The author of these views of Hong Kong, sir Leopold George Heath (1817–1907), naval officer, was born in London in 1817. He entered the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, in 1830 and in 1840 became lieutenant, leading a career that can be considered typical for a successful naval officer in the heyday of the British Empire. He served on the Mediterranean and East Indies stations and in the 1846 expedition against the sultan of Borneo, on which occasion he drew these views of Hong Kong. He was later promoted commander and took part in the Crimean war, being made harbor master of Balaklava. After further service in the East Indies he returned to England in 1870, rising to vice-admiral in 1877, and admiral in 1884. In retirement he became a Director of the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, of the Central Bank of London and of the Eastern and South African Telegraph Company. He died in 1907.
This set of early panoramic engravings of Hong Kong and its surrounding area, originally drawn on the spot by Heath in 1846, were published in printed form in 1847 in London, as a supplement to the first British Admiralty survey of Hong Kong and its environs by Commander Belcher, as in that time coastal views were considered a major aid to navigation. The set includes one view of Hong Kong seen from the Kowloon side, one view of Kowloon from the Hong Kong side, and a view of Lantau island and Stonecutters Island (昂船洲 Ngong Shuen Chau), a former island in Victoria Harbour which, following land reclamation, is now annexed to the Kowloon Peninsula. All views are taken at sea from Heath’s ship, the Iris. They show western ships and boats as well as Chinese junks of different size, and are marked at the upper and lower margins with cursive notes identifying the main sites, features and buildings of interest, such as Victoria Peak, the Governor’s House and the officers’ quarters in Hong Kong.
Chinese Junk
Chinese Junk
Governor's House
Sources
- L. G. C. Laughton, ‘Heath, Sir Leopold George (1817–1907)’, rev. Roger T. Stearn, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33792, accessed on 1/3/2015]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Heath
- http://www.jjhc.info/heathleopold1907.htm
- http://www.jjhc.info/HeathLeopoldGeorge1907hongkongharbouranchorage.htm