The legacy of Sir Catchick Paul Chater (1846-1926) lies all around Hong Kong. In fact, it would be fair to say that every visitor and resident in the region has come into contact with something influenced by Chater. For instance, he reclaimed the land on which most of Des Voeux Road now stands, his company supplies the electricity for Hong Kong Island, he helped set up the power system in Kowloon and the New Territories, and the improved telephone system was one of his last ventures. Chater was also among the earliest colonials to settle in and develop Kowloon. While others believed the area would remain a backwater, he donated both the land and the money to build St Andrew’s Anglican Church on Nathan Road, and established Kowloon Wharf & Godown Limited.

Though Armenian by nationality, Chater was born in Calcutta, India in 1846, the eleventh of thirteen children. His father worked for the British but died young while attempting a river rescue. Being bright and a top cricketer, Chater won a school scholarship. Throughout his life, he remained an enthusiastic cricketer, and was so keen on horse racing that he did not miss a race for sixty years. At the age of 18, he came to Hong Kong to join some of his siblings and started working for a bank. He soon left the bank for a business career where his talent as an entrepreneur changed Hong Kong.

The most notable example of his legacy is Hongkong Land, a property development company which he founded in conjunction with another stalwart of Hong Kong industry, Jardines. Today, Hongkong Land owns much of the Central district on Hong Kong Island. Chater felt that his investment required development and reclamation of the harbour in Central. However, at that time, the western, harbourside of the island was the main residential area. So he secretly took soundings at night in the harbour in an unstable sampan, pretending to be fishing. Bit by bit, Chater masterminded the reclamation in Central, which added 250,000 square metres of land to this small island.

After the council meeting where the land reclamation was passed, Chater spoke with Bendyshe Layton, a temporary council representative, who suggested that Hong Kong should acquire an electricity generator. The two men hatched a cunning plan to surreptitiously buy an old graveyard in Wan Chai, which was unpopular land because of its association with death. Here they built a power station, one of the earliest anywhere in the world, and Hongkong Electric became one of the first electricity supply companies.

Sir Chater had one of the most splendid houses in Hong Kong, Marble Hall at 1 Conduit Road in Mid-Levels. Unfortunately, it was accidentally burnt down after the war, and was later demolished. As a philanthropist, Chater often let others borrow the house to hold private functions. He also owned an extensive art collection, much of which was so well hidden during the Japanese invasion that some is still missing, despite attempts to track it down. The remaining 94 pieces are stored and occasionally displayed as a core collection at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

In total, Chater advised eleven governors and contributed ideas on the annexation and boundary lines of the New Territories. Lavish in his generosity, he funded charities, schools and churches outside of his own Armenian faith. As head of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Committee, he had a women’s and children’s hospital built as well as a nursing college. He is buried in the graveyard in Happy Valley. When he died in 1926, the stock market closed in honour of his life, and his obituary in The South China Morning Post declared “a history of Hong Kong is a history of Sir Paul Chater” – not bad for a shoeless orphan from India, who never made a recorded enemy in his life. He is remembered in the naming of two roads, a garden and a building that houses both his bust and a commemorative plaque.