From the far

I have wanted to go to Singapore for so many years and it lived up to my hopes.  We arrived in our usual rag tag style with our planned couchsurfing option falling through and having to wander round hostels trying to find somewhere.  This approach, as always, worked out well with a lovely hostel called Checkers.

After doing the usual stuff of Singapore Slings and the like I got to look into the Morey family history in Singapore.  With the help of Annie and armed with some photos from Aunty Libby and some leads from Mum I went in search of Tricity House.  Tricity House was the name of the office built by John Morey my great grandfather in 1936 for John Morey and Co.  The business provided the electrical infrastructure to Singapore and as I understand it was the first company to bring electricity to the homes and businesses of Singapore.

With some online research on the address and checking old maps of the plot to current maps we set off in our taxi to find the intersection of Wilby Road with Bukit Timah Road.  It was strange standing on the old plot of Tricity House knowing few Morey’s had stood there since the early 1940′s.  It was a place that seemed so familiar from the faded sepia pictures .

The Tan Chong Motor Sales office stood in stark contrast to the old Tricity House office.

Seeing the site made me want to find out more and the only other link was an article I had found in the Singapore Strait Times that was available to view at the Singapore National Library.  After a quick Singapore Sling at Raffles we found the library and Jo worked some magic on the Microform machine to find the Singapore Strait Sunday Times from 22nd March 1936 which featured an article about Tricity House.

The article is about the opening of the office and features an overview of the firm as well as a very complimentary decsription of the new office as “one of the most modern offices to be found in Singapore”.

Singapore Strait Sunday Times 22/03/1936

Thanks to Lam Chun See who runs a blog called Good Morning Yesterday .  The blog is about old Singapore and provided the map and other information about Tricity House.  I am going to drop a copy of one of the original photos of Tricity House as we head back through Singapore.

I would love to spend more time in Singapore and plan to comeback here and spend more time.  It would be great to take the time to find out more and track down other links to Grandad’s family.  there is aparently a plaque dedicated to his sisters in one of the churches and prehaps more information on his brothers in law who were imprisoned at Changi prison.