Lau Kam Fung is the name of the purchaser given on the document of sale of I.L. 1947 R.P. on 9 September 1944. This is the plot on which The Towers, 20 Broadwood Road stood at that time. I have been unable to trace Lau Kam Fung. by 1944 the property had reverted to the ownership of the China Hong Nin Life Insurance Co, with whom it had been mortgaged. As the war had not yet ended in 1944, the purchaser must have gambled on making a good profit from developing the large plot whichever side won. The entire document is in Japanese. Only the title of the plot and the company stamp of the China Hong Nin Life Insurance Co are in roman lettering. We know from a personal account that the empty building of The Towers was used as a "play castle" for the war games of local British children in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It would be useful to know if the name of Lau Kam Fung comes up in any other Hong Kong context and if there is any further record of a sale of this plot before nos. 20, 20A, 20B and 20C were built on it in 1954.
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Comments
Sale of I.L. 1947 R.P. in 1946
The Land Registry records indicate that “The Remaining Portion of Inland Lot 1947” on which The Towers stood became 20B Broadwood Road. It further seems that Lau Kam Fung made good his 1944 purchase of the plot on which the empty building stood. Although no price is given, his name appears against the record of the plot’s assignment on 29 October 1946. Copies of the records have just been forwarded to me by the same Gwulo contributor who helped me before. Lau Kam Fung’s name was earlier extracted from the 1944 document of sale in Japanese by a learned colleague in Hong Kong. I am tremendously grateful to both.