Decoding the Mystery of the Botanic Gardens Tombs 植物園古墓: Wee Hwee Shi 黃惠視, Simani 思媽尼 and Khoo Cheng Cheok
Ancestral places 碧江 (Wee) and 新安 (Khoo) · Tomb dates 光緒七年 (1881) and 道光壬寅 (1842) · Singapore Botanic Gardens 新加坡植物園 (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Location: a cluster of three Chinese tombs near the Eco-Lake, on the Bukit Timah Road side of the Gardens, Tanglin.
Joint research by Raymond Goh and Charles Goh. Research ongoing; findings are marked as documented, inferred or a lead.
Summary: Two granite tombs in the Singapore Botanic Gardens name 黃惠視 Wee Hwee Shi and his wife 思媽尼 Simani, who was not Chinese. The two were husband and wife and the parents of 和㘓 (Holland). Their stones were erected in the 6th lunar month of 光緒七年 (Guangxu 7), which began on 26 June 1881, by their daughter 和㘓 (Holland) and her sons 邱 Khoo Cheng Cheok and Khoo Cheng Siew. They stand with a third tomb, that of 邱正直 Khoo Cheng Tit, set up in 1842. The Deed of Award of 31 August 1887 shows the Government paying $500 to the trustee in bankruptcy of Khoo Cheng Cheok for the ownership of Grant 1012 (General No. 5127, Tanglin), and the tombs appear to lie within that grant. This entry separates what the documents state from what is inferred.
Key Facts 重點
| Item | Fact | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tombs | Wee Hwee Shi 黃惠視 and Simani 思媽尼, with the neighbouring tomb of Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直 and Madam Lee 李孺人 | Documented (inscriptions) |
| The couple | Wee Hwee Shi and Simani were husband and wife and the parents of Holland 和㘓. Simani was not Chinese. | Documented (both stones headed 碧江, same daughter, same date) |
| Date of the two Wee stones | 光緒七年荔月旦, converted to 26 June 1881 (the date of erection, not of death) | Documented; month name to be verified (see Open Questions) |
| Date of the Khoo Cheng Tit tomb | 道光壬寅季春, the 3rd lunar month of 1842 (11 April to 9 May 1842) | Documented |
| Erectors of the Wee stones | Daughter 和㘓 (Holland) and maternal grandsons 邱 Khoo Cheng Cheok and Khoo Cheng Siew | Documented |
| Land | Grant 1012 (1851), General No. 5127, Tanglin District, 4 acres 0 roods 18 poles | Documented; location of the tombs within it is a map overlay |
| Acquisition | Deed of Award, 31 August 1887: $500 to See Ewe Lay, trustee in bankruptcy of Khoo Cheng Cheok | Documented |
| Bankruptcy | Notice dated 3 February 1883; Koo Cheng Chiok, 42 Tanjong Pagar Road, firm chop Tiang Hin, 114 Amoy Street | Documented (Straits Times, 14 February 1883) |
| Tanjong Pagar link | Khoo Cheng Cheok and Tan Hock Choon sold lots in Grant No. 72 in 1877 and 1878; the streets on the plan are Cheng Hock Street and Choon Cheok Street | Documented (deeds); the link of the street name to the two partners is an observation |
Why These Tombs Matter 植物園古墓的意義
The Singapore Botanic Gardens was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 4 July 2015, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and UNESCO describes it as an outstanding example of a British tropical colonial botanic garden. The Gardens at Tanglin was started in 1859, and in 1879 the Superintendent, Henry James Murton, obtained 41.3 hectares north of the Gardens for an Economic Garden, as the National Parks Board history page states. Chinese tombs of the 1880s inside this landscape point to a private burial ground that existed before the land was absorbed into the Gardens. They are also a reminder that several of Singapore's early Chinese burial grounds lay on land later taken for public use. The three tombs were first published on this site in the posts Wee Hwee Shi 黃惠視 and Simani 思媽尼 and Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直 (both 2019).
Where the Tombs Are 墓址
Figure 1. Visitor map of the Singapore Botanic Gardens with the old tombs circled near the Eco-Lake, on the Bukit Timah Road side of the Gardens.
Figure 2. A National Archives of Singapore map with the words MILITARY RESERVE (red oval), overlaid by the modern visitor map to show the tomb location. Map credit: National Archives of Singapore.
