1890 Albumen Photographs of Hong Kong Happy Valley, Peak Tram

The Peak Tram and Happy Valley Racecourse during Hong Kong’s rise to cityhood.

A remarkable find, this is a c. 1890 pair of back-to-back albumen photographs of two of the most distinctive sites in Hong Kong, the Happy Valley Racecourse and the Peak Tram. Together, they capture the colony's transition from a colonial trade entrepot and military outpost into a proper city with infrastructure and entertainment.

A Closer Look

The first photograph covers the Happy Valley Racecourse, looking southwards towards the highlands, including Jardine's Lookout, so named because from there a constant watch was kept in Hong Kong's early years for the ships belonging to Jardine and Matheson. Several structures can be seen around the racecourse, including a stable and a permanent grandstand. The road in the foreground is likely Wong Nai Chung Road, and the statue at bottom-right is likely a gravestone of the Hong Kong Cemetery, the colony's main British cemetery in its early years.

The photograph on the verso takes in the steepest portion of the tram line ascending Victoria Peak, the highest hill on Hong Kong Island. Near the top of the photo is the only turnout or passing loop on the otherwise single-tracked line, roughly at the midpoint along its length and just beyond the point where the May Road stop was later built.

The Happy Valley Racecourse

The origins of the Happy Valley Racecourse lie in the earliest days of British colonial rule in Hong Kong, when a marshy swampland originally slated for housing was instead turned into a sporting ground due to concerns about the area being a breeding ground for malaria, which was rampant in the early years of the colony. The name 'Happy Valley' was euphemistic, as that phrase was a common Victorian term for a cemetery. Ironically, the hills around the racetrack did become home to several cemeteries in the following decades, including Hong Kong's main historic Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Parsee, and Catholic cemeteries, as well as the city's main cemetery in its early years (Hong Kong Cemetery), where many colonial and military figures are buried.

Because the valley floor provided the only substantial flat land on the island, the British drained existing rice and sweet potato paddies to create a primitive track in the mid-1840s. The first official race was held in December 1846, establishing a tradition of annual 'Annual Grand Races' or 'Derby Day' that typically took place around the Lunar New Year celebrations to take advantage of the cooler winter weather. By the late 19th century, the racecourse evolved from an informal military pastime into a cornerstone of Hong Kong's social and cultural identity. The Hong Kong Jockey Club was formally established in 1884 to provide a governing structure for the sport, which helped transition the events from amateur 'gentleman' pony races to more organized competitions. While the upper echelons of colonial society viewed the races as one of their primary forms of recreation, the event increasingly attracted the local Chinese population, who watched from the sidelines or from temporary bamboo 'matshed' stands. Unfortunately, this practice was at the root of a horrific fire in 1918, when such a temporary grandstand collapsed and caught fire, claiming some 600 lives.

By 1890, the infield of the track began to serve as a multi-purpose recreational space, hosting football, cricket, and golf, and effectively becoming the city's first major public park. While the racecourse remains in use and other fields have been added at the same site, in recent decades, the area around it has become one of the poshest residential areas in Hong Kong, and is especially attractive for sports fans, as Hong Kong's modern soccer and rugby stadiums are nearby.

The Peak Tram

The reverse of the photograph of Happy Valley is a contemporaneous photograph of the Hong Kong Peak Tram. Opened in 1888 and in operation ever since, it was the first funicular tramway in Asia and considered an engineering marvel in its day. The tram was the brainchild of Scottish entrepreneur Alexander Findlay Smith, whose friend and business partner N. J. Ede owned a home near the tram's proposed terminus on Victoria Peak, which the two converted into a hotel. To prepare for the challenging construction of the tram, Smith travelled widely to research funicular railways, cable cars, and other mechanical methods used to ascend steep hills and mountains, ultimately employing a steam engine atop the Peak, powering a haulage cable running alongside the track (the system was electrified in 1926). Although less than a mile long, the tram gains an elevation of more than 1300 feet, with a grade as high as 27° in parts (including the portion depicted here), and it remains one of the steepest funicular railways in the world.

The tram was a resounding success for Smith and Ede, as it provided a quick and easy way to access the cooler elevation of Victoria Peak from the often-sweltering city below. In its first year of operation, the tram carried approximately 150,000 passengers, a figure nearly equal to the entire population of Hong Kong at the time. The original carriages were crafted from varnished timber and were divided into three distinct classes: the first class was reserved for colonial officials and Peak residents, the second for the military and police, and the third for everyone else. A unique tradition began during this era where the front two seats were strictly reserved for the Governor, marked by a brass plaque, and could only be occupied by others if he had not arrived within two minutes of departure. Until 1926, the rest of the seats were also divided into three classes, the first for British civilians and colonial officials, the second for British police and military members, and a third class for anyone else. By the turn of the 20th century, the tram had fundamentally transformed the Peak from a remote summer retreat into an accessible, prestigious residential district. In recent decades, as Hong Kong has become an international tourist destination and other means of reaching the peak have expanded (namely, automobiles), the Peak has become utilized primarily by tourists, akin to the cable cars of San Francisco which inspired it.

Publication History and Census

These photographs were taken by an unknown photographer around the year 1890. We have been unable to identify any other examples of either photograph.

Condition

Very good. Mounted albumen photographs. Image represents recto (front) and verso (back) of single card.