One Hundred Years' History Of The Chinese In Singapore: The Annotated Edition. Ong Siang Song
puppet shows, jugglers, etc. What Greece and Rome were to the countries of Europe, India and China are to those of Asia.30
Mr Tan See Boo left a number of children by his second wife, two of whom are Dr YW Tan, a medical practitioner in the FMS and Mr YE Tan, a dentist practising with much success in Singapore.
Mention has already been made of the firm of Hooding & Co as a leading Chinese mercantile house in Boat Quay in 1840. This firm continued until 1865, when owing to the death of several of the partners it was dissolved. In 1851 two pieces of land comprised in Grants Nos 5 and 6 and containing the total area of 128 acres at Telok Blangah (now Pasir Panjang) were granted to Yeo Hooding, Yeo Chi Guan, Yeo Hoot King, Yeo Hoot Seng and Yeo Hoot Hin carrying on business in co-partnership under the firm of Hooding & Co chop Kong Cheang. This property, commonly known as Hooding Estate, was by a trust settlement made the 8th November 1882 between Tan Geok Hup (a sister of Mr Tan Beng Swee) of the one part and Yeo Hong Tye and Tan Jiak Kim of the other part dedicated as a burial ground called ‘Hiap Guan Sun’ for the burial, free of any cost or expense, of all persons of the Hokien tribe of the surname ‘Yeo’, and was duly licensed as such by the Municipality on the 10th April 1899. Of the five brothers, only one, Yeo Hoot Seng, was men [96]-tioned in public records. He was on the committee of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital in 1852–3.
Very early in the fifties there landed in Singapore a Hylam lad, eight years old, just as thousands of Hylam lads have done ever since, because their elder brothers or relations are already here, and can at once find employment for them. He was introduced into the service of Mr Song Hoot Kiam, an earnest young Christian who had the sympathy and co-operation of his wife in every good work. As the lad, whose name was Foo Teng Quee31, showed steadiness and high intelligence, it was arranged that he should go to school as companion to Ong Boo, the son of Mr Hoot Kiam. It turned out that Teng Quee proved a more apt scholar than his master’s son, and having been carefully taught the elements of Christianity by Mr Hoot Kiam, Teng Quee expressed a desire to become a member of a Christian Church and was baptised. Shortly afterwards he entered the service of the P&O Co (where Mr Hoot Kiam was employed), and then became a salesman at John Little & Co, from which place he acquired all the necessary knowledge and experience to start a business of his own, ‘Teng Quee & Co’, which formed the foundation of his fortune.
His career as a shopkeeper and then as a merchant was one long series of strenuous work, and by dint of perseverance, patience and upright dealing he became a rich man. His most amiable disposition and obliging nature made for him countless friends. A man unassuming and unpretentious, he nevertheless did not allow a single opportunity in life to pass unchallenged, but made the most of his chances – which generally proved successful, more by reason of his arduous work and zealous attention than by virtue of any good luck. He was a man of humble disposition and was always content to take a back seat, in consequence of which the Chinese community lost the services of a good citizen of great business ability and sterling worth.
To the end of his days Mr Teng Quee showed the [97] great appreciation and esteem he truly felt towards Mr Hoot Kiam for the turn given to the whole course of his career, and he always had the greatest regard for, and took the warmest interest in, all the members of Mr Hoot Kiam’s family. He joined the Prinsep Street Chapel, then under the ministration of the Rev BP Keasberry, and succeeded Mr Hoot Kiam as treasurer of the church funds. Mr Teng Quee was a loyal friend to the successive missionaries in charge and was ever ready with his extensive business experience to assist in all building operations of the Mission. He gave of his means liberally and his time and attention with unflagging assiduity to the work of the Mission.
He was well known as a man with a large and liberal heart, and many a poor man did not have to appeal to him for help in vain. On the other hand, many unscrupulous persons took mean advantage of his generous nature, and returned evil for the good he had done them.
He was never ashamed to own himself a Hylam, and to the Hylam community he was for a great many years their ‘Twa-koh’ (or elder brother) who was certain of imparting sound and valuable advice freely and ungrudgingly. He married an old pupil of Miss Cooke’s School who had been left a widow with three young children and brought them up with tenderness and care as though they had been his own children: and by her he has an only son. Mr Ong Sam Leong was a partner with him in several profitable ventures. At the time of his death, which took place on 31st March 1906, he had large interests in Pahang.
Towards the close of his life he accepted a seat on the Chinese Advisory Board. His funeral took place on 1st April and was largely attended by people representing all classes of the community. ‘It was a sight to move men unto good works, for the good word spoken of him on all sides and the deep and sincere regret expressed by everyone present amply testified to the universal esteem in which he was held by everyone with whom he came in contact in life, and it was a great [98] incentive to all to emulate his example.’ A mural tablet to his memory in the Prinsep Street (Baba) Church bears this inscription:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
FOO TENG QUEE
(1843-1906)
A LEADING MEMBER OF THE HYLAM
COMMUNITY, A FRIEND TO THE NEEDY,
A CHRISTIAN WORKER, A DEACON AND
TREASURER OF THIS CHURCH FOR
MANY YEARS.
DILIGENT IN HIS BUSINESS.
Mr Ong Sam Leong32 was born in Singapore in 1857, and at the age of 21 started a small commission agent’s business on his own account. His early land transactions turned out profitably, and he became interested in timber concessions in Pahang and Kemaman. In 1899 he secured the contract as universal provider to the Christmas Island Phosphate Co Ltd at that island under the name of Ong Sam Leong & Co, and the firm still holds the monopoly of the contract with the Company. He also owned the well-known Batam Brickworks and held large interests in numerous sawmills in Singapore. As part of his business activities, he engaged in house-building and rubber-planting, and at his death on 7th February 1918 his estate consisted of substantial landed properties and rubber estates, both local and outside the Colony. He was a popular member of several old and respectable Chinese clubs in Singapore and for many years was president of ‘Ban Chye Ho’ Club. He was keenly interested in the patriotic movement of the Straits Chinese community during the Great War and subscribed liberally to all local funds necessitated by that War. He further erected, at his own expense, the garage at the SVC Drill Hall, for the use of the Corps motor lorry, as an expression of his appreciation of the valuable work [99] which was then being done, at a number of outposts, for the defence of the Settlement by volunteers belonging to the various units. He continued to be a very busy and hard-working man till the end of his days, and the only relaxations he gave himself were motoring and sea-trips. He started life handicapped with a meagre education, but his perseverance and business acumen helped him to build up his own fortune, and before his death he had erected a fine house in Bukit Timah Road known as ‘Bukit Rose’, in which he entertained his friends on a lavish scale. His widow belongs to an old ‘Yeo’ family, several members of which were of the Christian faith: an aunt being the first wife of the late Mr Song Hoot Kiam, and an uncle being the well-known Yeo Koon Ho (alias Toleap Young). His surviving daughter is the wife of Khoo Pek Lock, the third son of Khoo Phee Soon, at one time one of the leading shipowners and rice merchants of Singapore
Foo Teng Quee
Ong Sam Leong
Of his two sons, the elder one, Ong Boon Tat,33 was born in Singapore in 1888 and educated at Raffles Institution, where he won the Guthrie Scholarship, which had been resuscitated after having been in abeyance for some years. At the age of 19 Mr Boon Tat commenced his business training under his father and is now a prominent man among Straits Chinese merchants of this Colony. He extended the business of Ong Sam Leong & Co., of which he is the chief, by opening a branch house in Penang which is meeting with much success. He is