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Percy Hobson Holyoak moved to Hong Kong in 1899 as a member of Reiss & Co, which then became Holyoak, Massey & Co. He rose to become an unofficial member of Legco. He was Chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce 1917-1918 and 1920-1921. He also became Chairman of the Hong Kong Club, the Alice Memorial Hospital and the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation. He was District Grand Master of Freemasonry in Hong Kong and South China.
“The funeral of Mr. Emil Brand, chief petty officer in one of the vessels of the American squadron in the harbour, took place on Tuesday afternoon, the remains being interred in the Happy Valley. Deceased was a Mason, taking his R.A. degree a short time ago in St. Andrew’s Chapter, and a large number of local Masons, including several in the British naval and military services, attended the obsequies. The body was conveyed from the Praya in a hearse, which was preceded by the band of the Olympia, and the American flag.
The Calico Ball held by the Scottish Masonic Quadrille Association on 3rd April 1907 was the final of the Association’s monthly dances and was reported in all the newspapers. Miss Olson, (Nellie), the youngest and only unmarried daughter of my great-grandfather, John Olson, took part dressed as a “Spanish dancer”. I imagine this interestingly named Association was linked to the Lodge of St.
In her book “Forgotten Souls. A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery”, Patricia Lim devotes a whole chapter to the History of the Free Masons in Hong Kong. She reckons that about eighty headstones in the cemetery carry the masonic symbol of compasses and set square. She includes a description of a masonic funeral as follows: