We were a family of mining engineers. Indeed, looking up and across the family tree as far as can be seen from my grandfather’s entry, all the men were mining engineers, excepting my grandfather that is. Originally mining in our native Cornwall for decades (indeed, centuries probably), as the Cornish mines started to close we spread our wings to work in mines elsewhere in the British Isles and eventually across the globe.
My great-grandfather, William Henry Kitto, had moved to the Isle of Man when his father, William, had been appointed Captain of the Foxdale Mines in 1870. In 1890, however, William was transferred to run a South African mine, and William Henry became Captain at Foxdale in his place.
During the evening of Monday 10 May 1897, William Henry received news of a mining disaster at the Snaefell Mine on the Island. He and another mining engineer immediately set out to assist in rescue and recovery operations, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. While down deep in the Snaefell Mine he suffered from severe methane poisoning and this was to affect his health for the rest of his life. Some ten years later in March 1908, hoping to improve his health, he set out on a sea trip around the world. And this brought him to Hong Kong towards the end of May that year.
As one of his daughters was a keen collector of postcards, he not only dispatched a considerable number of cards during his travels but also bought far more than he needed to use, no doubt at his daughter’s request.
I now have his daughter’s postcard collection and thought there might be interest on Gwulo in those from Hong Kong. I’ve also included some that are clearly from Canton, which he visited on 2 June (as per the postmark). Those he actually sent from Hong Kong were posted on 1 June 1908.
Nicholas Kitto, Hong Kong
