Seow Poh Leng

Seow Poh Leng (simplified Chinese: 萧保龄; traditional Chinese: 蕭保齡; pinyin: Xiāo Bǎo Líng; 1883 - 1942) one of the first few Peranakan Babas at Emerald Hill, was a prominent and successful Singaporean banker, founding member of the Ho Hong Bank, member of the committee of the Straits Settlement (Settlement of Singapore),philanthropist and benefactor of public development works. He was a strong advocate of limited liability trading and promoted the advantages of the Limited Liability Company system.

Seow Poh Leng, the second son of Seow Chye Watt, came from humble beginnings. He spent two years in a Chinese school and completed his schooling at the Anglo-Chinese School. After passing his Senior Cambridge examinations, he decided to become a teacher. He competed for the Queen's Scholarships in 1902. He failed to win the much-coveted prize, and attributed his failure to the fact that he had to divide his time between his duties as a pupil teacher and preparing for the examinations.

In order to help support his family, he was forced to take up additional work. After school each day he would sell nonya cakes and nasi lemak cooked by his mother and sisters. One day, when he saw some of his pupils in the distance, he threw all of his food away fearing they would see him and lose respect for him. He was punished when he returned home.

Later, Seow moved on from teaching to become the manager of the Ho Hong Bank. He was also a cashier at John Little & Co for many years, before he entered the rice business. His chequered career included stints as a chemist's assistant, schoolmaster, lawyer's clerk, stock-broker, insurance agent and company liquidator.

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