Ho Kam Tong

Ho Kam Tong, birth name Ho Kai Tong, courtesy name Tisheng, was a member of the prominent Hotung family in Hong Kong, a comprador of Jardine Matheson, a well-known businessman, and social activist. He was the half-brother of tycoons Ho Tung and Ho Fook. Contrary to popular belief, Ho Kam Tong was not the son of Dutch-Jewish merchant Charles Maurice Bosman (Ho Sheung Man) and Shi Di, but the son of Shi Di and a Chinese man named Kwok Hing-hin. He was fully Chinese. Ho Kam Tong was born before Ho Sheung Man left Hong Kong. After his birth, Shi Di had another son, Ho Kai-kai, with Ho Sheung Man. This led to widespread confusion about his paternity.

Biography

Ho Kam Tong studied at the Government Central School (now Queen's College). The identity of the person who paid his tuition remains a mystery, though possibilities include Ho Sheung Man, Kwok Hing-hin, Shi Di, or his future in-law Choi Sing-nam. After graduation, he worked at Standard Chartered (possibly an error, more likely Jardine Matheson), engaging in business ventures involving insurance and sugar. He later expanded into finance, textiles, coal, and general goods, establishing branches across China, Macau, and Southeast Asia. Ho held an opium monopoly license in Hong Kong and exported British goods to the Qing dynasty.

He left Jardine Matheson in 1911 and closed all his businesses by 1921 to focus on philanthropy. In 1904, during a disease outbreak, he co-founded the Public Dispensary with Fung Wah-chuen and Lau Chu-pak, offering free clinics. He served as Chairman of the Tung Wah Hospital Board in 1906 and helped found Kwong Wah Hospital. In 1908, he pushed for self-governance rights for Chinese while working at the Sanitary Board. He established the Hong Kong branch of the St. John Ambulance Brigade in 1915.

In recognition, King George V awarded him the Officer of the Order of St. John in 1924 and Knight of the Order in 1925. He declined appointments to the Legislative Council in 1922 and 1924 but served as Justice of the Peace, member of the Po Leung Kuk, and member of the Volunteer Defence Corps.

In 1927, he and Yung Hin-lung became the first Chinese members of the Hong Kong Jockey Club with Governor Clementi’s support. During the Japanese occupation in 1942, he served as the first chairman and race judge of the restructured "Hong Kong Racing Club" and resigned in 1943 due to age. The club later reverted to its original name after the war.

He was awarded the Order of Chiaho four times by the Republic of China government. In 1924, the British Order of St. John granted him a knighthood and charity medal. In 1928, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Family

His wife was the Eurasian Edith McClymont (Shi Lian-yuk). Although Ho Kam Tong was ethnically Chinese, his ties to the Eurasian Hotung family meant frequent interactions with the mixed-race community. He had 12 wives/concubines (excluding mistresses) and over 30 children. Notably, his fourth son Ho Sai-wai worked for the government and was secretary of the Chinese Permanent Cemetery. His third daughter, Ho Oi-yu (Ho Pak-wing), was an adopted Eurasian girl from a mistress in Shanghai, Cheung Chung-sin. She was the biological mother of Bruce Lee. Ho Kam Tong met Lee Hoi-chuen, a Cantonese opera actor, at a family opera performance at Kom Tong Hall. Lee later married Ho's daughter and moved to the United States, where Bruce Lee was born.

The family was known as the "Fifth House" (Ho Nguk), and Ho Kam Tong named it "Ho Cheong Sin Tong".

Kom Tong Hall

Main article: Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum (Hong Kong)

Kom Tong Hall was Ho Kam Tong’s residence, built in 1914. After his death, the family sold it to the Cheng family in 1960, who later sold it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 2002, the church planned to demolish the building for a new religious and educational center. In 2004, the Hong Kong government bought it for HK$53 million and spent HK$91 million restoring it as the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum, which opened in 2006 to commemorate Sun’s 140th birthday.

See also

• Hotung family
• Ho Tung
• Ho Fook

Web sources

• Sing Pao: Vicar Wai on government heritage mismanagement
• Wen Wei Po: Ting Sun-piu on Ho Kam Tong’s connection with Sun Yat-sen
• Kom Tong Hall and Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum
• Ho Oi-yu was an adopted Eurasian girl by Ho Kam Tong and Cheung Chung-sin

Publications

St. John Ambulance, Hong Kong

• “St. John Newsletter”, September 2004, Issue 6