Sir Robert Ho Tung’s Biography

Sir Robert Ho Tung (1862-1956), whose given name was Kai Tung and style name Xiaosheng, was a comprador, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born in Hong Kong to British Dutch father Charles Henry Maurice Bosman and a Chinese mother surnamed Sze, he was raised there by his mother. As he grew up in Hong Kong and studied at the Government Central School (later named Queen’s College, a secondary school in Hong Kong), he was greatly influenced by Chinese culture.

Sir Robert Ho Tung (1862-1956), whose given name was Kai Tung and style name Xiaosheng, was a comprador, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born in Hong Kong to British Dutch father Charles Henry Maurice Bosman, and a Chinese mother surnamed Sze, he was raised there by his mother. As he grew up in Hong Kong and studied at the Government Central School (later named Queen’s College, a secondary school in Hong Kong), he was greatly influenced by Chinese culture. After working at Customs, he joined the foreign company Jardine Matheson and was promoted to Head Comprador in a very short time. He also established a company on his own, and invested in shipping, trading, media and real estate, etc. His great vigour in both his business ventures and charitable works won him much recognition and respect from society, for which he was awarded medals by many countries including the UK, China, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Vietnam, to name a few.