Seow Chit Lin (Bukit Brown)

The headstones of Mr. and Mrs. Seow Chit Lin have been completely enveloped by a fig tree. The only piece visible is the below marble stone on the right side of the twin tomb that helped us identify him. Seow Chit Lin passed away at the age of 56 on 6 July 1923. From the newspaper articles, it was reported that Seow Chit Lin passed away on 6 July 1923 at 54 Spottiswoode Park Road, Singapore. 

Unfortunately, i didn't  take a good picture, i can only make out the name of 2 of his son's name - Seow Kway Joon and Seow Kway Pay. From his obituary article, his children are Seow Kway Joon, Seow Kway Pay and Mrs. Gan Hock Swee. He leaves beside the above a widow, 4 grandsons and 2 granddaughters. 

Seow Chit Lin was once the Shroff or Camprodore of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. 

Seow Chit Lin 

The 1915 Lawsuit: A Career Unravels

On 22 October 1915, the High Court delivered judgment in a case that would destroy Seow Chit Lin's reputation and career: Chartered Bank versus Seow Chit Lim [Lin], Compradore, and Khoo Yong Tin and Chee Swee Cheng (his sureties).

The Charges:

The Chartered Bank claimed that Seow Chit Lin had committed acts through which the bank suffered damages exceeding $20,000—an enormous sum in 1915 Singapore.

The Verdict:

The judge found that the compradore had, through false representations, induced the bank to enter into certain contracts and had purchased cover to meet those liabilities. The court ruled in favor of the bank.

Source: Straits Echo, 23 October 1915

This judgment effectively ended Seow's career in banking and set in motion his financial collapse.

Bankruptcy: A Fall from Grace

By 1918, just three years after the lawsuit, the full extent of Seow Chit Lin's financial ruin became public. Court records show that Seow Chit Lin, compradore of the Chartered Bank, a bankrupt of 54 Spottiswoode Park, had debts amounting to $44,000.

To put this in perspective, $44,000 in 1918 would be equivalent to several hundred thousand dollars in today's money—a staggering amount that suggests either extensive business dealings gone wrong or a dramatic accumulation of debt following his dismissal from the bank.

Despite this bankruptcy, Seow continued to live at 54 Spottiswoode Park Road, where he would eventually die five years later in 1923.

Location of tomb

Block 1 Section E, plot 66, Bukit Brown Cemetery. 

Tags: Banking, Bankruptcy, Bukit Brown, Block 1 Division E, Chartered Bank, Compradore, Colonial Singapore