Cheong Tek Lan
In brief. Cheong Tek Lan 鍾德蘭 (c. 1877 – 3 November 1934), also written Cheong Teck Lan, ancestral place from Kaying (Jiaying 嘉應, today's Meizhou) who died aged 57 at 37 Lorong 16, Geylang, leaving two wives, six sons and a daughter, and was buried at Bukit Brown on 7 November 1934. His marble headstone inscription has the sons Cheong Seng Chye, Seng Siang, Seng Khee, Seng Chuan, Seng Hoe and Seng Hup, a daughter, two grandsons and three granddaughters. His mother, Khoo Hock Neo 邱福娘, Mrs Cheong Hean Lok, who died four years before him, lies in her own tomb nearby with him named first among her sons. This page gives both inscriptions, the death notice, and the two marriages of his second son Cheong Seng Siang, in 1931 and 1942.
- Deceased
- Cheong Tek Lan 鍾德蘭 (c. 1877 – 3 Nov 1934)
- Stone dated
- 民國廿三年九月廿七日 — 27th day of the 9th lunar month, 1934 (the day of death)
- Location
- Bukit Brown Cemetery, Block 3 Division D
- Named on the stone
- 6 sons, 1 daughter, 2 grandsons, 3 granddaughters (English)
- Mother
- Khoo Hock Neo 邱福娘, Mrs Cheong Hean Lok (c. 1854 – 29 Jul 1930) — her tomb
- Sources
- Tomb inscriptions (his and his mother's); Malaya Tribune 1930, 1934, 1942; Malayan Saturday Post 1931
Tomb Inscription 墓碑銘文
嘉應
顯考德蘭鍾公之墓
Right and left of the epitaph · date
民國廿三年吉
九月廿七日立
Right wing · English
SONS
CHEONG SENG CHYE
CHEONG SENG SIANG
CHEONG SENG KHEE
CHEONG SENG CHUAN
CHEONG SENG HOE
CHEONG SENG HUP
DAUGHTER
CHEONG L[EOK NEO]
Left wing · English
[GRA]NDSONS
LEONARD CHEONG
DAVID CHEONG
GRANDDAUGHTERS
LILY CHEONG
BERNARDINE CHEONG
MARGARET CHEONG
| Translation 譯文 |
Kaying 嘉應 (ancestral prefecture, Guangdong). Tomb of our late beloved father, Mr Cheong Tek Lan 鍾德蘭. Erected on an auspicious day — the 27th day of the 9th month of the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934). |
| Era 年代 | 民國 Republic of China |
| Year 年份 | 1934 (民國廿三年) |
| Material | White marble, three-panel; English lettering in raised capitals |
Tomb Location 墓碑位置
| Cemetery 墳山 | Bukit Brown Cemetery |
| Block No | 3 |
| Division | D |
| Plot No | 995 |
Funeral from 37 Lorong 16, Geylang, to Bukit Brown on Wednesday 7 November 1934 at 10 a.m. (Malaya Tribune). The mother's tomb is a separate, older-style granite stone; its exact position relative to this one is not recorded on either page.
Timeline 年表
| Date | Event | Source |
| c. 1877 | Born — aged 57 at death in November 1934 | Malaya Tribune, 5 Nov 1934 |
| Mother, Khoo Hock Neo 邱福娘 (Mrs Cheong Hean Lok), dies aged 76; her stone names sons 德蘭, 錦蘭 and 如蘭, daughters 秀春 and 秀連, six grandsons and a granddaughter. | Inscription (mother's tomb); researcher's note | |
| Engagement of second son Cheong Seng Siang to Wee Beng Geok, only daughter of Wee Seck Chuan. | Malaya Tribune, 1 Nov 1930 | |
| Wedding of Cheong Seng Siang and Wee Beng Geok; C. V. Miles of Rodyk & Davidson officiates. | Malayan Saturday Post, 26 Sep 1931 | |
| Dies at 8.15 p.m. at 37 Lorong 16, Geylang, aged 57. | Malaya Tribune, 5 Nov 1934 | |
| Funeral, 10 a.m., Bukit Brown. | Malaya Tribune, 5 Nov 1934 | |
| Marble headstone erected, dated to the day of death in the lunar calendar. | Inscription | |
| Cheong Seng Siang, "second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Tek Lan", marries Yeo Kim Neo (Besar), eldest daughter of Yeo Kim Tiong — three weeks before the fall of Singapore. | Malaya Tribune, 7 Jan 1942 |
Newspaper Archives 報章記載
A · Death, 1934
Domestic Occurrence — Death
Malaya Tribune, 5 November 1934, Page 10 · find on NewspaperSG
Mr. Cheong Tek Lan, aged 57, passed away peacefully on Saturday, 3rd inst., at 8.15 p.m., at Lorong 16, No. 37, Geylang. He leaves behind him two wives, six sons, Cheong Seng Chye, Seng Seng, Seng Khee, Seng Chuan, Seng Hoe, Seng Hup, one daughter, two daughters-in-law and several grandchildren to mourn his loss. Funeral on Wednesday, at 10 a.m. Bukit Brown. (S.S. and F.M.S. papers please copy).
