Extract from his entry in The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography:
In the 1930s he became managing director of the Hong Kong Engineering and Construction Company, which undertook a major land development project in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, financed by SIR ELLY KADOORIE. Braga Circuit there is named after him.
Born in Hong Kong, 3 August 1871; died in Macau, 12 February 1944
In the Portuguese community of Hong Kong in the forty years before World War II, there was a group of public-spirited people who made a real difference to the whole Hong Kong community. Of these, José Pedro Braga stood head and shoulders above others. All had to make their way in a colony in which the British rulers dominated. His resolute attempts to change British attitudes had some success, but most of the fruits of his labours were reaped by his successors after World War II.
In childhood J.P. Braga was called by his name, José. At school in Calcutta between 1887 and 1889, he was Joe to his English-speaking fellow students. In business in Hong Kong from 1902 onwards, he was known simply by his initials ‘J.P’, a common English practice at the time. To his Australian-born wife he was Joe. His children called him Father, while amongst themselves they referred to him as ‘The General’, a term of both affection and respect.
J.P. Braga is not to be confused with his eldest son, José Maria Braga, always known as Jack.
He was brought up in the last three decades of the nineteenth century by his grandfather Delfino Noronha and his mentor Januário Carvalho in an atmosphere of commitment to public affairs and to strong community responsibility. By temperament, training and background he was well-equipped to use the British colonial system to create a unique role for himself in public affairs in Hong Kong, where the British administration was stern and just, but unyielding. Their control was arrogant but based on the rule of law and notable business skill. It is these British qualities that encouraged J.P. Braga, who in 1929 became the first Portuguese member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and six years later the first member of his community to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, to support that Empire whole-heartedly. In 1940, when faced with the threat of Japanese attack, he wrote ‘I will stay with Hong Kong through thick and thin’ [1]. He was admired throughout Hong Kong. When he died in Macau during the war, the British Consul, J.P. Reeves, told his wife Olive, ‘no man has ever done for Hong Kong what your husband has done.’ [2]
J.P. Braga’s grandparents were among the first settlers from Macau who established themselves in Hong Kong within a few years of the British occupation. He began his education at the Italian Convent School, of which his mother was the first pupil when the Canossian sisters first arrived in Hong Kong. [3] He then moved on to St Joseph’s College, where he was awarded prizes for English and Declamation in 1884. [4] In 1886 he was awarded the Belilios Scholarship, at that time the highest and most coveted prize in Hong Kong. [5] He maintained a lifelong loyalty to St Joseph’s, and about 1913 was ‘the leading spirit in the formation of the first Old Boys’ Association, of which he was the Honorary Secretary’. [6] This did not last long, but was revived about 1928, and J.P. Braga became President. He was seen as a fine example of what the College and the Association sought to develop, and at that time set out its aims. ‘We wish to make each member realise that he has a part to play in the social and civic life of the Colony. The education given him in the college aims at fitting him for that part.’ [7]
In 1887 this promising boy was then sent to Calcutta, where he attended the leading Jesuit School, St Xavier’s College, afterwards passing on to Roberts College, of which he was Gold Medallist in 1889. ‘He presented himself for the Calcutta University Examination, and won the only scholarship for the European Division,’ [8] but tragically three of his four elder brothers died from smallpox and his mother decided that he should return to Hong Kong. His hankering after a career as a barrister never left him, and was only satisfied by his appointment to the Legislative Council nearly forty years later.
For the next ten years he worked at his grandfather’s business, Noronha & Co., Government Printers, eventually becoming joint manager with his uncle, Leonardo Noronha. This work undoubtedly prepared him for his active role in public life in later years. He acquired a considerable insight into the working of the various government departments and also learned the procedures of the Legislative Council. On his grandfather’s death in 1900, he severed his connection with the firm. While working at Noronha & Co., the young J.P. Braga published a booklet entitled The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong condemning injustice to members of the Portuguese community. The struggle for due recognition by the British occupied much of the rest of his life.