Figure 3. Left: lot map showing General No. 5127 / Grant 1012 within the larger parcel marked 219 / 34. Right: a later map marking the tombs location beside the Economic Gardens, near Bukit Timah Road and Cluny Road. Map credit: National Archives of Singapore / Singapore Land Authority records as cited below.
Tomb Inscription 墓碑銘文
Figure 4. One of the two stones, headed 碧江, photographed in the Botanic Gardens (photo from the 2019 post).
Figure 5. The companion stone, with the same layout and the same date (photo from the 2019 post).
Both stones follow the same layout, so one table covers both, with the difference between the two noted in the rows for the names.
| 碑文 | Transcription / Meaning |
|---|---|
| 碧江 | Top left. The ancestral home 籍貫 of the family. In Chinese tomb inscriptions the place name records where the family came from and does not mean that the deceased was born there. The county of this 碧江 has not been identified, because several places carry the name, so it is listed under open questions. |
| 顯祖考諱惠視黃公之墓 | Centre, first stone: "Tomb of the late grandfather, personal name 惠視, Mr Wee 黃". 顯祖考 is the formal title for a deceased grandfather. The name is 黃惠視, rendered Wee Hwee Shi in the earlier post. 黃 is Wee (Hokkien) or Ng/Wong in other dialects, and a Hokkien rendering is assumed here because the grandsons are Khoo (邱), which is not proof of dialect. |
| 顯妣諱思媽尼孺人之墓 | Centre, second stone: "Tomb of the late 顯妣, personal name 思媽尼, Madam 孺人". 顯妣 is the formal title for a deceased mother or female ancestor, and it is read here as the grandmother of the grandsons and the mother of Holland. 孺人 is a courtesy title for a married woman. The name 思媽尼 is transcribed as Simani. Simani was not Chinese, and 思媽尼 is a Chinese phonetic rendering of her name. Wee Hwee Shi and Simani were husband and wife and Holland was their daughter: both stones are headed 碧江, name the same daughter, and carry the same date and layout, as on any husband-and-wife tomb. |
| 光緒七年荔月旦 | Right column: "Guangxu year 7, 荔月, first day". The month is read as the 6th lunar month. The first day of the 6th lunar month of 1881 is 26 June 1881 (new moon calculated for China time; the 1st lunar month began on 30 January 1881). This is the date the stones were erected or dedicated, which is not necessarily the date of death, and neither stone records the death date. |
| 孝女 和㘓 (Holland) | Left column, upper part: "filial daughter 和㘓". The earlier post renders the name as Holland. |
| 外孫 邱睛祱 (Khoo Cheng Cheok) 邱睛疇 (Khoo Cheng Siew) 仝立 | Left column, lower part: "maternal grandsons 邱 Khoo Cheng Cheok and Khoo Cheng Siew, erected jointly". 外孫 means a daughter's son, so the grandsons took the surname of Holland's husband (邱) and not that of the grandfather (黃). The character 睛 also appears in the names of two sons on the Khoo Cheng Tit stone (see below), which links the two families, subject to the character check listed under open questions. |
Notes on the inscriptions:
- Erected in 1881, less than two years before the bankruptcy. The stones were set up in June 1881, and the notice declaring Khoo Cheng Cheok a bankrupt was dated 3 February 1883. This order of events is relevant to who controlled the plot, as discussed below.
- The grandsons name themselves, not their fathers. The stones give no name for Holland's husband. The Khoo identity of the grandsons comes from the inscription, and the shared 睛 character and the neighbouring tomb of Khoo Cheng Tit (next section) point to the Khoo Cheng Tit family.
- No burial register. These are private tombs outside the municipal cemeteries, so there is no burial register entry for the two stones.
A Family Cluster: Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直 (1842) 家族墓群
The two Wee tombs stand within a cluster of three family tombs in the Gardens. The third is the tomb of Khoo Cheng Tit, published on this site as Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直. Its inscription is transcribed in the table below, following the 2019 post.
Figure 6. The tomb of Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直 and his wife, headed 新安, in the Botanic Gardens (photo from the 2019 post).