Summary: the only biographical notice found. "Seng Seng" is the paper's misprint for Seng Siang, the second son, married in 1931. Two wives and two daughters-in-law (Seng Chye's and Seng Siang's) were living; "several grandchildren" agrees with the two grandsons and three granddaughters on the stone.
B · The second son's two marriages, 1930–1942
Engagement — Cheong Seng Siang and Wee Beng Geok
Malaya Tribune, 1 November 1930, Page 8 · find on NewspaperSG
The engagement is announced and the marriage will take place next year between Mr. Cheong Seng Siang, second son of Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Tek Lan, of Singapore, and Miss Wee Beng Geok, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wee Seck Chuan, also of Singapore.
Wedding of Mr. Cheong Seng Siang and Miss Wee Beng Geok
Malayan Saturday Post, 26 September 1931, Page 30 · find on NewspaperSG
The wedding of Mr. Cheong Seng Siang, second son of Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Teh Lan, and Miss Wee Beng Geok, only daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Wee Seck Chuan. Mr. Ee Ong Kee was the best man and the bridesmaids were Miss Tan Lai Cheng and Miss Gaiety Wee. Mr. C. V. Miles of Messrs. Rodyk and Davidson officiated at the ceremony.
Summary: a photograph of the wedding party — bride in Western white with a veil and bouquet, groom in a white suit, bridesmaids in long gowns. A solicitor of Rodyk & Davidson "officiating" indicates a civil ceremony registered under the Christian Marriage or Civil Marriage Ordinance, unusual for a Chinese family in 1931 and worth noting. The paper spells the father "Cheong Teh Lan".
Domestic Occurrences — Engagement
Malaya Tribune, 7 January 1942, Page 7 (Advertisements Column 1) · find on NewspaperSG
ENGAGEMENT
The engagement is announced between Mr. Cheong Seng Siang, second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Tek Lan and Miss Yeo Kim Neo (Besar), eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Yeo Kim Tiong. The marriage will take place on 24th January, 1942.
Summary: a second marriage for Seng Siang, ten years after the first; what became of Wee Beng Geok is not recorded on this page. "The late Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Tek Lan" shows that Seng Siang's mother had also died by January 1942. The wedding date, 24 January 1942, was three weeks before the British surrender on 15 February.
Biography 生平
Cheong Tek Lan 鍾德蘭 (c. 1877 – 3 November 1934) was a Hakka whose family came from Kaying prefecture 嘉應 in eastern Guangdong, the name carved across the head of his stone and his mother's. He was the eldest of the three sons of Cheong Hean Lok and Khoo Hock Neo 邱福娘 — his brothers were 錦蘭 and 如蘭, his sisters 秀春 and 秀連 — and it is as 孝男德蘭, first of the filial sons, that he appears on his mother's tomb when she died on 29 July 1930, aged 76. Nothing has yet been found of his occupation.
He had two wives and, by 1934, six sons — Cheong Seng Chye, Seng Siang, Seng Khee, Seng Chuan, Seng Hoe and Seng Hup — and a daughter, Cheong Leok Neo. The second son's marriage to Wee Beng Geok, only daughter of Wee Seck Chuan, was announced in November 1930 and celebrated in September 1931 with a Western-style wedding party and a solicitor of Rodyk & Davidson officiating; the Malayan Saturday Post printed the photograph.
