Eleazer Silas Kadoorie
| Eleazer Silas Kadoorie
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 1867 Baghdad |
| Died | 8 February 1944 Shanghai |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Merchant; utility investor |
| Known for | China Light and Power; Baghdadi merchant house in Shanghai and Hong Kong |
Sir Eleazer Silas Kadoorie (1867 – 8 February 1944), known as Elly Kadoorie, was a Baghdadi Jewish merchant in Shanghai and Hong Kong and the largest shareholder in China Light and Power after its early restructuring. He arrived from Bombay in 1880 as an employee of David Sassoon & Sons. The later Hong Kong house, the Peninsula Hotel and the post-war utility, runs through his sons. He is not the founder of Ohel Leah Synagogue or Ohel Rachel Synagogue. Both were Sassoon buildings.[1]
House
The family were Iraqi Jews from Baghdad who had moved to Bombay. His brother was Ellis Kadoorie (1865–1922). Elly reached Shanghai in 1880 on the Sassoon payroll, then traded on his own account in Shanghai and Hong Kong, in banking, rubber, electric power, hotels and property. He became the largest shareholder when China Light and Power was restructured. With Ellis he took a major holding in Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, later the owner of the Peninsula. He married Laura Mocatta (1866–1919). Their sons were Lawrence Kadoorie (born Lawrence Kelly, 2 June 1899, Hong Kong) and Horace Kadoorie (1902–1995). A third son, Victor, died in infancy in 1900. The family lived in England from 1910. Elly returned to Shanghai in 1911. The boys were at Ascham St Vincent’s, Eastbourne, and Clifton College. Lawrence read law at Lincoln’s Inn and then worked as his father’s aide. The Shanghai house was Marble Hall.[1]
N. E. B. Ezra established the Shanghai Zionist Association in 1903 and edited Israel's Messenger from 1904 until 1936. Elly Kadoorie was its main financial supporter and became chairman in 1915. The body had about 100 members by March 1905. A later account says he helped press Sun Yat-sen to endorse the Balfour Declaration. The 1920 letter that is usually cited was written to Ezra.[2][3]
He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1926. The Chinese government gave him the Order of the Brilliant Jade. Some probate and directory entries use 8 February 1944 as the death date. Other accounts say 2 August 1944. He died in Shanghai. The grave, with Laura’s, is in the Song Qingling memorial grounds near Hongqiao Road.[1]
War
In January 1942 he and other members of the family were interned at Stanley Camp in Hong Kong. They were released after about two months and allowed to move to Shanghai. Lawrence, his wife Muriel Gubbay and their children were later interned at the Chapei camp in 1943. Elly was exempted on medical grounds. Lawrence returned to Hong Kong in November 1945 and took China Light and Power. Horace had run Marble Hall. The supply of power to Kowloon and the New Territories after 1945 is the sons’ story, not his.[1]
What carries his name
The school that still operates in Hong Kong is the Sir Ellis Kadoorie School, a primary school from 1891, founded by the brother. Ellis also endowed schools in China. Elly’s own public gifts were to schools, hospitals and poor relief in Hong Kong and the treaty ports, alongside the property and the utility. The Hong Kong Heritage Project, set up in 2007 by his grandson Michael Kadoorie, is the family’s archive of that record. The agricultural-aid work in Hong Kong is Horace’s, after the war.[4]
The Kadoorie name in Hong Kong after 1945 is Lawrence, Horace and Michael.
See also
- Jewish communal and Zionist organisations in China
- Ohel Leah Synagogue
- China Light and Power
- Lawrence Kadoorie
- Ellis Kadoorie
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lawrence Kadoorie, Science Museum Group.
- ↑ N. E. B. Ezra.
- ↑ Shanghai, Jewish Virtual Library.
- ↑ From Hasmonean to Hong Kong, Jewish Chronicle, 12 August 2026.