In 2005 I received an email from someone
asking me how life was in Kenya. It recounted the latest news as if I, the
reader, should know exactly who and what was being written about. I politely replied that I thought they had messaged
the wrong person as I did not know any of the information or names they had
mentioned. It was the equivalent of a ‘wrong number’, but if it had been a
telephone call, it is very unlikely that a conversation thread would have gone
beyond “sorry, wrong number”. However, I think sometimes ‘wrong e-mails’ are
actually a more welcoming medium, it is much easier to strike up a conversation
with an anonymous person where voice, accent and intonation cannot be judged.
Naturally, the return reply to my email was an apology and an explanation of
how such a mistake could have happened. The email was from someone who shared
my surname, and of course a natural conversation thread was bound to follow.
A few weeks later his daughter wrote to me
saying they had a cousin “3 times removed (or something like that”.) Her name
was Penny Gatehouse and she owned some interesting items inherited from her late
husband’s family whose ancestor had been Sir William Robinson, Governor of Hong
Kong. Hong Kong is where Catchick Paul
Chater made his name and fortune, and I was aware that Sir William’s life and Paul
Chater’s overlapped. (For instance, they
jointly co-ordinated the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Hong Kong in 1897
honouring Queen Victoria, Sir William having appointed Chater as chairman of
the organising Jubilee Committee.) The email went on to say that Penny
would love to hear from me, I wasted no time and made the call. What a delightful lady she was. As luck would
have it, she was only about 30 minutes from me, and we made arrangements for me
to visit her the following week.
Penny’s home was in the old market town of
Lymington, a stones throw from the sea but still right in the heart of the New
Forest on the south coast of the UK. She was a very spritely 86, full of verve,
enthusiasm and wonderful stories. Penny spoke about her late husband and how they ran a family business together, her
conversation jumped around a bit, she interrupted herself with a sub-plot to a
story, sometimes two sub-plots, her mental agility kept me on my toes. As she
began to retrieve items of interest and photographs, she became more animated
and I was kicking myself for not recording everything she was telling me. She
was pretty well pulling cupboards and drawers apart showing me various
beautiful antiques and items of interest.
But the pièce
de résistance was a stunning Chinese silk embroidered scroll. It had been
presented to Sir William Robinson on the day of his departure from Hong Kong in
1898 where he had served as Governor for 6 ½ years.
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| Image 1: Liz Chater |
It was so long she didn’t have enough floor
space to roll it out and nowhere high enough to hang it in a straight
line. Penny was eager to show me the
whole thing, so, without missing a beat, she hopped up on the bed and hung it
on a picture hook high up on the wall.
We then carefully unrolled it down the wall, laying it flat on the bed,
it must have been 12 feet long.
What is that well known phrase?
Ah yes…….Shock and Awe.
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| Image 2: Liz Chater |
The embroidery was simply stunning. It was in
magnificent condition and the colours were still bright and fresh as if it had
only recently been completed rather than being over 100 years old. We both bent
over and closely examined it. Penny was scrutinising its condition after so
many years of it being tucked away in its protective case. I, on the other hand
simply couldn’t believe the beautiful craftsmanship and minute detail that lay
before my eyes.
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| Image 3: Liz Chater |
Penny and I had two different reactions but
we were both in complete unison when it came to the magnificence of such an
incredible and historically important piece of Hong Kong history. Before my
eyes lay unseen history, in fact it was UNKNOWN history –no one apart from the
family, knew this beautiful parting gift given to Sir William still existed. It
was, and still is, a privilege for me to be the first person outside of the
family to see this superb and exquisite creation.
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| Image 4: Liz Chater. A snapshot of some of the intricate detail |
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| Image 5: Liz Chater. A snapshot of some of the intricate detail |
By all accounts, this was turning in to the
most perfect day.
And then Penny said: “……but there’s more, do you want to see his
medals?……” There was of course, no question that I wouldn’t want to, and in a
trice Penny guided me to the framed honours board.
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| Image 6: Liz Chater |
Officially, my breath was taken.
Therefore, presented here for the first time
and never before seen in public, is what Penny affectionately called The Robinson Tribute as well as the
privately held collection of Sir William's medals and honours which are
lovingly kept and displayed by the family.
Shortly after my visit to Penny, I created a
separate page on my old website for Sir William Robinson and The Robinson Tribute where I uploaded a
couple of photographs. It wasn’t long
before they were attracting a lot of attention and a number of people messaged
me concerning the embroidery. “Was it on
public display?”, “could I put them in touch with the family?” “could they have
pictures?”, “where did you find THAT?”, “does anyone in Hong Kong know about it?”
“where will it end up?” And so many more. Penny had made it perfectly clear
that it was a family piece and will continue to be inherited down the
generations of her family.
