The Keswick family (/ˈkɛzɪk/) are a business dynasty of Scottish origin associated with the Far East region since 1855 and in particular the conglomerate Jardine Matheson.
As tai-pans of Jardine Matheson & Company, the Keswick family have at some time been closely associated with the ownership or management of the HSBC, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd., the Canton Insurance Office Ltd, (now the HSBC Insurance Co), The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited, Star Ferry, Hong Kong Tramway, the Hong Kong Land Investment and Agency Co Ltd, and the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co Ltd.
[2] J.J. Keswick, younger brother of William, arrived in the Far East in 1870 and remained for 26 years, mostly based in Hong Kong.
Like his brother, he was a member of the legislative council and chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in five spells between 1890 and 1900.
He was Sir Harry Smith Parkes' son-in-law and taipan of Jardine, Matheson from the 1890s to the turn of the century.
[6] Son of William, Henry Keswick arrived in Hong Kong in 1895 the year before his uncle James left.
The next family members to be associated with Hong Kong and Shanghai were Henry's sons "Tony" and John Keswick.
When William and his father Henry Keswick returned to the United Kingdom they both served as members of parliament with responsibility for Far Eastern interests.
"Tony" Keswick was born in Yokohama, Japan, but returned to England as a boy to attend Winchester School and Trinity College, Cambridge.
During the Pacific War, he served as head of the China Theatre of the Special Operations Executive, Britain's wartime secret service.
Like his brother, John Keswick worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) alongside Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek's spy chief General Dai Li in Chongqing.
[10] He fled Shanghai when the Japanese took the city, escaping with his wife Clare to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and served during the war with Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten's staff.
John Keswick returned to Shanghai after the war to organise in the rebuilding of Jardine's office and to reestablish the firm's trading links throughout China and Asia.
In 1949, after the communist party's takeover of China, Jardine's head office was moved to Hong Kong.
Weatherall joined the Jardine Group in 1976 and worked in a number of senior executive positions in Hong Kong, the US, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Korea and the Philippines.
He joined the group in 1998 and held positions in Dairy Farm and Hongkong Land before taking an MBA at INSEAD.
He also holds senior leadership positions in Cycle & Carriage Bintang and MCL Land; and a commissioner of Astra and United Tractors.