In a much later booklet, Braga noted that ‘it is a matter for regret that the Portuguese language suffers from neglected usage among the local community ... little incentive is offered to boys and girls of Portuguese families for the study of their mother tongue. The language of Portugal is rich in beauty of expression and in epic literature, and it is much to be hoped that an earnest effort will be made to restore it to general use among Portuguese nationals in Hong Kong.’ [9] However, the concept of multi-culturalism still lay several decades away, and many members of the Portuguese community were keen to become assimilated into the British community if it would accept them.
On 5 May 1895 he married Olive Pauline Pollard at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hong Kong. Olive, a gifted violinist, was born in Tasmania and became a member of the Pollard Liliputians, formed by her father, James Joseph Pollard. This theatrical troupe included most of his family of seventeen children. They toured New Zealand, Australia and the Far East with a remarkable repertoire of light opera. J.P. and Olive Braga had a large family, nine boys and four girls. All nine sons were educated at St Joseph’s College.
In 1896 J.P. Braga became involved in José Rizal’s insurrection against Spanish rule in the Philippines, and strongly supported the Filipino patriot, whom he had come to know through Delfino Noronha. Rizal returned to the Philippines, but was arrested, tried and executed. The night before his death at the hands of a firing squad, Rizal wrote an eloquent and moving farewell poem to his people: ‘Ultimo Adios’. It was smuggled out of the Philippines, and appeared for the first time in print in J.P. Braga’s illustrated magazine, Odds and Ends. However, his support of a rebel appeared reckless to other members of the Noronha family. In 1900, following the death of his grandfather, he was excluded from the company and went to Macau where he taught English in the Commercial Institute for two years.
Returning to Hong Kong in 1902, he was appointed Manager of the Hongkong Telegraph, holding this position until 1910. During this time, he was appointed Hong Kong Correspondent of Reuters. He held this post for 25 years until 1931. On leaving the Telegraph, he commenced his own printing business, J.P. Braga & Co. A frequent writer of letters to newspapers, he became a well-known public figure. In 1917 a Constitutional Reform Association was established, campaigning for the Legislative Council to have an elected majority. [10] J.P. Braga, no stranger to reform agitation, joined its committee.
In 1919 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, one of only a few Portuguese to receive this significant appointment. In the next few years, this public-spirited man joined several committees of worthwhile bodies, including the Executive Committee in connection with the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1923, the committee of the First Hong Kong Troop (St Joseph’s College) Boy Scouts, and the committee of the New Territories Agricultural Show, which organised the first Show in 1927. The Portuguese community in Hong Kong and his friends in Macau were delighted when J.P. Braga was appointed a member of the Sanitary Board in 1926.
The Hongkong Sunday Herald reported, ‘Congratulations will be showered on Mr J.P. Braga on his appointment as a member of the Sanitary Board … congratulations that will by no means be confined to the Portuguese community of which Mr Braga is one of the most respected members. [The Government] … has shown that it recognises the claims of the large Portuguese community to a voice and share in our civic administration.’ [11]. The China Mail added, ‘The appointment is without precedent in the history of the Colony, as this is the first occasion on which a member of the Portuguese community has been appointed to the Sanitary Board. It is very fitting that the honour should fall to Mr Braga, whose position in the Portuguese community is acknowledged, and whose public spirited work for the Colony on many occasions has won him the respect and goodwill of the entire British community.’ [12]
Besides his commitment to public affairs in Hong Kong, J.P. Braga was interested in the long-running dispute between Portugal and China concerning the boundary of Macau. He was a member of the Comissão Portuguesa de Delimiticão de Macau set up in 1909 that failed to resolve the issue, and the Macau Boundary Delineation Conference held at Hong Kong in 1921. Braga took a leading part in this conference. The boundary dispute was, he commented later, an ‘ever-recurring problem’. [13] Some years later, in October 1929, he was appointed Comendador da Ordem de Cristo by the Portuguese government in recognition of his role in the conference. [14] If his appointment as a Justice of the Peace gave him greater standing in the Hong Kong community, the Portuguese decoration gave him still more respect in the Portuguese community.
