History of Jardine Matheson & Co.

Trafficking opium in Asia, while also trading cotton, tea, silk and a variety of other goods, from its early beginnings in Canton (modern-day Guangzhou), in 1844 the firm established its head office in the new British colony of Hong Kong then proceeded to expand all along the China Coast.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Jardine, Matheson & Co. had become the largest of the foreign trading companies in the Far East[1] and had expanded its activities into sectors including shipping, cotton mills and railway construction.

The Qing Daoguang Emperor, pleased to hear of Jardine's departure, then proceeded to appoint a special Commissioner, Lin Zexu, to stop the opium trade altogether,[33] at that time centred on Canton.

[30] Hong Kong is an island at the mouth of the Pearl River, about 90 miles (140 km) from Canton separated from the mainland of Kowloon by a strip of water which at the narrowest point is only 440 yards (400 m) wide.

"Hong Kong" came from the Cantonese Heung Gawng (香港) meaning "fragrant harbour" and possibly originated from the scent emanating from the sandalwood incense factories across the water in what is now Shenzhen.

At the instigation of James Matheson, three of these, comprising 57,150 square feet (5,309 m2), at East Point were purchased for the sum of 565 Pounds sterling,[43] where Jardines set up one of the first offices in the new colony.

[49] The Noonday Gun, located opposite the Excelsior Hotel, dates to the 1860s and a time when Jardine's private militia would fire a salvo to salute the arrival of the firm's taipan in the harbour.

[52] New offices were also opened in the trading centres of Fuzhou and Tianjin and, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the firm underwent a dramatic transformation from an agency house acting for principals to a more diversified business.

It traded in a wide variety of imports and exports, promoted railways and other much needed infrastructure projects in China, and founded banks and insurance companies as the country strove towards modernisation.

It was not until the firm [Jardines] had been forced from the trade as a major participant that it began proposing the use of capital and techniques for many alternative investments in the treaty ports and in the domestic Chinese economy.

"[56] Nevertheless, in the face of increasing domestic Chinese competition[57] and a growing anti-opium movement back home in England,[58] in 1872 Jardines formulated an explicit policy ending significant involvement in the opium trade.

[59] In terms of property, Jardines were the only foreign firm to feature on an 1881 list of the eighteen largest land taxpayers in Hong Kong with a bill of HK$4,000 per annum.

In addition, to cater for clients travelling between Europe and the Far East, the firm had representation along the main steamer routes and at points on the Trans-Siberian Railway, including an agency in Moscow.

JEC pioneered ammonia-type air conditioners and new types of heating and sanitation as well as in 1935 providing the vault doors for the new headquarters of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong.

JEC also introduced fluorescent strip lighting into Hong Kong in 1940 and in 1949 installed the island's first major industrial air-conditioning plant at Tylers Cotton Mill in the To Kwa Wan District.

The company suffered considerable loss of machinery during the war then in January 1954, Jardines took out adverts in the Hong Kong papers stating that it had "ceased to act as general managers" of EWO Cotton Mills.

When the partner retired in 1919, Jardines became sole proprietors of a company with total floor space of 125,000 square feet (11,600 m2), which provided a normal annual output of 40,000 to 50,000 bales – quantities that doubled during peak years.

The plant was situated near the mouth of the Suzhou Creek, an important transport route at the time providing access to the interior of China or to Shanghai harbour for exports.

Hongkong and Shanghai were the main import and export centres while branch offices also engaged in these activities on a smaller scale dealing in products from timber to foodstuffs, from textiles to medicines, from metals to fertilizers, and from wines and spirits to cosmetics.

When the war ended, a handful of emaciated staff emerged from the camp at Stanley to thank those who had helped them, and to celebrate their freedom by re-opening Jardines' offices in Hong Kong as soon as they could.

[80]Jardine's Hong Kong operations faced their first post-war challenge as a result of having to comply with the British trade embargo placed against China during the 1950–1953 Korean War.

[96] Although trade with the mainland virtually ceased with the coming of the 1966 Cultural Revolution, Jardines still managed to sell six Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft to the Chinese Government during this period.

Henry Keswick arranged a complete buyout of Reunion Properties, a large real estate firm based in London in 1973, a takeover financed by the creation of an additional seven per cent of Jardine Matheson equity.

[2] By 1980 the firm had operations in southern Africa, Australia, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, as well as the United States, and employed 37,000 people.

Many observers suspected that either Li Ka-shing or YK Pao, working alone or together, was attempting to purchase a large enough share in Jardine Matheson to win control of Hongkong Land.

In November that year, then Taipan David Newbigging restructured Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land by increasing their interests in each other and making it impossible for any party to gain control of either company.

However, the SFC refused and so Jardine firm delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Hang Seng Index) in 1994 under the tenure of Alasdair Morrison and placed its primary listing in London.

In 1996, Jardine Fleming was ordered to pay $20.3 million to three investors for alleged abusive and unsupervised securities allocation practices by Colin Armstrong, head of asset management.

During the first decade of the 21st Century Jardine Cycle & Carriage acquired an initial 31% stake in Astra International, which has since been increased to just over 50% and a 20% shareholding in Rothschilds Continuation Holdings,[110] which rekindled a relationship that began in 1838.

[111] Hongkong Land became a Group subsidiary for the first time following a multi-year programme of steady open market purchases while Jardine Pacific raised its interest in Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited from 25% to 42%.