{{short description|Hong Kong compradore and philanthropist (1863–1926)}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Ho Fook.png | image_size = 170px | alt = | honorific_prefix = | name = Ho Fook | honorific_suffix = | office = Unofficial Member of the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] | term_start = 22 October 1917 | term_end = 14 November 1921 | successor = [[Chow Shou-son]] | predecessor = [[Wei Yuk]] | appointer = Sir [[Francis Henry May]] | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1863|11|30}} | birth_place = British Hong Kong | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1926|8|29|1863|11|30}} | death_place = British Hong Kong | party = | occupation = [[Compradore]] | alma_mater = [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|Government Central School]] | resting_place = | spouse = Lucy née Rothwell |signature = | footnotes = }} [[File:Hotung boys.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ho Fook (left, standing) with his brother [[Robert Hotung]] (seated, middle)]] [[File:Ho Fook's sons.png|200px|thumb|right|Sons of Ho Fook]]
'''Ho Fook''' ({{lang-zh|c=何福|Ho Fuk}}; 30 November 1863 – 29 August 1926), alias '''Ho Chak-sang''', [[Justice of Peace|JP]], was a prominent Hong Kong [[Eurasian]] [[compradore]] and philanthropist.
==Early life== Ho was born in Hong Kong in 1863 to the wealthy Jew Charles Henry Maurice Bosman and [[Boat Dwellers]] mother Sze Sze.<ref name=clem/><ref name=court/><ref name=shar/>
== Education == Ho studied at the [[Queen's College, Hong Kong|Government Central School]] (later became the Queen's College).
== Career== After graduating, Ho joined a Chinese shipping firm in [[Haiphong]] as a clerk and later worked as a translator at the Registrar-General's department. He joined a legal firm called Denneys & Mossop in 1882 as an interpreter and worked at the firm for three years.<ref name="Wright"/>
In 1891, he was appointed assistant compradore to the [[Jardine, Matheson & Co.]] under his elder brother [[Robert Hotung]] who was the chief compradore. He succeeded his brother as the chief compradore of the firm in 1900 and his younger half brother [[Ho Kom-tong]] became his assistant.<ref name="Wright"/> His son, Ho Leung, succeeded his father to become the chief compradore of the Jardine, Matheson & Co. after his retirement.<ref name="loss"/>
He was appointed many public offices as the leader of the Chinese community. He was appointed [[Justice of the Peace]] in 1892 and was appointed to the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] in 1917 as one of the representatives of the Chinese community on retirement of [[Wei Yuk]] and served until 1921. In 1926, he was appointed to the Board which advised the government upon the distribution of the Trade Loan.<ref name="loss">{{cite news|title=Colony's Loss|date=30 August 1926|newspaper=The China Mail|page=1}}</ref>
He was also member of the District Watchmen's Committee, member of the Chinese Permanent Cemetery Committee, the Chinese Public Dispensaries Committee, advisory committee of the [[Tung Wah Hospital]] and [[Po Leung Kuk]], the two most prominent charitable organisations in the colony. He was also the managing director of the local newspaper ''[[Hongkong Telegraph]]''.<ref name="Wright"/><ref name="loss"/> With [[Lau Chu-pak]], they founded the [[Chinese General Chamber of Commerce]] in 1900.<ref>{{cite book|title=Lugard in Hong Kong: Empires, Education and a Governor at Work|page=197|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|first=Bernard|last=Mellor}}</ref>
In 1921, Ho and fellow Legislative Councilor [[Lau Chu Pak]] established the Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai in defense of the [[mui-tsai]] system, a form of child slavery with the support of Chinese community leaders like [[Ts'o Seen Wan]], [[Chow Shou-son]] and [[Ho Kom-tong]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Carl T.|date=1981|title=The Chinese Church, Labour and Elites and the Mui Tsai question in the 1920s|journal=[[Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society]]|language=en|volume=21|pages=91–113|issn=0085-5774}}</ref>
He served as vice-president of the Ellis Kadoorie Chinese School Society and member of the Court of the [[University of Hong Kong]]. he was also the founder of the annual scholarship for students at the Queen's College and the University of Hong Kong.<ref name="Wright"/> His donation to the University of Hong Kong also became the foundation of the School of Physiology.<ref name="loss"/>
== Death == Ho suffered from a [[relapse]] on 29 August 1926 and died in the afternoon.<ref name="death">{{cite news|title=Death of Mr. Ho Fook.|newspaper=The Hongkong Telegraph|date=30 August 1926|page=7}}</ref>
==Family== {{see also|Hotung family}} Ho Fook's father was a man of [[History of Jews in the Netherlands|Jewish Dutch]] ancestry named Charles Henri Maurice Bosman (1839–1892)<ref name=clem>{{Cite web |url=http://www.clement-jones.com/ps02/ps02_340.htm |title=Charles Henri Maurice BOSMAN |access-date=9 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822055907/http://www.clement-jones.com/ps02/ps02_340.htm |archive-date=22 August 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=court>{{cite book|last=Courtauld|first= Caroline & Holdsworth, May|year=1997|title=The Hong Kong Story|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=0-19-590353-6}}</ref><ref name=shar>{{Cite web|url=http://sharonoddiebrown.blogspot.com/2012/11/sir-robert-ho-tung-1862-1956.html|title=The Silver Bowl: Sir Robert Ho Tung (1862-1956)|date=8 November 2012}}</ref> and his mother was Madame Sze, a local woman of Bao'an (present-day [[Shenzhen]]) heritage. His brothers Sir [[Robert Hotung]] and half-brother Ho Kom-tong (same mother; father Kwok Hing-yin (郭興賢)) were also prominent social figures in Hong Kong. Ho Kom-tong's daughter Grace Ho (何愛瑜) was the mother of [[Bruce Lee]].
Ho Fook had thirteen sons and five of them survived when Ho Fook died. All of them were educated in England and three of whom worked as compradores for various foreign companies, Ho Leung was the chief compradore of the Jardine, Matheson & Co. after his father, Ho Iu was the compradore of the [[Mercantile Bank of India, London and China]], and Ho Ki was the compradore of [[E.D. Sassoon & Co.]] Ho Wing, another son of him who was adopted by Robert Hotung was also the compradore of the [[Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation]]. There were also Ho Kwong and [[Ho Sai-chuen|S. C. Ho]] in which the latter was member of the [[Sanitary Board]]. Ho Fook had also five daughters.<ref name="loss"/> One of Ho Fook's grandsons, [[Stanley Ho]], was a casino and shipping magnate.
Ho Fook lived at No. 10, [[Caine Road]] (now the site of Caritas House and the Catholic Diocese Centre).<ref name="Wright">{{cite book|title=Twentieth century impressions of Hong-kong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China. Their history, people, commerce, industries, and resources|first=Arnold|last=Wright|year=1908|publisher=Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub. Co.|location=London}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|hk}} {{s-bef | before = [[Wei Yuk]]}} {{s-ttl | title = Chinese [[Unofficial Member]] | years = 1917–1921}} {{s-aft | after = [[Chow Shouson]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Hotung family}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Fook}} [[Category:1863 births]] [[Category:1926 deaths]] [[Category:Hong Kong people of Dutch-Jewish descent]] [[Category:Hong Kong businesspeople]] [[Category:Hong Kong philanthropists]] [[Category:Hong Kong justices of the peace]] [[Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong]] [[Category:Jardines (company)]] [[Category:Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong]] [[Category:Ho family]] [[Category:People from British Hong Kong]]