Earlier in 1929 he became the first Portuguese to be appointed to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, ‘a position much desired and eagerly sought after by all residents of Hong Kong’ [15], and the first person born in Hong Kong, other than Chinese members of the Council. The Governor, Sir Cecil Clementi welcomed him. ‘I welcome the first representative of the Portuguese community to sit in this Council. We all of us appreciate the value of the Portuguese community here resident and it is a pleasure to us that Mr Braga, who in a very literal sense is a son of Hong Kong, should inaugurate the representation of that community in the Legislative Council.’ [16] The Portuguese community greeted the elevation of one of its leading members to the Legislative Council with immense satisfaction. [17] A reception was held in his honour at which they presented J.P. Braga with a silver rose bowl to mark the occasion.
In the next eight years he was one of the most vigorous and stimulating members of the Council. Unlike some other members, Braga’s role went well beyond mere attendance at its meetings. He often asked probing questions that kept government officials on their toes. The press loved it, but senior officials were often annoyed. One of his early concerns was the serious decline in commerce, hit by the Great Depression. Braga suggested that Hong Kong stage a British Empire Trade Fair, and agreed to run it. The result was that two fairs were held, in 1932 and 1933. Braga was chairman of the committee. In effect, he ran both fairs. The fairs, held when the Depression was at its worst, were a valiant, but unsuccessful effort to improve trade.
J.P. Braga was at various times a director of six public companies, the most important being China Light & Power Co. Ltd. (Chairman 1934 and 1938) and the Hongkong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (Chairman 1930-1941). He was a keen advocate of the agricultural and industrial development of the New Territories. Braga’s interest arose from his conviction that the possibilities of the New Territories were almost limitless. In 1935, in recognition of his many years of public service he was appointed O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), the first member of the Portuguese community to receive this honour.
Two years later he completed his second term of office as a member of the Legislative Council. The China Mail summed up his contribution: ‘Always a strong advocate of the development of the mainland, he has never wavered in his faith in the future of the Colony. When he has differed from the Government on matters of policy, he has been fearless and outspoken, but his criticisms have always been constructive in character. Perhaps more than any other member of the Council, Mr. Braga had come to be regarded as the champion of the people.’ [18]
January 1941 marked the centenary of Hong Kong as a British colony. J.P. Braga participated in the celebrations by giving one of a series of addresses on Radio Hong Kong, later published as a booklet, Portuguese Pioneering: a Hundred Years of Hong Kong. He summed up the important role the Portuguese community had played in the prosperity of the colony. However, by the end of the year, the British had been defeated, and Hong Kong was occupied by the victorious Japanese Army. Together with all Hong Kong residents, his world fell to pieces. In 1942, he moved to Macau, where he lived with his eldest son Jack, and other members of the family, who were living as refugees. Still interested in education, he worked to set up a Technical College to prepare boys for the post-war world. He spent much of his time writing what was intended to be a major book, The Portuguese in Hongkong and China, their beginning, settlement and progress during one hundred years. It was not complete at his death, but was published in Macau soon afterwards. J.P. Braga died on 12 February 1944 of a heart attack, aged 72. A public subscription raised money for a bronze bust over his grave in San Miguel Cemetery, sculpted by the Italian sculptor, Oseo Acconci.
