Monday, September 24, 2012

Gan Eng Seng, death 9 September 1899, Singapore

DEATH OF MR GAN ENG SENG. The death is announced at his residence Amoy-st, of Mr Gan Eng Seng, one of the most prominent Chinese merchants and contractors of Singapore. He died this morning at 3.30 a.m. of blood poisoning caused by a prick on the thumb from a piece of iron, after a short illness. He was 56 years of age. Gan Eng Seng was a Malacca man, though he has resided for many years in Singapore. He has for 25 years been store-keeper of Messrs Guthrie & Co., and was much esteemed by the senior mambers of that firm, particularly Mr Thomas Scott. He was also labour contractor at Tanjong Pagar, and was connected with some fifteen firms in Singapore. Quite recently he has bought about $40,000 worth of property and proposed to open big brick works at Sirangoon, spending $100,000 on the enterprise. Not only was he prominent as a business man among the Chinese, but he was a member of the Advisory Board, and founder of the Anglo-Chinese Free School where a large number of pupils are being educated, many at the expense of the founder. He is said to have helped the Chiense Government this year alone to the extent of $30,000. Numbers of widows and orphans in his birth-place have been helped by Gan Eng Seng, whose private beneficence was on par with his business acumen. [The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 9 September 1899, Page 2]

Friday, January 12, 1900. The funeral of the late Gan Eng Seng will take place next Thursday at about 9 a.m. The procession will march from Amoy and Cross Streets to Havelock and Alexandra Roads, and thence to Passir Panjang Darat the burial ground. [The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 12 January 1900, Page 2]

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