Figure 7. Close-up of the inscription, with the characters filled in red (photo from the 2019 post).
| 碑文 | Transcription / Meaning |
|---|---|
| 新安 | Top, read from right to left. The ancestral home 籍貫 of the family. As with 碧江, this names where the family came from and does not mean that Khoo Cheng Tit was born there. |
| 皇清待贈故 父諱正直邱府君 | Centre, right column: "The late father, personal name 正直 (Cheng Tit), Mr Khoo 邱", with the Qing-dynasty title 皇清待贈 ("awaiting an imperial posthumous conferment"), a formula used on tombs of commoners. |
| 母諡慈淑李孺人之墓 | Centre, left column: "The late mother, posthumous title 慈淑 (kind and gentle), Madam Lee 李孺人: her tomb". The tomb is a joint tomb of husband and wife. |
| 道光壬寅季春之月吉置 | Right: "Daoguang year 壬寅 (renyin), 季春 (the 3rd lunar month), an auspicious day, laid". The year is 1842. The 3rd lunar month of 1842 began on 11 April and ended on 9 May, and the stone does not give the day. 置 here means that the tomb was laid or set up. |
| 孝男 禎祥 禎福 睛露 睛霑 | Left column: filial sons 禎祥, 禎福, 睛露 and 睛霑, as transcribed in the 2019 post. The first two begin with 禎 and the last two with 睛; both are romanised Cheng here. The two characters differ, so the transcription should be re-checked on the stone. |
| 女 言 德 欢 午 玉英 | Left column: daughters 言, 德, 欢, 午 and 玉英, as transcribed in the 2019 post. Several of these look like fragments of longer names and need re-reading from the photograph. Holland (和㘓) is not among the daughters as transcribed. |
| 孫 維德 立石 | Left column: "grandson 維德 (Wei Teck) erected the stone". |
What the cluster shows:
- The names link the families. Khoo Cheng Cheok 睛祱 and Khoo Cheng Siew 睛疇 share the character 睛 and the sound Cheng with Cheng Tit's sons 睛露 and 睛霑, and the three tombs lie together. Holland, who is not one of the daughters on the 1842 stone, is therefore read as the wife of a member of the Khoo Cheng Tit family. This reading is by Raymond Goh. The inscriptions do not say who her husband was, so the exact line is a working reading and not a documented fact.
- A caution on the generations. If Holland was the wife of one of Cheng Tit's sons, her sons would normally carry a generation character different from their father's. Instead, Cheng Cheok and Cheng Siew share 睛 with Cheng Tit's own sons. That points to two other possibilities: that Holland's husband belonged to Cheng Tit's own generation, or that the shared character is a family character and not a generation marker. The reading as grandsons of Cheng Tit is therefore kept as a working reading, pending a check of the characters on the stones.
- A Khoo family burial ground. Holland's parents, the Wees, were buried beside her husband's family. This suggests that the plot belonged to the Khoo family and that Holland's parents were given a place in it, which would explain how the land came into the hands of Khoo Cheng Cheok.
- The first tomb is 1842, the grant is 1851. Grant 1012 is dated 1851, nine years after the Khoo Cheng Tit tomb. If the tomb lies within the grant, the plot was in use before the grant. This is an inference from two dates, and the grant itself should be checked to see whether it regularised an existing burial ground.
- Dates. 1842 (Khoo Cheng Tit), 1851 (Grant 1012), 1859 (the Gardens at Tanglin started), 1879 (Economic Garden), 1881 (the two Wee tombs), 1887 (Government acquires the ownership).
Evidence Chain: How a Private Plot Became Government Land 證據鏈
The sequence below follows the documents shown in the original post. Each row says what the document states, and the later sections say what is inferred from it.
