John Francis Chomley (22 May 1822 – 14 April 1892) was an Irish businessman in Hong Kong and China in the mid-19th century. He was the first chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company and member of the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Ko ...

Early life and education

Chomley was the oldest son of Rev. Francis Chomley/Chamley (1784–1847), Rural Dean of County Wicklow and his first wife, Magdalene (Maud) Hanna (1790–1827). He entered Trinity College, Dublin in Trinity Term 1838 to study law. His interest in China was due to connections of his step mother's (Mary Elizabeth Chomley née Griffith) father, Richard Griffith M.P. of Millicent House, Clane, co Kildare, who had retired from trading in the East Indies and China in 1786, and other family members.

Business career

Chomley went to the Far East and became the senior partner of the Dent & Co., one of the largest trading firms in the early colonial history of Hong Kong. Lancelot Dent, former senior partner of the Dent & Co. was arrested by the

Qing government The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

in Canton in 1839 on opium smuggling charges which helped triggering the First Opium War. Chomley was also appointed to the

in 1861 on the resignation of John Dent, another partner of the Dent & Co. He was the Senior Unofficial Member from 1864 to 1866. He also acted as consul for the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

during the absence of John Dent in 1861. Chomley was one of the founding members of the provisional committee that launched the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company. He chaired the provisional committee's first meeting, held on 6 August 1864 and was elected the first chairman of board of the bank in 1865. Dent & Co. went bankrupt in 1867 during the worldwide financial crisis which originated in 1866 in London. They suffered a loss of no less than £200,000 by the malversations of a Portuguese clerk in their employment at Shanghai, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The petition for adjudication of bankruptcy was filed in the Supreme Court of Hong Kong on 29 June 1867. Chomley had to remove his headquarters in Shanghai and sold the Dent Building to the

Hong Kong Hotel The Hongkong Hotel was Hong Kong's first luxury hotel modelled after sumptuous London hotels. It opened on Queen's Road and Pedder Street in 1868, later expanding into the Victoria Harbour waterfront of Victoria City in 1893. History The ori ...

Co.

Later life and death

Chomley retired to his home, Clermont,

Rathnew Rathnew () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. Located south of the capital Dublin along the M11 between Dublin and Wexford, it is close to the county town of Wicklow, which is situated to the east. Education Rathnew is home to Gaelscoi ...

, Wicklow County after serving as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul in Hong Kong 1868. He lived with his younger unmarried sister, Lucy (1825–1914) and died unmarried 14 April 1892. He is buried in Wicklow

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

Churchyard with a memorial plaque donated by his sister Lucy which reads "of Claremont, co Wicklow and Amoy, China". His youngest half-brother, Charles Albert Chomley (1840–1862) had immigrated with his mother Mary and six brothers to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and had returned to Ireland on the S.S. ''Great Britain'' in 1860. Charles (aged 21) had "learnt office", learning about the China trade with Sir James Turing in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, and was travelling with Edward Turing (aged 19), youngest son of Sir James, when they were both accidentally drowned in the

Lake Neuchâtel Lake Neuchâtel (french: Lac de Neuchâtel ; frp, Lèc de Nôchâtél; german: Neuenburgersee) is a lake primarily in Romandy, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by t ...

. Charles was to have joined his brother Francis in Hong Kong to participate in the China trade.The Gentleman's Magazine – July–Dec 1862

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chomley, Francis 1822 births 1892 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin British expatriates in Hong Kong Hong Kong Anglicans Hong Kong financial businesspeople Chairmen of HSBC Irish expatriates in Hong Kong Irish Anglicans Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong