood Road from 1918 to July 1924, when the house was sold to Ho Kwong. The Gubbays would have certainly known your Aunty Maggie during that period and the Gubbays and your family probably remained friends. As far as I can see from Gubbay info online, Harry was one of the seven children of Ezekiel and Katie Gubbay He was born on 16 February 1911 and died in Nottingham, UK on 8 July 1989. Was C.S. the father of Ezekiel, or a brother?

angie-r:

 Jill, thanks for the information regarding Harry Gubbay.  His age sounds about right if he was friends with the family. I will check with my cousin Mary to see if she has further information on his family and whether he actually lived at 16 Broadwood Road.


He is also mentioned in the 1935 Jurors List:

c Gubbay Henry Ezekiel Accountant Phoebus Neon Light Co., Ld 242 Nathan Road Kowloon

 

And in the list of Prisoners of War:

Gubbay H E HKVDC Sergeant 1538
Connections: This person is ...

Photos that show this Person

1936
1939

Comments

Hi, I am currently researching my family history and have come across your thread regarding my Great Uncle Harry Gubbay and wondered if anyone had found any further information?

My Great Grandma left Hong Kong in the 1930's to live in Nottingham, UK and Harry came to live with her some time after the war. We don't have many details of this side of the family so any information would be greatly appreciated. The details we have are Ezekiel and Katie Gubbay had 7 children and lived on Nathan Road (we believe). Harry was the youngest, born in 1911. My Great Grandma was Lilian Gubbay, born 1909.

The only details we have of Ezekiel is that he worked in shipping and died at sea in 1936. Katie also died in 1936 and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Hong Kong. The other children are: Rachel, Sophie, Rosie, Penny and another son who died very young. I have not managed to find any link to Charles Sassoon on Broadwood Road as yet but will keep trying. My Grandma, Dorothy Bull (maiden name Gubbay) remembers living in a large house with a big veranda round it, could this be on Nathan Road? I hope this is ok to ask about, we are just not sure where to go for information. Thank you.

Hi Heidi!  I'm glad you came across the thread about your Great Uncle Harry in the photo I posted of my father's family gathering before the war. My cousin Mary lived at the Broadwood Road house with her parents, Marie and Arthur Reed after their marriage in 1938.  She identified Harry in the photo, and said he was often at the house and a good friend of her father's.  As you may have read, Arthur and three of his brothers died fighting in the war, one succumbing to his injuries a month later.

It's interesting to read in the 1935 Jurors list that Harry's address was given as 242 Nathan Road.  My family lived at 244 Nathan Road after the war, at the corner of Nathan and Jordan Road.  I am not sure if 242 might have been the building across from Jordan Road (where the Evergreen store was located) or the apartment building between 244 and Katherine Building, heading up Nathan Road.  I don't recall how the street numbers went.

I hope you will be able to find further information about your family history.  I learned so much more about the Reed family and relatives through the kind input and research done by contributors to this website.

 

 

Hi Angie, thank you so much for the information. It's really interesting that your family lived so close to Uncle Harry after the war given that they were really close before it. Hopefully someone will have some further information regarding the rest of the family.

I was glad to see the names of two of the Reed brothers who attended the funeral service of Mrs. Katie Gubbay as reported in The China Mail on January 28, 1936.  I am guessing it would have been Reggie (instead of Robert) who was there with his older brother Stephen.  I am also guessing that the A. Silva mentioned would be Alfredo da Silva, a relative, who was also in the group family photo that included Harry Gubbay. 

Thank you for finding and posting the article.  I appreciated your comment regarding the connection between the two families.

 

 

I would also like to say thank you for posting this article, I wasn't aware The China Mail was online so will have to spend some time browsing through it.

Hi Angie

Thank you for the names, I am adding the details from the China Mail article to my family history so it's great to have that link between our families and whole names to put on it. I think the AS, JS and Mrs DS Gubbay are Aaron Sassoon, Joseph Sassoon and Mrs David Sassoon Gubbay who are the brothers of Charles Sassoon Gubbay who lived on Broadwood Road. David Sassoon Gubbay died in 1931 I believe. I haven't found a family link to these Gubbays as yet. I also think the Josephs are linked somehow but again this will take more investigation.

Heidi, thanks for also filling in some of the other names at the service.  You are already getting more information to add to your family tree!  I am glad that my two uncles were there to represent their mother, Maria Rita, and their other brothers, Wilfred (my father), Arthur, Francis, Edgar and Robert.

 

Hi Angie - I'm hoping this message is viewable to you. Heidi's great uncle Harry is my grandfather, my mum Kathy Gubbay is Harry's daughter. We've been trying to do lots of digging into the family history and came across this forum and the photo you posted along with all of the lovely chat that has been written above. Mum was really happy to see grandad in your cousin Mary's pictures and if it is do-able, would love to be in touch with you both to talk more about her dad and the days of old HK living. Mum, my nan (Harry's wife Eileen) and my sister Amy visited HK in 1994 to see where the family lived and were able to visit with grandad's sister Rosie who was at the time in the China Coast Community home in Kowloon Tong. I am not sure if you can message me directly via the admin or if I need to give you my email address but any information about the old days would be so nice to hear about. Thank you, Laura

Hi Laura - I was pleasantly surprised to read your recent post and to learn that your mother's father was Harry Gubbay.  When Heidi posted her comments after seeing Harry in the Reed family group photo, she didn't mention that Harry had married and had children.  It's likely that his marriage occurred after his move to Nottingham after the war?  It would be great if you could provide any pertinent information to add to this page that the Admin created.  

You mentioned that your mother, grandmother and sister visited Hong Kong in 1994 to see where the family lived.  I'm curious if this would be the flat on Nathan Road where they lived before the war or if the family had moved to another location such as Kowloon Tong since Harry's sister Rosie was in a retirement home there during their visit.

I've forwarded your comments to my cousin Mary who lives in Toronto, Canada, and am hoping she can recall anything further about Harry.  I've also asked her to go through her mother's photo album to see if there are photos that might also include him.  I was not aware of Harry's relationship to the Reed family until I saw that group photo and what Mary could remember of family life at the Broadwood Road home. - Angela

For the sake of the chronology of the Gubbay family's movements, the Rate Books record the sale of 16 Broadwood Road, I.L. 2128 by C.S. Gubbay to Ho Kwung on 5 July 1924. (I see I've already mentioned this elsewhere).