Knowing that
the embroidery was of great historical significance, particularly to Hong Kong,
I had also uploaded some of the images to gwulo.com a website dedicated to
finding and preserving anything of historic value related to Hong Kong in a
digital format. I also sent photographs to the Hong Kong Museum of History.
Five years
after that in 2011 the Hong Kong Museum of History made contact with me again and said they liked the photographs and would like to look into the possibility of using the scroll in an exhibition.
By this time, Penny had become frail and was
no longer interested in enquiries. However, I gave the museum as much background information as I was able to.
- I had first made contact with the family in 2005
- Penny owned and was custodian of the scroll
- I had seen and photographed it with Penny's permission
- It was a cherished family heirloom
- Penny was only contactable via post or telephone
I agreed to post a letter to Penny on their behalf, which I duly did.
The museum was keen to hear if Penny had
replied, and asked me only a few days later if there was any news.
By now Penny
had had enough and I had to inform the museum of my conversation with her. it was of course very disappointing news. Having received the letter, Penny telephoned me and advised me that she no longer had any of the items, that all had been passed to her sons.
This was the end of the journey.
Or was it?
The museum once again contacted me four years later in 2015 with the exciting news that there were plans to renovate the permanent exhibition of 'The Hong Kong Story'. My posting on the gwulo.com site(http://gwulo.com/william-robinson-hong-kong-governor) had reminded them of the scroll's existence and what a gem it was. Again, I attempted to help them.
Or was it?
The museum once again contacted me four years later in 2015 with the exciting news that there were plans to renovate the permanent exhibition of 'The Hong Kong Story'. My posting on the gwulo.com site(http://gwulo.com/william-robinson-hong-kong-governor) had reminded them of the scroll's existence and what a gem it was. Again, I attempted to help them.
Given the age that Penny would be by now,
(potentially in her mid 90s) I was not expecting her to still be at her home in
Lymington. I carried out some local
research once more, and notified the museum that although she had given the items of interest to her sons a few yeas ago, I had also discovered that Penny had sadly passed away in 2013.
What I was able to do was find and make contact with Penny's son, I made a phone call, explained who I was and asked them if they minded if I could put them in touch with the museum. They agreed.
That day I felt I had really achieved progress, I had successfully connected the family with the museum, and duly introduced them via email.
What I was able to do was find and make contact with Penny's son, I made a phone call, explained who I was and asked them if they minded if I could put them in touch with the museum. They agreed.
That day I felt I had really achieved progress, I had successfully connected the family with the museum, and duly introduced them via email.
In 2017 after much deliberation and soul
searching, Penny’s son agreed to sell The
Robinson Tribute to the Hong Kong Museum of History for their archive and
display use. It will at last be featured in all its full glory as well as
maintained and preserved for many years to come. I feel honoured and proud to have had a part
in the instigation of this acquisition by the museum of an item of great
historic significance that quite simply, no one knew about. I would imagine it was a difficult decision
to make for the family but the future of the embroidery is secure, and that is
very pleasing.
I believe it will eventually, be put on display as part
of the permanent exhibition of Hong Kong’s history. It is likely to be
alongside the only other known existing silk tribute scroll that was once
presented to Sir Frederick Lugard. He was given his Chinese silk embroidery in
1910 at the time of his departure from Hong Kong as the then Governor. In 2011 it too was gifted to the Hong Kong
Museum of History by the respective Lugard family members. To possess both beautiful silk embroideries
must be one of the most exciting things for the museum in Hong Kong.
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| Image 8: The Lugard Tribute by the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong |
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| Image 9: Liz Chater. The complete Robinson Tribute |
And to think it all started because someone
asked me in an email “How’s life in Kenya?”
This was indeed a 12 year serendipitous journey.
This was indeed a 12 year serendipitous journey.
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| Image 10: Liz Chater |
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| Image 11: Liz Chater |
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| Image 12: Liz Chater |
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| Image 13: Liz Chater |
Hon. Dr. Ho Kai then handed the address to
his Excellency and said: “The original
has been sent on board, being of a very bulky nature. This is the bill of lading and the key of the
box and photograph of the address.”
There were two other addresses presented to
Sir William at the time of his departure, one from the Hongkong community as a
whole and the other from the Parsee community. The presentation of all three
addresses were made in the St. George’s Hall and Sir William arrived punctually
and was received in front of the City Hall by a guard of honour consisting of
the men of the Hongkong Regiment.
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| Image 14: Liz Chater Private Archive. William Robinson portrait as Governor in the Bahamas 1878. |
Acknowledgements:
My thanks once more to the late Penny Gatehouse and her family for
sharing their private collection with me.
