Keswick family
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The Keswick family have had practically continuous and direct association with the Far East and conglomerate Jardine Matheson ever since Mr. William Keswick (1835-1912) came to Hong Kong in 1855.
As Taipans of Jardine, Matheson & Co., all the members of the Keswick family have been closely associated with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., the Canton Insurance Office Ltd., (now the Lombard Insurance Co.), the Hong Kong & Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co., Ltd., Star Ferry , Hong Kong Tramway, the Hong Kong Land Investment and Agency Co., Ltd., and the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co., Ltd. Their names as chairmen of these companies appear many times from the earliest days in the records of these major enterprises.
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[edit] William Keswick (1835-1912)
William Keswick was born on January 1, 1835 according to Who Was Who, though most sources say 1834, in the Scottish lowlands. His grandmother, Margaret Jardine Johnstone was a sister of Dr. William Jardine, the founder of the firm of Jardine's. He went out to China in 1855, the first of five generations of the Keswick family to be associated with Jardine's.
After spending a few years in Japan, William Keswick became a partner in the firm in 1862. Before he left Hong Kong in 1886 to take control of Matheson & Co. in London, Mr. James Johnstone Keswick, a younger brother of William, had arrived on the scene.
The Hon. William Keswick's three long spells on the Legislative and Executive Councils covered the years between 1868 and 1887, with two gaps totalling seven years.
[edit] James Johnstone Keswick
J.J. Keswick came out to the Far East in 1870 and remained for 26 years, mostly in Hong Kong. Like his brother, he was a Member of the Legislative Council and of the Chamber of Commerce. The Hon. James J. Keswick's spell bridged the years from 1890 to 1900 in five spells and only one large gap of four years after 1895.
[edit] Henry Keswick
A third brother was at the same time impressing his striking personality on Calcutta, where he was the leading British citizen of his time and headed Jardine Skinner's. Mr. Henry Keswick was the next member of the family to come out East. He was the son of William Keswick and he arrived the year before his uncle James left in 1896. (He spent two or three years in the New York office of Jardine's before he arrived in Hong Kong in 1895.)
The first gap in the long line of continuous association with Hong Kong occurred when Henry Keswick went home to represent Hong Kong at the coronation of King George V. He paid a return visit to Hong Kong and the East in his yacht "Cutty Sark" in 1922, and remained a Director of the Firm of Jardines until 1924.
[edit] William Johnstone "Tony" Keswick and John Keswick
Then came the members of the family with whom the past and present generations of Hong Kong and Shanghai are most familiar--Mr. W. J. "Tony" Keswick and Mr. John Keswick, who are the sons of Henry and therefore the grandsons of the pioneer William Keswick. Young Henry, the great-grandson of William and the son of Tony Keswick.
[edit] "Tony" Keswick
"Tony" Keswick arrived in 1926, to be followed in 1929 by his brother, John Keswick. All remained Directors of the firm after they had left the Far East, and they represent an aggregate of 175 years. William the Pioneer scored 57. James 32, Henry 29, Tony is not out 30, and John the Younger is not out 27. Their total score is almost as remarkable as members of the Legislative and Executive Councils here, and of the Council of the International Settlement in Shanghai. William, Henry, and W. J. Keswick were all Chairmen of the Shanghai Municipal Council, and it will be remembered by many that the last-named was Chairman during the crises before the Pacific War. He was shot in the arm for his trouble at a big Municipal Election Meeting held on the Shanghai Racecourse in 1941. All three, and Mr. John Keswick, were Chairmen of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce at different times.
The Hon. Henry Keswick served-between 1907 and 1911, and the Hon. John Keswick became a member of the Executive Council in 1952 and is still serving. Incidentally, when William and Henry Keswick returned to the United Kingdom they were both Members of Parliament, where they cared for Far Eastern interests.
"Tony" Keswick was in charge of the Shanghai office (at that time the Head Office in the Far East) from 1935 until 1941. After the war he took over as Managing Director of Matheson & Co., Ltd., in London. Amongst his other business activities, he is Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, Director of the Bank of England, Vice-Chairman of the Alliance Assurance, and Director of British Petroleum.
[edit] John Keswick
John Keswick returned to Shanghai after the war to organize in the rebuilding of Jardine's office and to reestablish the firm's links throughout China and Asia. In 1949, after the communist party's takeover of China. Jardine's head office was moved to Hong Kong. John Keswick retired as Taipan in 1953 and joined Matheson & Co. in 1956. His nephew and Mr. W. J. Keswick's son, Young Henry, joined Jardine's in 1961 and was assigned to the firm's offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He was made a Director in 1967, Senior Managing Director in 1970 and Chairman in 1972. Elder Brother Sir John Chips Keswick was the firm's non-executive Chairman from 1970 to 1972. Young Henry retired as Senior Managing Director and Chairman in 1975. Young Henry's younger brother, Simon, also joined the firm in 1962 and a Director in 1972 but left Jardine's in 1977 to join his brother at Matheson & Co. He returned to join Jardine's again in 1983 as Senior Managing Director and in a few months as Chairman. Mr. Simon Keswick retired as Taipan in 1988 after seeing the firm's holding office redomiciled to Bermuda and restructuring the firm's senior management organization.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
- 'William Keswick, 1835-1912: Jardine's Pioneer in Japan' by J.E. Hoare, Chapter 10, Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits ISBN 1-903350-14-X
