One Hundred Years' History Of The Chinese In Singapore: The Annotated Edition. Ong Siang Song
born in Singapore in 1828. [91] At an early age he went into his father’s shop. The firm of Kim-seng & Co had been established before 1840 by Mr Tan Kim Seng. In 1847-9 Tan Soon Lim was a partner in that firm, and in 1850-1 his place was taken by Tan Koh Teow. In 1852 Mr Beng Swee was admitted his father’s partner and upon Mr Kim Seng’s death in 1864 he became head of the firm, both here and in Malacca. The firm had also a branch office in Shanghai. Mr Beng Swee was one of the committee of five merchants who prepared the appeal to the Chinese public in 1853 in connection with the ‘head scare.’ For seventeen years he was the president of the Chinese Temple in Malacca, presented the clock tower there to the Government and also founded and endowed the Kim Seng Free School in that Settlement. He also supported the Kim Seng Chinese Free School in Amoy Street, Singapore, which had been founded by his father. He was on the list of Grand Jurors in 1864 and later was appointed a JP. In 1879 when he was a member of the Committee of Management of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, he built at his own expense three wards, one of which was of permanent materials, accommodating about thirty patients. He died on 4th November 1884 (his eldest son being Mr Tan Jiak Kim) and was buried in Malacca. He was of a quiet and retiring disposition, but always open and obliging to those with whom he came in contact, either in business or otherwise.
Tan Beng Swee
That the firm of Kim-seng & Co had exceptionally close and extensive business relations and intercourse with several leading European firms of that period is evidenced by two handsome gifts, photographs of which are here shown, of massive silver epergnes of beautiful design and elaborate workmanship, greatly prized by the family. The earlier one was a gift from the partners of Hamilton, Gray & Co (viz. Walter Buchanan, MP, William Hamilton, George Garden Nicol, John Jarvie, George Henderson and Reginald Padday) to ‘their old and much esteemed friend, Tan Kim Seng’. The [92] later gift was presented by ‘Edward Boustead of London to Tan Kim Seng and Tan Beng Swee of Singapore as a mark of esteem and friendship, and in acknowledgment of the many and valuable services rendered to himself personally as well as to his firm (Boustead & Co of Singapore) during an uninterrupted friendly intercourse of nearly a quarter of a century, January 1862.’
Present to Tan Kim Seng from Hamilton, Gray & Co.
Boustead & Co’s present to Tan Kim Seng and Tan Beng Swee.
Mr Tan Kim Ching,25 the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng, was born in Singapore in 1829. On his father’s death the firm of ‘Tan Tock-seng’ was changed to ‘Tan Kim-ching’ and the business was carried on at River-side (now Boat Quay) from 1851 to 1859 by Tan Kim Ching as sole owner. In 1860 the firm was known as ‘Tan Kim-ching & Brother’, chop Chin Seng Ho, Tan Swee Lim, a brother, having been admitted a partner, but a few months later Tan Swee Lim left the firm. The business which finally became known as Kim Ching & Co chop Chin Seng attained considerable success, owning rice mills at Saigon, Siam and elsewhere. Mr Tan Kim Ching was Consul-General and Special Commissioner for Siam in the Straits Settlements and had the title of Phya Anukul Siamkitch Upanick Sit Siam Rath conferred on him by the King of Siam. He had great influence on the Chinese outside the Colony, especially in the northern States bordering on Siam, viz. Kelantan and Patani. In Sir Andrew Clarke’s time he was instrumental in settling a difficulty which had arisen between the Siamese Government and Perak, for which he received a special letter of thanks from the Governor. He was a commander of the Third Class of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, and the recipient of a special letter and honour from China for his contribution to the Famine Fund in 1890. Reference has been made to the timely assistance he gave in 1852 to the Hospital founded by his father in the shape of wings to the Hospital buildings at a cost of $2,000. When the Tanjong Pagar Dock Co Ltd was started in 1863, Mr Kim Ching’s name was [93] on the list of the committee of promoters. He was made a JP in 1865. Towards the end of his life a prosecution was instituted against him for keeping slaves, but he was discharged. He died in February 1892 and his remains were interred at his private burial ground at the thirteenth mile on the Changi Road. At his death, he was the owner of the steamers Siam and Singapore, and of a large number of concessions, including some at Mount Ophir, Kampong Rusa, Patani and various others which had not been prospected. As head of the Hokien Huaykuan, which was located in the Chinese temple ‘Thian-hok-kiong’ in Telok Ayer Street, he was styled ‘Capitan China.’ It was then quite the regular thing for Hokien Chinese marriages to be registered in his office, and for the marriage certificate to bear his chop, although until the death of Mr Tan Beng Swee (of chop ‘Hong Hin ‘) in 1884, by arrangement the marriage register was kept by Mr Beng Swee and marriage certificates were impressed with chop ‘Hong Hin.’ All the sons of Mr Kim Ching predeceased him, but the five grandsons, Boo Liat, Cheow Pin, Kwee Liang, Kwee Swee and Kwee Wah (all sons of the late Tan Soon Toh) are well-known members of the Chinese community. His daughter, Tan Cheng Gay Neo, who had been taught Chinese and also a little English, was the first among those appointed trustees of his estate to take out probate of his will – one of the rare instances of a Chinese lady being appointed and assuming the duties of executrix of the will of a Chinese testator.
Tan Kim Ching
In 1856, shortly after the arrival of the Rev TM Fraser, as the first minister to the Presbyterian congregation in Singapore, a mission to the Chinese was undertaken with Tan See Boo as catechist. Mr Tan See Boo26 was one of the earliest converts of the Rev William Burns at Amoy, in China. He began his work in Singapore in a small building used as a Mission Chapel in the compound of Miss Cooke’s Chinese Girls’ School, then situated in Beach Road, where, a few months [94] before, the Church of England chaplain, at the request of Miss Cooke, had also commenced mission work among the Chinese. Some six years afterwards, Tan See Boo, along with the Rev Alexander Grant, who had come down from the English Presbyterian Mission at Amoy, left the Presbyterian communion, and founded the Chinese Mission of the Plymouth Brethren. A building site was secured on North Bridge Road, almost opposite the original English Mission Chapel, and in 1867 the Chinese Gospel House was erected thereon. It was then known as the Chinese Presbyterian Church with Mr Tan See Boo as the Ruling Elder. Mr See Boo lived at the back portion of the premises with his family and continued his work as a catechist until his death in December 1883 at the age of 51. He was twice married. Mr Tan Tek Soon27 was the elder son by the first wife (who was one of Miss Cooke’s pupils). Born in 1859, Mr Tek Soon was educated at Raffles Institution, where he won the Guthrie Scholarship for Chinese boys in 1873, being its first scholar, and then proceeded to Amoy, to prosecute his Chinese studies. After his return to Singapore, he was for a time in Government service and later was employed in the firm of Kim Ching & Co (in the Siamese consulate department). He has a wonderful command of the English language, and the wide range of his studies has made him a brilliant and thoughtful writer, especially on subjects relating to China and the Chinese. He co-operated with the Rev A Lamont in producing in 1894 Bright Celestials, a story of Chinese life at home and abroad,28 while he was a valued contributor to the Straits Chinese Magazine (1897–1907). The records of the Straits Philosophical Society, of which he has been for many years a member, contain several articles from his able pen. Mr Tan Tek Soon29 is never ostentatious of his great literary attainments or his extensive and deep knowledge of things Chinese, and never rushes to print unless he has an important message to deliver or warning [95] to give. During recent years he has been living almost the life of a recluse, and it is often with the greatest difficulty and after much persuasion that he is induced to appear before the public as a lecturer. Probably his most recent appearance was at the YMCA Hall when, under the chairmanship of Sir John Bucknill, CJ, he lectured before a large audience on ‘Some Chinese Customs’ – tea-drinking, the ceremonies at a marriage and a funeral – and discoursed on an interesting similarity between Chinese customs and those of ancient Greece in the matter of household arrangements and structure, the seclusion of women