During his last two years it seemed that all he had worked for in half a century of public life had been destroyed and that his life’s work was a failure. Yet in the long run the whole community benefited from his work. Among them were members of J.P. Braga’s family, brought up in the shadow of their father’s strong personal drive and determination to improve the lives of others. He was missed in Hong Kong after the war. Writing about the Portuguese members of the Hong Kong Volunteers, poorly treated by the returning British, J.P. Braga’s daughter Caroline wrote, ‘they have no-one who will fight for them as Father did, so we wonder what the future will be for them.’ [19] He was missed in business too. The historian of China Light & Power Co. later wrote, ‘two of the oldest and wisest heads in the company’s affairs were missing from the first meeting after the trauma of the occupation.’ [20] Looking back on his career, the South China Morning Post summed him up best of all: ‘that great old Hong Kong citizen ... [who] fought strenuously for justice for the “local lads” ’. [21]
Stuart Braga
29 December 2015
References:
J.P. Braga to Sir Elly Kadoorie, 11 July 1940. Hong Kong Heritage Project, A02-15
Olive Braga to her son James Braga, 10 June 1945.
South China Morning Post, 16 January 1929.
Undated press cutting in the J.M. Braga collection, National Library of Australia.
S.C.M.P. 16 January 1929.
S.C.M.P. 15 January 1929.
Undated press cutting in the J.M. Braga collection, National Library of Australia
S.C.M.P. 16 January 1929.
J.P. Braga, Portuguese Pioneering: a Hundred Years of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1941.
Historical and statistical abstract of the colony of Hongkong, 1841-1920, p. 60
Hongkong Sunday Herald, 14 November 1926.
China Mail, 13 November 1926.
J.P. Braga, The Portuguese in Hongkong and China, draft notes for Chapter 20, pp. 1-8. J.M. Braga Papers, National Library of Australia, MS 4300/13.3/3.
Letter to J.P. Braga from the Governor of Macau, 26 October 1929. J.M. Braga Papers, MS 4300/13.1/3.
From the address of Mr C.A. da Roza, President of the Club Lusitano, at a function held to celebrate J.P. Braga’s appointment to the Legislative Council.
S.C.M.P., 25 January 1929.
S.C.M.P., 25 January 1929.
Hongkong Telegraph, 30 January 1937
Caroline Braga to James Braga, 21 October 1945.
N. Cameron, Power, p. 150. The two were J.P. Braga and Sir Elly Kadoorie, who died six days apart in February 1944.
The Blue Books for 1921-4 show him to be the Consul for Guatemala, but the Blue Book for 1925 lists 'Carlos Augusto da Roza, Consul (Acting)', so it appears J P Braga gave up this role sometime that year.
The 1920 Blue Book lists Edward Joseph Noronha as the Consul for Guatemala. He was J P Braga's cousin, so may well have recommended J P to be his successor.
(The Blue Books are available to view online at https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/browse.jsp Click on the year you want to view, then click on the document titled Return of Consuls of Foreign Countries Residing in Hongkong.)
Comments
Braga Circuit
Extract from his entry in The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography:
Notes on the life of José Pedro Braga
Born in Hong Kong, 3 August 1871; died in Macau, 12 February 1944
In the Portuguese community of Hong Kong in the forty years before World War II, there was a group of public-spirited people who made a real difference to the whole Hong Kong community. Of these, José Pedro Braga stood head and shoulders above others. All had to make their way in a colony in which the British rulers dominated. His resolute attempts to change British attitudes had some success, but most of the fruits of his labours were reaped by his successors after World War II.
In childhood J.P. Braga was called by his name, José. At school in Calcutta between 1887 and 1889, he was Joe to his English-speaking fellow students. In business in Hong Kong from 1902 onwards, he was known simply by his initials ‘J.P’, a common English practice at the time. To his Australian-born wife he was Joe. His children called him Father, while amongst themselves they referred to him as ‘The General’, a term of both affection and respect.
J.P. Braga is not to be confused with his eldest son, José Maria Braga, always known as Jack.
