Ang Kim Cheak 洪錦雀 (1827–1870) & Soh Siok Eng 蘇淑英
The Dashing Young Merchant of Philip Street as Seen by Benjamin Cook in 1854
Overview
Ang Kim Cheak (also spelled Ang Kim Chiak or 洪錦雀), elder son of prominent Malacca-born merchant Ang Choon Seng, was a key figure in mid-19th century Singapore’s Chinese trading community. In 1854, at the age of 27, he was vividly described by Englishman Benjamin Cook as a “dashing and handsome” young notable driving a smart phaeton along the Esplanade. This rare eyewitness account brings to life one of the rising Straits Chinese merchants who bridged traditional Chinese roots with colonial Western influences.
Genealogy & Family
Ang Kim Cheak (1827 – 1870)
Sons: Ang Teow Guan,
Son Adopted out : Ang Hong Geok
Daughters: Ang Gek Liang (Mrs Tan Keong Saik), Ang Gek Hup
Wife: Soh Siok Eng (daughter of Soh Guan Chuan)
Died 1892 (18th year of Guangxu reign)
Re-interment: 28 March 1932
Blk 3 B, Plot No. 48 & 61 (Ang Kim Cheak)
Blk 3 B, Plot No. 37 & 48 (Soh Siok Eng)
Inscriptions
河福
同治玖年嵗次庚午陽月吉旦 1870 lunar 10th month
皇清顯考諡孝友洪府君之墓
孝男
兆元
过房子
逢玉
女
玉良
玉合
仝立石
光緒十八年壬辰中秋殼旦 1892 lunar 8th month
皇清誥封宜人顯妣諡孝勤洪門蘇太君瑩
孝男
逢玉
兆元
孝女
玉良
玉合
孝孫
得明
分明
觀德
孫女
良娘
桂娘
蓮娘
仝立石
Portrait of Ang Kim Cheak (Age 27 in 1854)
Portrait of Ang Kim Cheak based on Benjamin Cook’s 1854 description (AI-generated historical illustration in vintage studio portrait style)
The Highlight: Benjamin Cook’s Letter – Tuesday, 26 September 1854
The Singapore Letters of Benjamin Cook
You say that I seldom mention the ladies in my narrative, and that may be true. The fact is that few are to be seen. The European mems and girls seem seldom to leave their homes, and when they do are conveyed hither and yon in carriages. Likewise the natives keep their women folk largely secluded behind doors, so that the streets, shops, markets and wharves are largely peopled by men, the gentler sex being only in abundance at parties or the most public of gatherings such as the Esplanade of which I have spoken. But then I must admit to you, when there on Friday last, what caught my eye was a Chinaman in the smartest of phaetons pulled by a spirited pair, the young fellow most beautifully dressed in a suit of light tweed, with buckskin gloves and fashionable soft grey hat. On closer examination I saw that it was Ang Kim Cheok, who has recently inherited his father’s business in Philip Street and is now one of our Chinese notables. I have on occasion had lunch with him, unremarkable in his working clothes, but arrayed thus, as dashing and handsome as he is rich.
For exercise of an entirely respectable nature I have started playing fives, introduced to it by my rich friend Ang Kim Cheok. This is a strange game, very English I am told but new to me and, I expect, to you. My quarrel with it is that it is played indoors and is most energetic, so that it is hardly suitable for this climate. By the river we have some courts, each small and walled all around. We stand, or rather leap in all directions, belting a small ball from wall to wall and floor with gloved hands. My pleasure from it, apart from the healthy sweat, is that only the nicest people play it. Yes, I will teach you when you come. Ang Kim Cheok is both fit and tall and a devil at it but his eyesight restrains him, and I am confident that with a little more practice he will have met his match in Benjamin Cook.
— Ben
Historical Notes from Song Ong Siang
Ang Choon Seng was born in Malacca in 1805. Coming to Singapore at an early age, he started business in Philip Street under the chop Chin Seng as commission agent and provision merchant. He owned two schooners, Patah Salam and Kong Kek, trading to Saigon and Bangkok, and went in for nutmeg planting, which was for a little time successful. This nutmeg plantation was situated somewhere in Moulmein Road.
At his death on 2nd February 1852 his elder son Ang Kim Cheak (who was born in 1827) continued the business, in which he was joined by his younger brother Ang Kim Tee (born in 1839) when he came of age. When Kim Cheak died in 1870, Ang Kim Tee carried on the same business as its sole proprietor...
Both Ang Kim Cheak and Ang Kim Tee took a special interest in the Kim Seng Free School for Chinese boys in Amoy Street, and held successively the post of treasurer.
The Game of Fives
Fives (also known as the game of Fives or Hand Fives) is a traditional English handball sport played in an enclosed court, striking a small, hard ball with gloved hands against the walls and floor. It is a direct ancestor of squash and was a respectable form of exercise among the elite in 1850s colonial Singapore, including Straits Chinese merchants like Ang Kim Cheak.
By Raymond Goh
Preserving the stories of our early pioneers — one inscription, one tomb, one story, at a time.
Sources: Bukit Brown Cemetery records, Song Ong Siang “One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore”, Benjamin Cook letters (1854), family re-interment inscriptions 1932.