| # | Document | What it states | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore Free Press, 2 April 1857 | The newspaper reports that the Government had bought a hill near the Bukit Timah road, about four miles from town, to establish a military post. The article does not say that this hill is the site of the tombs, so the link to the Botanic Gardens land is a lead. | NewspaperSG |
| 2 | National Archives of Singapore map, c. 1860s | A large reserve area to the north of the Gardens is labelled MILITARY RESERVE (Figure 2). | National Archives of Singapore, map record |
| 3 | Index of Lands 1887 to Grant No. 1012 (1851), Tanglin, General No. 5127 | Lists the Deed of Award, registered 26 September 1887, from H. J. Haughton, Collector of Land Revenue, to the trustee of the bankrupt estate of Khoo Cheng Cheok, at Volume V, page 229, number 45. The heading gives the grant date as 1851. The index entry does not name the original grantee. | Singapore Land Authority land records (image in Figure 8) |
| 4 | Plan of Grant No. 1012, Tanglin District | Area 4 acres 0 roods 18 poles, scale 4 chains to an inch (Figure 9). | Singapore Land Authority land records |
| 5 | Registry of Deeds, Volume V, page 229, No. 45: Deed of Award, 31 August 1887 | Parties: the Colonial Government of the Straits Settlements; H. J. Haughton, Collector of Land Revenue; person interested: See Ewe Lay, trustee in bankruptcy of Khoo Cheng Cheok. Survey No. 5127, Grant 1012, Tanglin District. The Collector awards $500 as the compensation to be paid by the Government "for the ownership of the said piece of land" to the trustee as the person interested (Figures 10 and 11). | Registry of Deeds copy (file Vol5no45-1012) |
| 6 | Straits Times, 14 February 1883 (notice dated 3 February 1883) | Bankruptcy Ordinance 1870: in the matter of Koo Cheng Chiok, residing at No. 42 Tanjong Pagar Road, trader in copartnership with Tan Hock Soon, chop "Tiang Hin", No. 114 Amoy Street. See Ewe Lay, Head Shroff of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, appointed trustee. Public examination on 12 March 1883. Solicitors: Donaldson & Burkinshaw. | NewspaperSG |
| 7 | Straits Times, 19 August 1889 (notice dated 17 August 1889) | Koo Cheng Chiok and Tan Hock Choon, chop Tiang Hin, 114 Amoy Street: a dividend is intended to be declared, and creditors who have not proved their debts by 7 September are excluded. Signed S. Ewe Lay, Trustee. The partner's name is spelt Hock Soon in 1883 and Hock Choon in 1889. | NewspaperSG |
Figure 8. Index of Lands 1887 to Grant No. 1012 (1851), Tanglin, General No. 5127, with the Deed of Award registered on 26 September 1887.
Figure 9. Plan of Grant No. 1012, Tanglin District, area 4 a. 0 r. 18 p.
Figure 10. Registry of Deeds, Volume V, page 229, No. 45: Deed of Award dated 31 August 1887.
Figure 11. Text of the award: five hundred dollars compensation "to be paid by the Government for the ownership of the said piece of land" to See Ewe Lay as trustee in bankruptcy for the estate of Khoo Cheng Cheok.
Reading the Evidence: What Is Documented and What Is Inferred 結論與推論
| Statement | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| The tombs stand within the Singapore Botanic Gardens. | Documented | Gardens visitor map and site photographs (Figure 1); NParks and UNESCO describe the Gardens as a World Heritage Site. |
| The stones were erected in the 6th lunar month of 1881 by Holland and her sons Khoo Cheng Cheok and Khoo Cheng Siew. | Documented | Inscription. |
| The tomb plot lies within Grant 1012, General No. 5127, Tanglin. | Documented as a location match | Overlay of the lot on the tomb location (Figure 3). A survey of the plot would confirm it exactly. |
| Khoo Cheng Cheok's bankrupt estate held the ownership of Grant 1012 in 1887, and the Government paid $500 compensation to his trustee. | Documented | Deed of Award, 31 August 1887; Index of Lands 1887. |
| The Khoo Cheng Cheok of the tombs is the Khoo Cheng Cheok of the bankruptcy and of the Tanjong Pagar land. | Strong inference | The same name, the same grant, and the tombs' date less than two years before the bankruptcy. Names in 1883 are spelt Koo Cheng Chiok, which is a different romanisation of the same name. |
| The 1857 military post and the MILITARY RESERVE map refer to the land that became the Economic Garden. | Lead only | The 1857 report gives only a hill near Bukit Timah Road about four miles from town. The NParks history says the Economic Garden was obtained in 1879 and later taken for Raffles College, so the stages of ownership of the surrounding land need a Government Gazette and Land Office check. |
| The plot was a Khoo family burial ground, and Khoo Cheng Cheok held it through his family. | Strong inference | The Khoo Cheng Tit tomb (1842) lies in the same cluster, the Wee tombs were erected by Khoo grandsons, and the estate of Khoo Cheng Cheok held the ownership in 1887. The 1851 grantee is not named in the index and must be found in the Grant itself. |
| The three tombs form one family cluster. | Documented as a location and a family-name link | The three stones are together in the Gardens, and the name character 睛 appears on the Khoo Cheng Tit and the Wee tombs. How the families are related is not stated, and the generation characters need checking (see the family cluster section). |
| Wee Hwee Shi and Simani were husband and wife and the parents of Holland, and Simani was not Chinese. | Documented | Both stones are headed 碧江, name the same daughter, and carry the same date and layout. |
| The tombs remain in place after the 1887 acquisition. | Observed | The documents do not say why they were left. |
The Tanjong Pagar Land and Cheng Cheok Street
The Registry of Deeds copies show Khoo Cheng Cheok and Tan Hock Choon (Hok Choon) selling building lots in Tanjong Pagar, in the area of Grant No. 72, in the late 1870s. The Chinese name used for the second partner is not given in the English documents.