He was brought up in the last three decades of the nineteenth century by his grandfather Delfino Noronha and his mentor Januário Carvalho in an atmosphere of commitment to public affairs and to strong community responsibility. By temperament, training and background he was well-equipped to use the British colonial system to create a unique role for himself in public affairs in Hong Kong, where the British administration was stern and just, but unyielding. Their control was arrogant but based on the rule of law and notable business skill. It is these British qualities that encouraged J.P. Braga, who in 1929 became the first Portuguese member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and six years later the first member of his community to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, to support that Empire whole-heartedly. In 1940, when faced with the threat of Japanese attack, he wrote ‘I will stay with Hong Kong through thick and thin’ [1]. He was admired throughout Hong Kong. When he died in Macau during the war, the British Consul, J.P. Reeves, told his wife Olive, ‘no man has ever done for Hong Kong what your husband has done.’ [2]
J.P. Braga’s grandparents were among the first settlers from Macau who established themselves in Hong Kong within a few years of the British occupation. He began his education at the Italian Convent School, of which his mother was the first pupil when the Canossian sisters first arrived in Hong Kong. [3] He then moved on to St Joseph’s College, where he was awarded prizes for English and Declamation in 1884. [4] In 1886 he was awarded the Belilios Scholarship, at that time the highest and most coveted prize in Hong Kong. [5] He maintained a lifelong loyalty to St Joseph’s, and about 1913 was ‘the leading spirit in the formation of the first Old Boys’ Association, of which he was the Honorary Secretary’. [6] This did not last long, but was revived about 1928, and J.P. Braga became President. He was seen as a fine example of what the College and the Association sought to develop, and at that time set out its aims. ‘We wish to make each member realise that he has a part to play in the social and civic life of the Colony. The education given him in the college aims at fitting him for that part.’ [7]
In 1887 this promising boy was then sent to Calcutta, where he attended the leading Jesuit School, St Xavier’s College, afterwards passing on to Roberts College, of which he was Gold Medallist in 1889. ‘He presented himself for the Calcutta University Examination, and won the only scholarship for the European Division,’ [8] but tragically three of his four elder brothers died from smallpox and his mother decided that he should return to Hong Kong. His hankering after a career as a barrister never left him, and was only satisfied by his appointment to the Legislative Council nearly forty years later.
For the next ten years he worked at his grandfather’s business, Noronha & Co., Government Printers, eventually becoming joint manager with his uncle, Leonardo Noronha. This work undoubtedly prepared him for his active role in public life in later years. He acquired a considerable insight into the working of the various government departments and also learned the procedures of the Legislative Council. On his grandfather’s death in 1900, he severed his connection with the firm. While working at Noronha & Co., the young J.P. Braga published a booklet entitled The Rights of Aliens in Hongkong condemning injustice to members of the Portuguese community. The struggle for due recognition by the British occupied much of the rest of his life.
In a much later booklet, Braga noted that ‘it is a matter for regret that the Portuguese language suffers from neglected usage among the local community ... little incentive is offered to boys and girls of Portuguese families for the study of their mother tongue. The language of Portugal is rich in beauty of expression and in epic literature, and it is much to be hoped that an earnest effort will be made to restore it to general use among Portuguese nationals in Hong Kong.’ [9] However, the concept of multi-culturalism still lay several decades away, and many members of the Portuguese community were keen to become assimilated into the British community if it would accept them.
On 5 May 1895 he married Olive Pauline Pollard at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hong Kong. Olive, a gifted violinist, was born in Tasmania and became a member of the Pollard Liliputians, formed by her father, James Joseph Pollard. This theatrical troupe included most of his family of seventeen children. They toured New Zealand, Australia and the Far East with a remarkable repertoire of light opera. J.P. and Olive Braga had a large family, nine boys and four girls. All nine sons were educated at St Joseph’s College.
In 1896 J.P. Braga became involved in José Rizal’s insurrection against Spanish rule in the Philippines, and strongly supported the Filipino patriot, whom he had come to know through Delfino Noronha. Rizal returned to the Philippines, but was arrested, tried and executed. The night before his death at the hands of a firing squad, Rizal wrote an eloquent and moving farewell poem to his people: ‘Ultimo Adios’. It was smuggled out of the Philippines, and appeared for the first time in print in J.P. Braga’s illustrated magazine, Odds and Ends. However, his support of a rebel appeared reckless to other members of the Noronha family. In 1900, following the death of his grandfather, he was excluded from the company and went to Macau where he taught English in the Commercial Institute for two years.
