Tay Geok Teat (1832 - 21 April 1893) was a prominent Chinese merchant who was a founder the firm
Geok Teat & Co., and was briefly a member of the Municipal Commission of Singapore.
Biography
Tay was born in
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
in 1932 to Tay Song Quee, a trader from
Zhangzhou, China.
Tay moved to Singapore when he was young and briefly became a member of the Municipal Commission, although he resigned after the death of his wife.
In 1863, the firm Warehousemen and Commission Agents, which later became
Geok Teat & Co. was founded by Tay,
Tan Kim Tian
Tan or TAN may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...
,
Tan Sam Chie and
Chia Ann Siang. His son,
Tay Kim Tee, was introduced into the business in 1871. In 1885, he and
Lee Cheng Yan
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...
toured several countries in Europe, including
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
During their visit to England, they were billed as the first two
Straits-born Chinese to visit
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
for commercial purposes. After his return to Singapore from Europe, he formed a band with his grandchildren, and would occasionally join in by playing the
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
, which he was fond of. Somewhere around 1888, Tay travelled extensively in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and visited
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Death and legacy
Tay died on 21 April 1893 at his residence on
Amoy Street.
Following his death, his son took over his business.
After his death, Geok Teat Street was named after Tay. The street is now defunct
References
{{Reflist
1832 births
1893 deaths
People from British Singapore