Page 150 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
士紳藏品
Lots 121 - 136
A NOTE FROM THE OWNER
‘This collection was formed by the present owner’s mother who was
born in Shanghai in 1897, one of seven daughters and a son of an
official in the Imperial Maritime Customs. In 1929 she married an
Englishman with whom she had a daughter and a son, the present
owner, born in Beijing in 1936. By the outbreak of the Second World
War the family were living at ‘Nassim Lodge’ in Singapore.
On the 8th February 1942, the young family was among 1,100 mainly
women and children who were evacuated aboard the ‘MV Felix
Roussel’, the last Free French Ship to leave the island, just hours
before the Japanese army began landing. The ship was the target of
aerial attacks by Mitsubishi bombers in the Banka Straits before finally
reaching the safety of India.
The father had remained behind on secret business and was
presumed dead. In fact, he had escaped some time later, disguised
as a Malay fisherman, in a small sailing boat. Navigating by the stars
at night and hiding on islands by day, he was eventually picked up by
a British destroyer and landed on Ceylon, thence making his way to
Bombay for an emotional reunion with his family. He enlisted with the
Indian Navy for the remainder of the war and the children were sent
south to their great-aunts’ mission school in the tranquillity of the Nilgiri Their son, now in his 80th year, has lived in the same home in London
Hills. With the war over, the family moved to Hong Kong where, in
1949, the father was made General Manager of the Union Insurance
Society of Canton. The family built a new family house, ‘Bracken Hill’,
on The Peak, still considered one of Hong Kong’s loveliest homes. This
was a period which allowed the mother to seek out more pieces to
add to her precious collection.
148 | BONHAMS
Their only son was sent to England aged 8 for his formal education.
He went up to Christ Church, Oxford in the 1950’s reading Classical
Chinese and joining the Bullingdon Club.
This was followed by 2 years National Service in the army which he
underwent on Kowloon with the Queen’s Own Hussars.
His career began working for Lord Thomson on The Sunday Times,
followed by a job with the publisher Hamish Hamilton who, with his
wife, became lifelong friends. In 1975 he was elected to the Garrick
Club and the following year he took the brave step of establishing
his own Literary Agency in partnership with an old school friend. The
business thrived with a long list of authors including Salman Rushdie,
Martin Amis and the Estate of Agatha Christie. An office was opened in
New York and names such as Ginsberg and Philip Roth were added to
their list of distinguished writers.
In retirement, the parents fulfilled their dream of returning to England,
settling in the Suffolk countryside surrounded by treasured memories
of China. After their tumultuous lives they both died not many years
later.
for over 50 years. He remains a fervent admirer of the Chinese people,
their art and culture, but always feels happiest and most at home when
confronted by a feast of their great national cuisine, to the sounds of
their spoken language.’