Returning to Hong Kong in 1902, he was appointed Manager of the Hongkong Telegraph, holding this position until 1910. During this time, he was appointed Hong Kong Correspondent of Reuters. He held this post for 25 years until 1931. On leaving the Telegraph, he commenced his own printing business, J.P. Braga & Co. A frequent writer of letters to newspapers, he became a well-known public figure. In 1917 a Constitutional Reform Association was established, campaigning for the Legislative Council to have an elected majority. [10] J.P. Braga, no stranger to reform agitation, joined its committee.
In 1919 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace, one of only a few Portuguese to receive this significant appointment. In the next few years, this public-spirited man joined several committees of worthwhile bodies, including the Executive Committee in connection with the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1923, the committee of the First Hong Kong Troop (St Joseph’s College) Boy Scouts, and the committee of the New Territories Agricultural Show, which organised the first Show in 1927. The Portuguese community in Hong Kong and his friends in Macau were delighted when J.P. Braga was appointed a member of the Sanitary Board in 1926.
The Hongkong Sunday Herald reported, ‘Congratulations will be showered on Mr J.P. Braga on his appointment as a member of the Sanitary Board … congratulations that will by no means be confined to the Portuguese community of which Mr Braga is one of the most respected members. [The Government] … has shown that it recognises the claims of the large Portuguese community to a voice and share in our civic administration.’ [11]. The China Mail added, ‘The appointment is without precedent in the history of the Colony, as this is the first occasion on which a member of the Portuguese community has been appointed to the Sanitary Board. It is very fitting that the honour should fall to Mr Braga, whose position in the Portuguese community is acknowledged, and whose public spirited work for the Colony on many occasions has won him the respect and goodwill of the entire British community.’ [12]
Besides his commitment to public affairs in Hong Kong, J.P. Braga was interested in the long-running dispute between Portugal and China concerning the boundary of Macau. He was a member of the Comissão Portuguesa de Delimiticão de Macau set up in 1909 that failed to resolve the issue, and the Macau Boundary Delineation Conference held at Hong Kong in 1921. Braga took a leading part in this conference. The boundary dispute was, he commented later, an ‘ever-recurring problem’. [13] Some years later, in October 1929, he was appointed Comendador da Ordem de Cristo by the Portuguese government in recognition of his role in the conference. [14] If his appointment as a Justice of the Peace gave him greater standing in the Hong Kong community, the Portuguese decoration gave him still more respect in the Portuguese community.
Earlier in 1929 he became the first Portuguese to be appointed to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, ‘a position much desired and eagerly sought after by all residents of Hong Kong’ [15], and the first person born in Hong Kong, other than Chinese members of the Council. The Governor, Sir Cecil Clementi welcomed him. ‘I welcome the first representative of the Portuguese community to sit in this Council. We all of us appreciate the value of the Portuguese community here resident and it is a pleasure to us that Mr Braga, who in a very literal sense is a son of Hong Kong, should inaugurate the representation of that community in the Legislative Council.’ [16] The Portuguese community greeted the elevation of one of its leading members to the Legislative Council with immense satisfaction. [17] A reception was held in his honour at which they presented J.P. Braga with a silver rose bowl to mark the occasion.
In the next eight years he was one of the most vigorous and stimulating members of the Council. Unlike some other members, Braga’s role went well beyond mere attendance at its meetings. He often asked probing questions that kept government officials on their toes. The press loved it, but senior officials were often annoyed. One of his early concerns was the serious decline in commerce, hit by the Great Depression. Braga suggested that Hong Kong stage a British Empire Trade Fair, and agreed to run it. The result was that two fairs were held, in 1932 and 1933. Braga was chairman of the committee. In effect, he ran both fairs. The fairs, held when the Depression was at its worst, were a valiant, but unsuccessful effort to improve trade.
