I was at Tiong Bahru for dinner yesterday and taking a walk around that area prior to dinner. Tiong Bahru for the last few years is having a revival of sorts with its beautiful art deco buildings conserved and a new community of people and business moving in, making this area a fusion of new and old, with new cafes, bookshops alongside traditional coffee shops and eateries. While making my way to the hawker centre, the street name of the road opposite Tiong Bahru market caught my eye. The street name was Lim Liak Street.
Lim Leack / Lim Liak came from China in or about the year 1825, and was involved in tin mining in the Malaya as well as the cultivation of tapioca in Malacca. As a merchant, his firm, Leack Chin Seng & Co. had a branch office in Malacca, and as early as 1851 the firm had owned several schooners flying the British flag and he traded with China. He married a Straits born wife, Madam Yeo Im Neo and among his descendants is a Mr Lim Chan Sin (cashier to Sandilands, Buttery & Co,) who is his grandson.
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| Lim Liak / Lim Leack |
Leack Chin Seng & Co founding partners included merchants such as Messrs Chee Yam Chuan (of Malacca) and Messrs Tan Chin Seng. Another founding partner of Lim Leack's Co was the Choa family, notably Choa Chuan Ghiok, whose nephew Kim Keat started his career in the tin industry.
Death
His large business relations with China made him to make frequent visits to his native country, and he died there at the age of 71 years. A telegram from Hongkong dated the September 1, 1875 was received here announcing the death of Lim Leack on August 22, 1875.
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| Lim Liak Street |
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| Opposite the street sign is the Tiong Bahru hawker centre |
Family Tree and the Bukit Brown connection
Lim Leack two sons were famous in their own right (that is for a future article) and when they passed away they were initially buried in a private family cluster in Tiong Bahru area. Due to colonial government development of Tiong Bahru re area, Lim Teck Ghee and Lim Teck Whee tombs together with Mrs Lim Liak, were reinterred to Bukit Brown in 1928.
Lim Leack /Lim Liak married to Madam Yeo Im Neo
Sons: Lim Teck Ghee, Lim Teck Whee, Lim Teck Chong
Lim Teck Ghee (died 1891)
Wife: Tan Poh Neo
Sons: Lim Chan Eng, Lim Hock Hin
Grandson: Lim Hong Siang
Lim Teck Whee (died 1883)
Wife: Wee Watt Neo
Sons: Lim Chan Sin, Lim Chan Siew
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| Lim Teck Ghee (Bukit Brown) |
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| Lim Teck Whee (Bukit Brown) |
Yeo Imm Neo was originally buried on private land (in Bishan?) owned by her elder son, Lim Teck Ghee. He was also buried there later. When the land was sold, the headstones were relocated to Bt Brown. Lim Teck Whee and his maternal grandmother were buried in the Lim cemetery in Tiong Bahru and reburied in Bt Brown when the colonial government acquired the land in the 1920s.
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