Contractors
Ang Seng
Contractor, Brickfields Kuala Lumpur
b.1855 - d.1918
Born in Amoy, China, Towkay Ang Seng was Kuala Lumpur's biggest contractor in the early 1900s. He was awarded a number of contracts for KL's government buildings, many of which are national landmarks today. Among the buildings he constructed were the New Government Offices (Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad) (1897), the FMS Railway Offices (today National Textile Museum) (1905), the KL Railway Station and Hotel, the KL Supreme Court, and the railway carriage shops at the Central Workshops in Sentul. He lived in Kuala Lumpur for 30 years, where he was the head of the Hokkien community, with a reputation as a charitable and cheerful personality.
___
Text extracted from:
i. Mariana Isa & Maganjeet Kaur, Kuala Lumpur Street Names, Marshall Cavendish, 2015, p37.
No photograph available
Dunstan A. Aeria
Selangor State Engineer (1892-1901), General Manager of Federated Malay States Railways (1901-1909)
b. between 6 April 1876-3 April 1877-d.14 August 1951
Charles Edwin Spooner was born in Wales. He graduated in Engineering at Trinity College Dublin and commenced a career with North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways. In 1876, he went to Ceylon to work in the Survey Department from 6 September onwards. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Ceylon Public Works Department on 24 August 1877 in which he served for 14 years. He was the Acting Provincial Engineer Central Province for seven months in 1885-1886 and Acting Provincial Engineer for Uva and Sabaragamuwa from 1887 to 1890 before appointed officially as Provincial Engineer for Sabaragamuwa on 11 April 1890.
Sources:
i. Straits Observer (Singapore), 16 July 1897, Selangor News
ii. Charles Edwin Spooner Collection, 1904-1907/09, Cambridge University Library
iii. Janus library, Obituary, Charles Edwin Spooner, C.M.G, 1853-1909
iv. J.M Gullick, Selections from The Selangor Journal
v. ANM 19570066974: Application from C.E Spooner for the post of Director of Public Works Ceylon [21 Dec 1896].
No photograph available
W. Nicholas
b.1858-d.1920
Selangor Deputy State Engineer
Born in Plymouth, Henry Franklin Bellamy is the son of Architect and Engineer George David Bellamy (Consulting Engineer at the Corporation of Plymouth). In 1883, H.F Bellamy began his career in Selangor as the Superintendent of Selangor Public Works
Sources:
i. The Straits Times, 1 May 1916, Marriage
ii. Who was Who, Data
iii. Straits Times Weekly Issue, 6 August 1884
iv. J.M. Gullick, A History of Kuala Lumpur 1856-1939
No photograph available
Russel Brothers
b.1858-d.1944
Architect, District Engineer
Coming Soon
Sources:
RIBA Biographical Files of A.C Norman
i. Who Was Who,
ii. Antonia Brodie, Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914: Vol 2 (L-Z)
iii. Selangor PWD files 09.09.1896
iv. Selangor PWD Files No.293/83 Re: Appointment of Mr. A.C Norman as Assistant Superintendant & Chief Draughtsman PWD v. Dr. A. Ghafar Ahmad, Chronological Biography of Arthur Charles Alfred Norman
vi. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 70, No. 1 (272) (1997)