Sir Catchick Paul Chater | |
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Sir Paul Chater in 1924
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Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council | |
In office 8 September 1896 – 27 May 1926 |
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Appointed by | William Robinson |
Governor |
William Robinson Henry Arthur Blake Matthew Nathan Frederick Lugard Francis Henry May Reginald Edward Stubbs Cecil Clementi |
Succeeded by | Sir Henry Pollock |
Senior Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council | |
In office 1 May 1900 – 16 January 1906 |
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Appointed by | Henry Arthur Blake |
Governor | Henry Arthur Blake Matthew Nathan |
Preceded by | Emanuel Raphael Belilios |
Succeeded by | Sir Kai Ho |
Personal details | |
Born |
Khachik Pogose Astwachatoor 8 September 1846 Calcutta, India |
Died | 27 May 1926 British Hong Kong |
(aged 79)
Spouse(s) | Maria Christine Pearson |
Occupation | Businessman |
Religion | Armenian Apostolic |
Website | [1] |
Paul Chater | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 遮打 | ||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Jē dá |
Jyutping | Ze1 daa2 |
Sir Catchick Paul Chater KBE CMG (Armenian: Փոլ Չաթեր; Chinese: 遮打; 8 September 1846 – 27 May 1926), was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong.
Chater was born Khachik Pogose Astwachatoor (Armenian: Խաչիկ Պողոս Աստվածատրյան) in Calcutta, British India, one of thirteen offspring of Armenian parents Miriam and Chater Paul Chater. His father was a member of the Indian civil service.
Chater was orphaned at the age of seven, and he gained entry into the La Martiniere College in Calcutta on a scholarship. He later became a benefactor of the school when, in the early 1910s he made the single biggest donation to any institution or organisation whilst still alive, donating eleven lakhs Rupees to the desperately struggling school, thus allowing it to avoid certain closure. To honour his contribution to the school, Sir Paul Chater's name was included in the school prayer. In 1864, he moved to Hong Kong from Calcutta and lived with the family of his sister Anna and sister's husband Jordan Paul Jordan.
In the early days in Hong Kong, he was an assistant at the Bank of Hindustan, China and Japan. Later, with the aid of the Sassoon family, he set up business as an exchange broker, resigned from the bank, and traded gold bullion and land on his own account. He took sea-bed soundings at night in a sampan and was thus instrumental in plotting the reclamation of Victoria Harbour. He is credited with a pivotal role in the colonial government's success in acquiring lands then held by the military, at a cost of two million pounds sterling.