He died "peacefully" at 8.15 p.m. on Saturday 3 November 1934 at his house, 37 Lorong 16, Geylang, aged 57, and was buried at Bukit Brown on the following Wednesday. His sons gave him a white marble headstone of a modern kind: the epitaph in Chinese in the centre, dated to the day of his death in the lunar calendar, and the whole family in English capitals on the wings — six sons, a daughter, grandsons Edward and David Cheong and three granddaughters. In January 1942, weeks before the Japanese occupation, Seng Siang, "second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Cheong Tek Lan", married again, to Yeo Kim Neo.
Deceased 亡者
| Name (Chinese) | Name (English) | Relationship | Dates |
| 鍾德蘭 | Cheong Tek Lan (Cheong Teck Lan; "Cheong Teh Lan" in the 1931 caption) | 顯考 — late beloved father | c. 1877 – 3 Nov 1934, 37 Lorong 16, Geylang; buried Bukit Brown 7 Nov 1934 |
| Parents | Cheong Hean Lok and Khoo Hock Neo 邱福娘 (c. 1854 – 29 Jul 1930) — her tomb | ||
| Siblings | Brothers 錦蘭 and 如蘭; sisters 秀春 and 秀連 (from the mother's stone) | ||
| Clan / Family | 鍾 Cheong (Hakka romanisation of Zhong) · ancestral prefecture 嘉應 Kaying / Jiaying, Guangdong | ||
Family named on the stone 孝眷
| Name | Chinese (from the mother's tomb) | Relationship | In the newspapers |
| Cheong Seng Chye | 生財 | Son (eldest) | Named first in the death notice; his wife is probably the "Mrs Cheong Seng Chye" in the Koh Teck Ee wedding party of October 1931 (to verify). |
| Cheong Seng Siang | 生祥 | Son (second) | Engaged 1930, m. Wee Beng Geok Sep 1931; m. Yeo Kim Neo (Besar) 24 Jan 1942. "Seng Seng" in the 1934 notice. |
| Cheong Seng Khee | 生基 | Son | — |
| Cheong Seng Chuan | 生全 | Son | — |
| Cheong Seng Hoe | 生和 | Son | — |
| Cheong Seng Hup | — | Son (youngest) | Not on the mother's 1930 stone — born, or at least not yet named, after July 1930. |
| Cheong Leok Neo | 陸娘 | Daughter | "One daughter" in the death notice; 孫女陸娘 on the mother's stone. |
| Edward Cheong, David Cheong | — | Grandsons | English given names, a generation on from 生-names. |
| […]y Cheong, […]ine Cheong, […] Cheong | — | Granddaughters | Names hidden by grass in the photograph. |
Features 特色
- A bilingual marble headstone of the 1930s: the epitaph and date in Chinese, the descendants in English capitals — the family recording itself in the language its grandchildren, Edward and David, would read.
- The date carved is the lunar date of death (民國廿三年九月廿七日 = 3 November 1934), not the date of erection.
- Hakka, of Kaying 嘉應 — the header shared with the mother's tomb.
- Mother and son buried at Bukit Brown four years apart, her stone in the older granite style with Chinese only, his in white marble with English.
Related Tombs & Further Reading 相關墓碑
- Mrs Cheong Hean Lok née Khoo Hock Neo — his mother's tomb (d. 29 July 1930, aged 76), with the same clippings and the Koh Teck Ee–Lee Gim Teng wedding photograph of October 1931 in which a "Mrs Cheong Seng Chye" appears. Not yet reformatted.
- NewspaperSG search for the sons' later record: "Cheong Seng Chye", "Cheong Seng Siang", "Cheong Seng Khee".
Raymond Goh, "Cheong Tek Lan 鍾德蘭," Singapore Tombstones Epigraphic Materials (S.T.E.M.) 新加坡墓碑銘集录, first published 1 November 2020, revised , https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2020/11/cheong-tek-lan.html.
Tomb inscription transcribed on site; newspaper texts transcribed from NewspaperSG (National Library Board, Singapore) and reproduced for research and educational purposes. Translations are the author's and are approximate.
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