1. William Keswick was a British Conservative politician and businessman, patriarch of the Keswick family, an influential shipping family in Hong Kong associated with Jardine Matheson Holdings.
13 Facts About William Keswick
1. 2.
William Keswick's grandmother, Jean Jardine Johnstone, was an older sister of Dr William Jardine, co-founder of Jardine Matheson.
3.
William Keswick operated as merchant traders and had a major influence in the First and Second Opium Wars although the company stopped this trading in 1870 to pursue a broad range of trades including shipping, railways, textiles and property development.
4.
William Keswick established a Jardine Matheson office in Yokohama, Japan in 1859.
5.
William Keswick returned to Hong Kong to become a partner of the firm in 1862.
6.
William Keswick became managing partner or Tai-pan of the firm in 1874 until his departure in 1886.
7.
William Keswick remained the firm's managing director until his death in 1912.
8.
William Keswick served as a director in the then British-based fur trading firm Hudson's Bay Company.
9.
William Keswick spent three spells on the Legislative and Executive Councils of Hong Kong between 1868 and 1887.
10.
Whilst in the colony, William Keswick served as Consul-general for the Kingdom of Hawaii, for which he was made a Knight Commander of the Hawaiian Order of Kalakao.
11.
William Keswick acted as consul for the Kingdom of Denmark in Hong Kong.
12.
William Keswick died the day after this resignation at his home, Eastwood Park, Great Bookham, Surrey, on 9March 1912 aged 77.
13.
William Keswick had lived in the house since 1882 and on his death, it passed to his son Henry.