Tan Boo Liat was a wealthy Singapore philanthropist. He was the son of Tan Soon Toh, grandson of Tan Kim Ching

Tan Kim Ching

Singapore-born Tan Kim Ching who lived from 1829 to Feb 1892 was the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng, the founder and financier of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was consul for Japan, Thailand and Russia, was a member of the Royal Court of Siam. He was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese...

 and great-grandson of Tan Tock Seng

Tan Tock Seng

Tan Tock Seng was a Singaporean merchant and philanthropist. Born in Malacca in 1798 to an immigrant Fukien father and Hokkien Peranakan mother, Tan rose from humble origins. In 1819, Tan moved to Singapore to sell fruit, vegetable and fowl...

. He was educated locally. He was a member of the Singapore Volunteer Infantry and was among the contingent present at King Edward's coronation. He was the head of the Hockien pang in Singapore. He was Chairman of the Pok Chek Kiong Temple's Committee of Management. He was a strong supporter of Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen

Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...

 and member of the Singapore T'ung Meng Hui along with Lim Boon Keng

Lim Boon Keng

Lim Boon Keng, OBE was a Chinese doctor who promoted social and educational reforms in Singapore and China. Lim was of Chinese Peranakan descent, with ancestry from Hai Teng district in Fujian, China.-Early life:...

 and Dr. S. C. Yin and a president of the Singapore Kuomintang

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

. He headed the Fukien Protection Fund together with Tan Kah Kee

Tan Kah Kee

Tan Kah Kee was a prominent businessman, community leader, and philanthropist in colonial Singapore, and a Communist leader in the People's Republic of China.- Early years :...

 collecting $130,000 during a nine-month campaign.

He was a trustee of the Anglo-Chinese School's Boarding School, and together with Dr. Lim Boon Keng, Sir Song Ong Siang and a few other Straits-born Chinese leaders, he initiated the Singapore Chinese Girls' School.

He had a stable of a dozen racehorses. In 1898 his famous horse, Vanitas won the Viceroy's cup in Calcutta, India, the first time that a horse from the Straits Settlements

Straits Settlements

The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia.Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under direct British control as a crown colony on 1 April 1867...

 or the Federated Malay States

Federated Malay States

The Federated Malay States was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula—Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang—established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay...

 won this trophy, earning Tan Boo Liat $100,000.

He had strong commecial links to Thailand and was honoured by the King of Thailand, two of the things he had in common with his famous grandfather Tan Kim Ching

Tan Kim Ching

Singapore-born Tan Kim Ching who lived from 1829 to Feb 1892 was the eldest of the three sons of Tan Tock Seng, the founder and financier of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was consul for Japan, Thailand and Russia, was a member of the Royal Court of Siam. He was one of Singapore’s leading Chinese...

. In 1920 he was awarded the title Phra Anukul Sayamkich.

He owned Golden Bell Mansion (built 1901) on Pender Road at the Mount Washington side of Mount Faber

Mount Faber

Mount Faber is a hill about 105 metres in height in Singapore, located near the Bukit Merah planning area in the Central Region. It overlooks the Telok Blangah area, and the western parts of the Central Area...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. Dr. Sun Yat-sen stayed there on 15 December 1911 as did his wife and daughters (February 1912). After Tan Boo Liat's death in Shanghai in 1934 the house was sold. It is currently occupied by the Danish Seaman's Mission.

His daughter, Polly Tan Poh Li, married Seow Poh Leng

Seow poh leng

Seow Poh Leng , one of the first few Peranakan Babas at Emerald Hill, was a prominent and successful Singaporean banker, founding member of the Ho Hong Bank, member of the committee of the Straits Settlement , philanthropist and benefactor of public development works...

after the death of Seow's first wife.

Further reading

1. Singapore: days of old - "A special commerative history of Singapore published on the 10th Anniversary of Singapore Tatler." -- Cover—published by Illustrated Magazine Publishing Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong), 1992, ISBN 962709319X, ISBN 9789627093190
2. The Singapore house, 1819–1942, by Kip Lin Lee, Gretchen Liu, Published by Times Editions, Preservation of Monuments Board, 1988, ISBN 9812040234, ISBN 9789812040237
3. A social history of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaya, 1800-1911 Volume 11 of Southeast Asia Publications, by Chʻing-huang Yen, Published by the Oxford University Press, 1986
4. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volumes 50-51 by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Malaysian Branch, Singapore, Published 1977
5. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volumes 56-58 by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Malaysian Branch, Singapore, Published 1983
6. A portrait of Malaysia and Singapore (Oxford progressive history) by Ding Eing Tan Published by the Oxford University Press, 1978, ISBN 0195807227, ISBN 9780195807226
7. Parliamentary papers, Volume 61 By Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Item notes: v. 61 - 1909, Published by HMSO, 1909
8. Singapore: a pictorial history, 1819-2000 by Gretchen Liu, published by Routledge 2001, ISBN 0700715843, ISBN 9780700715848
9. Journal of Southeast Asian studies, Volume 12 by Cambridge University Press, Published by McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, 1981
10. Journal of Southeast Asian history, Volume 2 By University of Singapore. Dept. of History, University of Malaya (Singapore, Singapore). Dept. of History, Item notes: v. 2 - 1961
11. The 1911 revolution: the Chinese in British and Dutch Southeast Asia (Asian studies series) by Lai To Lee, Published by Heinemann Asia, 1987, ISBN 9971641127, ISBN 9789971641122
12. Studies in the Social History of China and South-east Asia - Essays in memory of Victor Purcell, edited by Jerome Ch'en & Nicholas Tarling, Cambridge University Press, 1970, Standard Book Number 521 07452 5
13. A History of Singapore By Ernest Chin Tiong Chew, Edwin Lee, Southeast Asian Studies Program (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), Oxford University Press, 1991, ISBN 0195889177, ISBN 9780195889178
14. Reconstructing identities: a social history of the Babas in Singapore by Jürgen Rudolph, Published by Ashgate, 1998, ISBN 1840143576, ISBN 9781840143577
15. Tanjong Pagar, Singapore's cradle of development by Tanjong Pagar Citizens' Consultative Committee, Published by Tanjong Pagar Constituency, 1989, ISBN 9813002271, 9789813002272
16. Plague fighter: the autobiography of a modern Chinese physician by Lien-tê Wu, Published by W. Heffer, 1959
17. Index to the correspondence of the Foreign Office for the year ..., Part 4 by Great Britain. Foreign Office, Published by Kraus-Thomson, 1969
18. Community and politics: the Chinese in colonial Singapore and Malaysia by Ching-huang Yen, Published by Times Academic Press, 1995, ISBN 9812100628, 9789812100627
19. Wayang: a history of Chinese opera in Singapore by Gretchen Liu, Kuan Wah Pitt, Angelina Phillips, National Archives (Singapore) Published by the National Archives of Singapore, ISBN 9971990857, 9789971990855
20. Street names of Singapore by Peter K. G. Dunlop Published by Who's Who Pub., 2000, ISBN 9814062111, 9789814062114
21. The first 150 years of Singapore by Donald Moore, Joanna Moore Published by Donald Moore Press; [distributed by Cellar Book Shop, Detroit, Mich., 1969