| Date | Deed | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 15 October 1861 | Indenture recited in the 1878 deed | The Secretary of State for India conveyed Lot 11, Tanjong Pagar (about 3¼ acres) under Act IX of 1842 to Yeo Koon Ho, who is written in the deed as Toleap Young alias Eyo Koon Hoo. The same Yeo Koon Ho is named in Song Ong Siang's One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore. |
| 17 November 1877 | Indenture of Conveyance, Vol. XVIII, p. 639, No. 166 | Khoo Cheng Cheok and Tan Hok Choon, both of Singapore, traders (vendors), to Sheikh Abdullah bin Yayah Al Arishe (purchaser): Lot 35, part of Grant No. 72, Tanjong Pagar. Registered on behalf of Syed Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Junied, merchant, of 44 High Street. |
| 18 January 1878 | Indenture of Conveyance, Registry of Deeds copy | Khoo Cheng Cheok and Tan Hok Choon to Imamsah (Emamsah), Singapore dubash (purchaser), Lots 39 and 40, Grant No. 72, Tanjong Pagar, registered on behalf of Tan Ing, timber trader. The consideration is acknowledged as Spanish $500, signed "K. Cheng Chock" with a signature in Chinese characters, witnessed by Tan Keng Chiang, clerk to J. S. Bond, Notary Public. The Chinese signature appears to end in the character 春 (Choon), which would fit Tan Hock Choon, and has not been confirmed. |
| 30 March and 12 June 1885 | Memorandum of sales, Land at Tanjong Pagar District, Singapore Town (p. 645) | A schedule of lots sold in 1885 (for example Lots 36, 37, 38 and 141 to 144) at prices from $250 to $2,700. The page shown does not state who the vendor was, so this is cited only as evidence that the subdivision was being sold. |
Figure 12. Subdivision plan from the Registry of Deeds (Indenture No. 44), showing Cheng Hock Street and Choon Cheok Street with numbered building lots, Part 2 of Lease No. 72, beside Tanjong Pagar Road.
The plan names two streets, Cheng Hock Street and Choon Cheok Street. Together they use the four syllables of the partners' names, Cheng Cheok and Hock Choon, reshuffled in pairs: Cheng-Hock and Choon-Cheok. No document says that this was intended, so this is an observation and not a documented fact. Later maps show a single Cheng Cheok Street in the Tanjong Pagar area. Wikipedia, citing Savage and Yeoh's Singapore Street Names, describes it as a semi-circular road, joined at both ends to Tanjong Pagar Road, named after Khoo Cheng Cheok, who is believed there to be the brother of the rice merchant Khoo Cheng Tiong, president of the Thong Chai Medical Institution. That relationship is a lead and has not been checked against the original.
Figure 13. Older map with Cheng Cheok Street circled, in the Tanjong Pagar area. Map credit: National Archives of Singapore.
Figure 14. Mid-twentieth-century street map showing Cheng Cheok Street, Cheng Tuan Street and Yan Kit Road near Tanjong Pagar Road.
Figure 15. Cheng Cheok Street in 1968 (photograph, National Archives of Singapore, as captioned in the original post).
Cheng Cheok Street was known in Hokkien as Gu Kak Wan 牛角灣, "ox-horn crescent", after the curve of the street, according to the original post. The street was later removed in the urban renewal that produced Tanjong Pagar Plaza, which the Roots.gov.sg record describes as completed in two phases, in 1977 and 1980.
