Sir Elly Kadoorie

Eleazer Silas Kadoorie, also known as Sir Elly Kadoorie (1867 - 1944), was a philanthropist and member of the wealthy Baghdadian Family that had large business interests in the Far East. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1926. The Chinese government rewarded him the Order of the Order of the Brilliant Jade.

Biographical Summary

• from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elly_Kadoorie

Kadoorie arrived in Shanghai from Bombay in 1880 as an employee of the Sephardi Jewish firm David Sassoon & Sons. Within a few years he had accumulated large sums of money and had gone into business on his own account, with companies in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. He became the largest shareholder when CLP was restructured in early 20th century. Over the next two decades, the Kadoorie brothers made their fortunes, achieving success in banking, rubber plantations, electric power utilities and real estate, and gaining a major share-holding in Hong Kong Hotels Limited.

Kadoorie and other members of his family were interned in the Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong in January 1942. They were released two months later and allowed to move back to Shanghai. Though son Lawrence Kadoorie and his family were later interned in Shanghai's Chapei (now Zhabei) internment camp in 1943, Sir Elly was exempted from internment on medical grounds. Sir Elly Kadoorie eventually died in Shanghai on August 2, 1944 (note: probate record gives death date as 8 February 1944).

Sir Elly Kadoorie's grave and his wife Laura's grave are located in the SongQingLin Memorial Park near HongQiao Road, Shanghai and is open to visitors. The tombstone of their grave is amongst only four Jewish Graves in Shanghai which remained intact and were not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Notes

1. Kelly alias Kadoorie Names Behind the Name "The Kelly Disguise."  "A broker who traded under the alias of E.S. Kelly, then a common practice in the colony. He was half of Benjamin & Kelly, and by March 1890 had bought his first 25 shares in the hotel company under his assumed name. In reality he was Eleazar (Elly) Silas Kadoorie. Elly, brothers Moyses and Ellis, and nephew Reuben, had all used the “Kelly” alias in colonial business circles since arriving from Baghdad via India in the 1880s."
2. 1894 Jury list c. Kelly, Eleazer Silas, Broker, Benjamin & Kelly, Upper Richmond Road
3. Shanghai Kadoorie House (Addr: No. 64 West Yan'an Road; Yan'an Road and Huashan Road Station), also known as the Marble Hall. This marvelous and Alhambresque construction was finished in 1924 by Sir Eleazer Silas Kadoorie who was also a British Jew. The Kadoorie's family has always been generous and charitable. Sir Kadoorie has donated to construct several hospitals, medical equipments and schools. Kadoorie House now is the China Welfare Institute of Children's Palace, which is the first Children's Palace in China.
4. juin 1932 IRAK Baghdad Visite de Sir Elly Kadoorie et de ses fils a l'ecole Laura Kadoorie.
5. "Sir Elly Kadoorie, Bagdad-born Jewish Prilanthropist, Dies in Japanese Captivity." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 5 Mar 1944.