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Chapter 25: The Chinese Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
The Chinese represent a small but especially important minority group in this Cemetery. It is tantalizing and sad that so few could be identified but, among those who were are some significant names. Between the dates of 1891, when the first Chinese as far as can be ascertained was buried in the Cemetery, and 1970, when this study ends, approximately 197 Chinese found their permanent resting place in the grounds. These include 71 men, 96 women and 30 children. Besides these are a small group of eight mysterious marker stones, some of which are painted white and used to mark boundaries. They have Chinese characters inscribed on them, indicating that they were used originally as headstones. The characters are old and difficult to read, but it would be interesting to know to whom these old stones engraved with Chinese characters belonged and whether other Chinese Christians whose stones have disappeared were buried in this manner. Chinese Women Married to Europeans The first Chinese, by a few years, to have been found in the Cemetery is Wong Humby (黃帶喜) [29/1/22]. She departed this life in January 1891 aged fortytwo years. Wong was married to John Humby, who joined the police in 1865 and was later picked for the superior naval yard police force. In 1872, Humby bought the British Tavern, changed its name to the Empire Tavern and successfully applied for a spirit licence. He continued as proprietor of the tavern until 1891. He was obviously considered respectable because his name appeared in the jury list for most years between 1871 and 1881. After the death of their mother, his two daughters, Margaret and Mary Ann, were placed in 1881 and 1884 respectively in the Diocesan Orphanage. Wong Humby was buried in the Cemetery before Major Henry Knollys visited and wrote: ‘No natives are allowed inside so, leaving Chapter 25 The Chinese Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery Lim_txt.indd 495 28/12/2010 4:17 PM Forgotten Souls 496 our rickshas at the gate, we pass into the peaceful solitary groves’. 1 It is possible that a number of Chinese wives in this category go unrecognized, especially if they are recorded with Christian names and their husband’s surname and no Chinese characters have been added. This is the case for example with May Rapp [12/9/4], but in this case there is proof that she was Chinese. In the nineteenth century, Chinese wives of the European settlers were not usually buried with their husbands or even mentioned on the inscriptions. Hee Mong Banker (彭母冼氏) [1/3/6] and Mary Ayou Caldwell (高三桂) [23/4/1] were among the exceptions in that they were given their own monuments. Hee Mong Banker came from a very different layer of society from Wong Humby. She was the respectable widow of William Swallow Banker, a merchant from Newchwang, and when she died in 1906 aged sixty, she was commemorated by her son with an imposing angel standing on a plinth. Mary Ayou Caldwell, who died in 1895, also achieved status and respectability in the course of her long and tumultuous life which has been already described in an earlier chapter. One other enigmatic headstone deserves a mention. A-Kuk Takyan [34/1/8], who died in 1895, may have been a ‘protected woman’. Her headstone has been erected ‘by her friend, H.R. in affectionate remembrance’. She died in August 1895 and her epitaph is: ‘Sheltered and safe from sorrow’. Chinese Women Married to Chinese The lives of the individual Chinese ladies buried in the Cemetery remain almost entirely shrouded in mystery. These wives of the late-nineteenth and earlytwentieth -century Chinese Christians would have led quiet, house-bound lives, disabled by their small feet from walking far abroad, and by custom from appearing in public. That these wives were often treasured and respected 25.1. Headstone in memory of Wong Humby, d. 1891, the first known Chinese to be buried in the Cemetery. Lim_txt.indd 496 28/12/2010 4:17 PM [3.237.5.1] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:33 GMT) The Chinese Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery 497 in the family circle is shown by the size and ornamentation of some of their monuments. Those in the Cemetery seem to fall into three groups depending on how traditional the families into which they had married were. The first and most conservative group of six have no personal names engraved on their inscriptions. They are only recorded by...