J.P. Braga was at various times a director of six public companies, the most important being China Light & Power Co. Ltd. (Chairman 1934 and 1938) and the Hongkong Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (Chairman 1930-1941). He was a keen advocate of the agricultural and industrial development of the New Territories. Braga’s interest arose from his conviction that the possibilities of the New Territories were almost limitless. In 1935, in recognition of his many years of public service he was appointed O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), the first member of the Portuguese community to receive this honour.
Two years later he completed his second term of office as a member of the Legislative Council. The China Mail summed up his contribution: ‘Always a strong advocate of the development of the mainland, he has never wavered in his faith in the future of the Colony. When he has differed from the Government on matters of policy, he has been fearless and outspoken, but his criticisms have always been constructive in character. Perhaps more than any other member of the Council, Mr. Braga had come to be regarded as the champion of the people.’ [18]
January 1941 marked the centenary of Hong Kong as a British colony. J.P. Braga participated in the celebrations by giving one of a series of addresses on Radio Hong Kong, later published as a booklet, Portuguese Pioneering: a Hundred Years of Hong Kong. He summed up the important role the Portuguese community had played in the prosperity of the colony. However, by the end of the year, the British had been defeated, and Hong Kong was occupied by the victorious Japanese Army. Together with all Hong Kong residents, his world fell to pieces. In 1942, he moved to Macau, where he lived with his eldest son Jack, and other members of the family, who were living as refugees. Still interested in education, he worked to set up a Technical College to prepare boys for the post-war world. He spent much of his time writing what was intended to be a major book, The Portuguese in Hongkong and China, their beginning, settlement and progress during one hundred years. It was not complete at his death, but was published in Macau soon afterwards. J.P. Braga died on 12 February 1944 of a heart attack, aged 72. A public subscription raised money for a bronze bust over his grave in San Miguel Cemetery, sculpted by the Italian sculptor, Oseo Acconci.
During his last two years it seemed that all he had worked for in half a century of public life had been destroyed and that his life’s work was a failure. Yet in the long run the whole community benefited from his work. Among them were members of J.P. Braga’s family, brought up in the shadow of their father’s strong personal drive and determination to improve the lives of others. He was missed in Hong Kong after the war. Writing about the Portuguese members of the Hong Kong Volunteers, poorly treated by the returning British, J.P. Braga’s daughter Caroline wrote, ‘they have no-one who will fight for them as Father did, so we wonder what the future will be for them.’ [19] He was missed in business too. The historian of China Light & Power Co. later wrote, ‘two of the oldest and wisest heads in the company’s affairs were missing from the first meeting after the trauma of the occupation.’ [20] Looking back on his career, the South China Morning Post summed him up best of all: ‘that great old Hong Kong citizen ... [who] fought strenuously for justice for the “local lads” ’. [21]
Stuart Braga
29 December 2015
References:
Consul for Guatemala, 1921-5
The recognition of J P Braga as Consul for Guatemala in Hong Kong was reported in the HK Government Gazette on 4 Nov 1921 (https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/g1921/71978.pdf), and the confirmation by the King's Exequatur reported on 14 Dec 1921 (https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/g1921/72045.pdf).
The Blue Books for 1921-4 show him to be the Consul for Guatemala, but the Blue Book for 1925 lists 'Carlos Augusto da Roza, Consul (Acting)', so it appears J P Braga gave up this role sometime that year.
The 1920 Blue Book lists Edward Joseph Noronha as the Consul for Guatemala. He was J P Braga's cousin, so may well have recommended J P to be his successor.
(The Blue Books are available to view online at https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/browse.jsp Click on the year you want to view, then click on the document titled Return of Consuls of Foreign Countries Residing in Hongkong.)