People in This Story 相關人物
| Name | Role in the documents | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 黃惠視 Wee Hwee Shi and 思媽尼 Simani | Husband and wife; buried in the two tombs; ancestral home of Wee Hwee Shi's family 碧江 | Simani was not Chinese. Parents of Holland. No death date on the stones; erected 1881. |
| 和㘓 (Holland) | Daughter; named first among the erectors | Mother of Khoo Cheng Cheok and Khoo Cheng Siew according to 外孫 on the stones. The name of her husband is not given. |
| 邱 Khoo Cheng Cheok | Erector of the tombs (1881); vendor of Tanjong Pagar lots (1877, 1878); bankrupt (notice dated 3 February 1883), then of 42 Tanjong Pagar Road | Spelt Koo Cheng Cheok, Koo Cheng Chiok and Kho Cheng Cheok in different documents; this entry uses Khoo Cheng Cheok. |
| 邱 Khoo Cheng Siew | Co-erector of the tombs | Not found in the land records shown. |
| Tan Hock Choon | Partner of Khoo Cheng Cheok in the firm Tiang Hin, 114 Amoy Street; co-vendor of Tanjong Pagar lots | Spelt Hock Soon in the 1883 notice and Hock Choon in the 1889 notice and the deeds. |
| See Ewe Lay | Trustee in bankruptcy; received the $500 award on behalf of the estate (1887); described as Head Shroff of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1883 | The National Library Board guide gives See Ewe Lay 薛有礼 (1851 to 1906) as born in Melaka into the Peranakan See clan, who joined the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank as a comprador and started the newspaper Lat Pau in 1881 (National Library Board). That this is the same man as the trustee is an inference from the name and the bank, and the 1883 notice calls him Head Shroff. |
| 邱正直 Khoo Cheng Tit and Madam Lee 李孺人 | Buried in the third tomb of the cluster; ancestral home 新安; tomb set up 1842 | Sons 禎祥, 禎福, 睛露 and 睛霑; daughters 言, 德, 欢, 午 and 玉英 (as transcribed); grandson 維德 erected the stone. The relationship to Holland's husband is a working reading (see the family cluster section). |
| Khoo Cheng Tiong | Rice merchant and president of the Thong Chai Medical Institution, said to be a brother of Khoo Cheng Cheok | Reference only, from Wikipedia citing Savage and Yeoh; not seen in the documents here. Khoo Cheng Cheok should be a different person from the above |
| Imamsah, Sheikh Abdullah bin Yayah Al Arishe, Tan Ing | Purchasers of Tanjong Pagar lots from Khoo Cheng Cheok and Tan Hock Choon (1877 and 1878) | Shows a mixed clientele of Arab, Indian Muslim and Chinese buyers in Tanjong Pagar. |
Open Questions 待查事項
- Simani's origin. Simani was not Chinese. Which community she came from, and 和㘓 (Holland) is also a Chinese rendering of a non-Chinese name, is still to be established.
- The 1851 grant. The name of the first grantee of Grant 1012, and whether the grant regularised a burial ground in use since 1842 or earlier.
- The acquisition. The Government Gazette and Land Office notices of 1887 for the acquisition, including the claim deadline of 11 July 1887 noted in the original post, which should be re-checked against the Deed, and the purpose of the acquisition (extension of the Economic Garden, or other).
- The Khoo line. Who Holland's husband was, how he was related to Khoo Cheng Tit,
- Lease or grant. The deeds and the plan in Figure 12 are described as Grant No. 72 and Lease No. 72, and the wording should be checked against the documents.
- Survey. A site survey that places the three stones inside the lot boundary of Grant 1012.
