Lawrence Kadoorie, Baron Kadoorie,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(2 June 1899 – 25 August 1993) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

hotelier A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, bu ...

, photographer and philanthropist.

Biography

Lawrence Kadoorie was born to a Baghdadi-Jewish family from Bombay, India. He was the older child of Laura (née Mocatta) and Sir

Elly Kadoorie Sir Eleazer "Elly" Silas Kadoorie (1867 – February 8, 1944) was a Baghdadi-born Jewish businessman and philanthropist active in Shanghai and Hong Kong. He was a member of the wealthy Kadoorie family that had large business interests in the F ...

.Haaretz: "This Day in Jewish History: A WWII Survivor Who Built Hong Kong Dies – Lawrence Kadoorie rose from a Japanese prison camp to restore his family's fortunes and help forge Hong Kong's future with China" by David B. Green
25 August 2014 His brother,

Horace Kadoorie Sir Horace Kadoorie, CBE (28 September 1902 – 22 April 1995) was an industrialist, hotelier, and philanthropist. Early life and education In 1913–14, he spent a year at Clifton College and was a member of Polacks House; a boarding house so ...

(1902–1995), would become his partner in the family business. In 1981, Lawrence Kadoorie became the first Hong Kong born person to be elevated to the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Belgi ...

as a life peer with the title and style of Baron, and to have become a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. His uncle was Sir

Ellis Kadoorie Sir Ellis Kadoorie CBE (1865–1922) was a Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was a member of the wealthy Baghdadian Kadoorie family that had large business interests in the Far East. His brother was Sir Elly Kadoorie, and his nephew wa ...

. His family were originally

Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...

from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

who later migrated to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(Mumbai), India in the mid-eighteenth century. He was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

. Kadoorie and his brother Sir

worked for

Victor Sassoon Sir Ellice Victor Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, (20 December 1881 – 13 August 1961) was a businessman and hotelier from the wealthy Baghdadi Jewish Sassoon merchant and banking family. Biography Sir Ellice Victor Elias Sassoon was born 30 Decemb ...

during the 1920s and 1930s, and managed his famous Shanghai hotel. They also worked for their father Sir

Awards and philanthropy

Kadoorie was made a

in 1970,

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1974 and created Baron Kadoorie, of

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

in Hong Kong and of the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

on 22 September 1981 for his philanthropic work throughout the UK and Hong Kong. Kadoorie and his brother, Horace, both received the

Magsaysay Award The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...

for public service in 1962. They were also appointed Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur by the

French government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

. He also gave money to the

Kahal Kadosh Mekor Haim Kahal ( he, כָּחָל) is a moshav in the Galilee near Highway 85 in northern Israel. Located on the border of the Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, north of Lake Kinneret and just northwest of Tabgha, it falls under the jurisdiction of Me ...

(Holy Community Fountain of Life) to finish the construction of the

Kadoorie Synagogue The Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue ( pt, Sinagoga do Porto/Sinagoga Kadoorie Mekor Haim) is a synagogue of the Jewish community of Porto, situated in the civil parish of Lordelo do Ouro e Massarelos, the municipality of Porto, in the Portuguese nort ...

for the

Anusim Anusim ( he, אֲנוּסִים, ; singular male, anús, he, אָנוּס ; singular female, anusáh, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in ''halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically ...

Marranos Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to practice Judaism in secrecy. The term specifically refers to the charg ...

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Portugal.

Photography

Kadoorie was an enthusiastic amateur photographer, his photographs documented many aspects of the city and rural life of average Hongkongers in the 1950s. He took a

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...

approach on photography, regularly carried a camera with him as he went about daily life. His photographs covered streetscape and landscape, pedestrian,

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

commuters, labour at work, farmers with their live stock, hawkers and many other aspects of the old Hong Kong. His photograph collection was preserved by the Hong Kong Heritage Project, and was featured in photography exhibition "Eye of Hong Kong" in 2017.

Personal life

In 1938, Kadoorie married Muriel Gubbay, the daughter of Hebrew scholar David Sassoon Gubbay.Jewish Times Asia: "Celebration of Life Muriel, The Lady Kadoorie 1915 – 2011"
retrieved 30 April 2013 They had two children: a son,

Michael Kadoorie Sir Michael David Kadoorie, GBS (born 1941) is a Hong Kong billionaire businessman, and the chairman and 18% owner of CLP Group, Hong Kong's largest electricity producer. He also owns 47% of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. Early life Born in 19 ...

(heir to the family business) and a daughter Rita (who married a Scottish accountant). He died on 25 August 1993 and is buried in the

Jewish Cemetery A Jewish cemetery ( he, בית עלמין ''beit almin'' or ''beit kvarot'') is a cemetery where Jews are buried in keeping with Jewish tradition. Cemeteries are referred to in several different ways in Hebrew, including ''beit kevarot'' ...

Happy Valley, Hong Kong Happy Valley () is an upper-income residential area in Hong Kong, located on Hong Kong Island. The area is bordered by Caroline Hill to the east, Jardine's Lookout to the south, Morrison Hill to the west, and Causeway Bay to the north. Administ ...

. His widow, Muriel, died in Hong Kong on 5 December 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadoorie, Lawrence 1899 births 1993 deaths Jewish Chinese history Hong Kong businesspeople Hong Kong philanthropists Hong Kong Jews Hong Kong people of Iraqi-Jewish descent

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Knights Bachelor Life peers Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Clifton College Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Jewish philanthropists Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee members British politicians of Iraqi descent 20th-century philanthropists Life peers created by Elizabeth II

Biography

Awards and philanthropy

Photography

Personal life

See also

References