Current condition
Unknown
I knew you got lots of documents on the past HK. Is the Forbes Road at Kennedy Town was named by referring to W H Forbes, the boss of Russell & Co.? If yes, what's the relation of the place(Road) and the company?
Photos that show this Place
c.1974
Comments
Forbes Street
Notes from Moddsey:
I think Russell & Co owned the Rope Works in Kennedy Town before going bankrupt in 1891. The Rope Works was taken over by Shewan & Tomes and situated between Belchers and Forbes Streets.
I also did a quick search for 'Forbes' in HKGRO, and in the newspapers from 1850-1900, but didn't see anything relevant.
Regards, David
That's why I raise the
That's why I raise the enquiry on Forbes Street. Nothing was mention on the naming of the street or the very early history of this street from Chinsese web sites and discussion forum.
Forbes Street
Another approach would be to search for mentions of the surrounding streets, which were laid out at the same time as Forbes Street, and see if there's anything about Forbes in the article. So Chater (later renamed to Catchick) Street, Cadogan Street, and Davis Street.
The book "A century of Hong Kong Island Roads and Streets" has an appendix that lists roads built in various periods. It says the above three roads (it doesn't mention Forbes) were built sometime between 1871-1890.
A couple of other books I can think of:
Regards, David
naming of Forbes Street
As Gillis Heller cited in his blog in 2010, Forbes Street is named after W.H. Forbes (head partner of Russell & Co.), whose family is connected with the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company in the 1860's.
There are some details which further illustrate and support the origin of this street name.
1) Old Hong Kong directly supports this.
"We find a recollection of the old firm of Russell and Company, merged in Shewan, Tomes and Company of to-day, in Kee Cheong Street, a private lane running parallel to Forbes Street."
2) even in the 1958 Jan Jan's map of Kennedy Town (link) or 1958 HK map of gwulo, we may see the existence of a Kee Cheong Street. Kee Cheong is the Chinese name of Russell & Co. which operated the Rope Works (link) then and there.
In fact, the name Forbes Street has existed in same period of the company, as tenders on the Gazette in 1887.
e.g.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION. -- No. 325
Tenders will be received at this Office until Noon of Tuesday, ... for
the construction of a Sewer and Retaining Wall on Forbes Street, Kennedy Town.
3) as early as the 1867 Chronicle and Directory, Chinese name of Russell & Co. is 剌士厘 科士打.
科士 is the exact prefix 'inherited' in the Chinese name of Forbes Street.
W.H. Forbes was not among the government officials. But he appeared to sit in the City Hall committee, e.g. 1882, 1883. [b]
It happened that he had been in charge of the Swedish and Norwegian Consulate for a temporary period around May 1883. [c]
These somehow reflected his social status.
Please correct me if I have mistaken any of above information.
This coincides with David's early advice above (https://gwulo.com/comment/18545#comment-18545) towards finding the sources and actual answer. Similarly, Sands Street which is one block away was actually named after Captain G.U. Sands (https://gwulo.com/media/43198), instead of government officials.
On the present day, some wall painting is there on the stairway wall to remind about this (photo showing side view of the staircase on Sands Street).
Sources
(a) Old Hong Kong (1933), page numbering 1017 per HKUL online version (instead of 1015 listed in its index)
(b) China Mail 1883-11-14, p. 3
(c) Government Notification 180 (HK Gazette, 1883)