Newspaper Record 報章記錄
Each entry links to the page in NewspaperSG, National Library Board, Singapore.
| Date | Newspaper and page | Summary | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 April 1857 | Singapore Free Press (article 1.2.4) | Government reported to have bought a hill near Bukit Timah road, about four miles from town, for a military post. | Read |
| 14 February 1883 | Straits Times, p. 3, Advertisements, column 3 | Bankruptcy notice of Koo Cheng Chiok, 42 Tanjong Pagar Road, with Tan Hock Soon, chop Tiang Hin; See Ewe Lay appointed trustee; public examination 12 March 1883. Dated 3 February 1883. | Read |
| 19 August 1889 | Straits Times, p. 2, Advertisements, column 4 | Notice by S. Ewe Lay, Trustee, of an intended dividend; creditors to prove debts by 7 September. Dated 17 August 1889. | Read |
Sources 資料來源
- Registry of Deeds, Settlement of Singapore: Vol. V p. 229 No. 45 (Deed of Award, 31 August 1887); Vol. XVIII p. 639 No. 166 (17 November 1877); Indenture of 18 January 1878 (Grant No. 72); Index of Lands 1887 to Grant 1012. Copies from the Singapore Land Authority, as reproduced in the images above.
- National Archives of Singapore, map record (c. 1860s). http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/maps_building_plans/record-details/f96669fc-115c-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens (ref. 1483). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1483/
- Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore Botanic Gardens Conservation Area (inscribed 4 July 2015). https://www.ura.gov.sg/conservation/find-a-building/conservation-portal/sbg/
- Singapore Botanic Gardens (NParks), Our History. https://sbg.nparks.gov.sg/about/our-history/
- See Ewe Lay, Singapore reference guide, National Library Board. https://reference.nlb.gov.sg/guides/singapore/people/see-ewe-lay/
- Tanjong Pagar, Wikipedia (section on Cheng Cheok Street, citing Savage and Yeoh, Singapore Street Names, 2013). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanjong_Pagar
- Tanjong Pagar Plaza, built 1976, Roots.gov.sg. https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1481781
- Wee Hwee Shi 黃惠視 and Simani 思媽尼, S.T.E.M., 2019. https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2019/09/blog-post_4.html
- Khoo Cheng Tit 邱正直, S.T.E.M., 2019. https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2019/09/blog-post.html
- Song Ong Siang, One Hundred Years' History of the Chinese in Singapore (1923), Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/onehundredyearsh0000ongs
- Newspaper articles as listed above, via NewspaperSG, National Library Board, Singapore. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/
- Lunar to Gregorian conversion: the 1st day of the 6th lunar month of Guangxu 7 is 26 June 1881, and the 1st day of the 3rd lunar month of Daoguang 22 is 11 April 1842, calculated from new moon dates for China time.
About this record. This entry is part of Singapore Tombstones Epigraphic Materials (S.T.E.M.) 新加坡墓碑銘集录, a specialised digital documentation project and archive recording historical tomb inscriptions in Singapore, with a focus on Bukit Brown Cemetery 武吉布朗坟场 and other early Chinese burial grounds. Each record transcribes the original Chinese inscription, gives an English translation, cross-checks it against the burial register, and adds a short biography drawn from contemporary newspapers and archival sources.
Cite this entry as:
Raymond Goh and Charles Goh. "Decoding the Mystery of the Botanic Gardens Tombs 植物園古墓: Wee Hwee Shi 黃惠視, Simani 思媽尼 and Khoo Cheng Cheok." Singapore Tombstones Epigraphic Materials (S.T.E.M.), tombs.bukitbrown.org, https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2026/02/decoding-mystery-of-botanic-gardens.html. Accessed [date].
Keywords: Botanic Gardens tombs, Singapore Botanic Gardens, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 植物園古墓, Wee Hwee Shi, 黃惠視, Simani, 思媽尼, Holland, 和㘓, Khoo Cheng Cheok, Koo Cheng Chiok, 邱睛祱, Khoo Cheng Siew, Khoo Cheng Tit, 邱正直, Khoo Cheng Tiong, 新安, 道光壬寅, 1842, Yeo Koon Ho, Tan Hock Choon, Tiang Hin, Amoy Street, See Ewe Lay, 薛有礼, Cheng Cheok Street, Gu Kak Wan, 牛角灣, Cheng Hock Street, Choon Cheok Street, Tanjong Pagar Plaza, Grant 1012, General 5127, Tanglin, Economic Garden, Deed of Award 1887, bankruptcy 1883, 碧江, 光緒七年, 1881, Chinese tomb inscriptions Singapore, Singapore Tombstones Epigraphic Materials, S.T.E.M.
Botanic Gardens Family - Khoo Cheng Tit Name - Khoo 邱 Name - Wee 黃
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