Colonialism and Male Domestic Service across the Asia Pacific

280 Pages·2018·3.92 MB·English

by  Julia Martinez

Colonialism and Male Domestic
Service across the Asia Pacific

Colonialism and Male Domestic

Service across the Asia Pacific
Julia Martínez, Claire Lowrie, Frances Steel
and Victoria Haskins
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
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First published in Great Britain 2019
Copyright © Julia Martínez, Claire Lowrie, Frances Steel and Victoria Haskins, 2019
Julia Martínez, Claire Lowrie, Frances Steel and Victoria Haskins have asserted
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as Authors of this work.
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Cover image: Ten domestic workers of various ethnic origins, each with an object related to
their job, Singapore, circa 1900. (© Leiden University Library, KITLV29190)
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Contents

List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements x
Note on Authorship xii
List of Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 Creating the Houseboy: Early Asian Influences on European
Cultures of Domestic Service 25
2 Indigenous Houseboys and Asian Ideals in Darwin and Suva 47
3 Intercultural Influences on American Domesticity in the Philippines 77
4 Colonial Patriarchy and Representations of Masculinity in
Photographs of Domestic Workers 103
5 Steamship Stewards: Encountering Asia on the High Seas 137
6 From India to Fiji: Cultures of Service in the Grand Hotel 169
7 Labour and Political Activism by Chinese and Vietnamese Male
Domestic Workers 195
Conclusion 219
Bibliography 225
Index 253
Illustrations
Figures
0.1 Ten domestic workers of various ethnic origins, each with an
object related to their job, Singapore, c. 1900. University of Leiden,
Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean
Studies, 29190. 11
0.2 Native house staff employed by H. W. Dalfsen in Bandung, c. 1915,
The Netherlands East Indies. University of Leiden, Royal Netherlands
Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, 32825. 13
0.3 The Chinese servants of Government House, Victoria. Two
cooks holding dead game birds, and one servant holding an iron,
c. 1866–70. Photographer: Frederick Dally, courtesy of the Royal
BC Museum and Archives, D-09468. 15
1.1 Portrait of John Wombwell with an Indian servant, artist unknown,
India, c. 1790. Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris. 32
1.2 ‘A VOC Senior Merchant and His Wife’, Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1641.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, SK-A-2350. 33
2.1 ‘Sam on eastern terrace – the piazza at Government House,
Darwin’, 1938. Personal photographs of the Hon. C. L. A. Abbott
during his term as Administrator of the Northern Territory.
National Archives of Australia, M10, 11394836. 59
2.2 ‘George Cole and houseboy Jacky outside an Aboriginal dwelling’,
Darwin, c. 1930. George Hulme Cole Collection, Northern
Territory Library, PH0570/0146. 66
2.3 ‘Family group and ’Enry at our first station in Fiji’ from Thomas
Reginald St Johnston. South Sea Reminiscences, T. F. Unwin,
London, 1922. 68
3.1 ‘ “Boys” at 127 Caffe Marina, Ermita, Manila, P.I. From right to
left: Choy (cook), Andres, Col. Brainard’s boy, Juan, Col. Bellinger’s
boy, Bruno, Maj. Rassiter’s boy, Felix, Col. Richard’s boy’, 1910. D. L.
Brainard’s Family Albums, 1884–1910, National Archives, College
Park, Maryland, RG 200S-BR, vol. 3C, 179. 81
Illustrations vii
3.2 Colonel Brainard with Coachman and Footman, Manila, c. 1898–9.
Prints of D. L. Brainard’s Family Albums, 1884–1910, National
Archives, College Park, Maryland, RG 200S-BR, vol. 3A, 146. 82
4.1 A Chinese male servant in the household of Lister Smith with
Smith’s son William, Chilliwack, 1896. Chilliwack Museum and
Archives, P Coll 120 No. 46. 109
4.2 A male servant with a European child, Singapore, 1930. J. A.
Bennett Collection, courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore,
19980005147-005. 111
4.3 Billy Shepherd holding hand of Margaret Gilruth; ready to go
on their daily horse-ride, Darwin, c. 1911–12. Jean A. Austin
Collection, Northern Territory Library, PH0190/0021. 115
4.4 A young servant poses beside Margaret Gilruth seated in a window
opening of Government House, Darwin, c. 1912. Jean A. Austin
Collection, Northern Territory Library, PH0412/0011. 116
4.5 An American woman and a servant outside house, c. 1910–15.
Philippines, Japan, and China Travel Album, Special Collections
Library, University of Michigan, PHLH074. 117
4.6 A Dutch family having tea in a living-room, Netherlands East
Indies, 1921. Dudok de Wit, L. C. Collection, University of Leiden,
Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean
Studies, 116969. 118
4.7 ‘303 – Chinese boy serving his master’, Singapore, c. 1890. Courtesy
of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board,
ACC-XXXX-12898. 120
4.8 C. A. Nieuwenhuijsen with a servant, in Manado, Netherlands East
Indies, 1913. University of Leiden, Royal Netherlands Institute of
Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, 118685. 122
4.9 European men and two Chinese houseboys, late nineteenth
century. Courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore, ACC-
1996-00089. 124
4.10 ‘The stone house (Mount Kellet, next to the Peak), H. P. Smith with
house servants and chair coolies, 1924.’ Hong Kong Public Records
Office, Government Records Service, PH003517. 126
4.11 ‘Chinese staff employed by Dr. Gilruth. No. 1, Ah Chow (sitting),
Ah Bong (table boy), Dobie Ah How and Houseboy’, Government
House, Darwin, c. 1912–19. Gilruth Collection, Northern Territory
Library, PH0190/0033. 127
viii Illustrations
4.12 A mixed group of six domestic staff pose outside Government
House, Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia, c. 1911–18. Jean
A. Austin Collection, Northern Territory Library, PH0412-0020. 129
4.13 ‘Aniceto + Felix placed this on the table in kitchen for my notice.
They were tickled to death. Felix, my cook, at right. Aniceto,
my house boy, on left. Pedro, in middle. He used to be Mrs.
McDonald’s house boy + was the one who told me that one day
that I could go home. Funny. Keep this for me’, Philippines, c. 1910.
Philippines, Japan and China Travel Album, Special Collections
Library, University of Michigan, PHLH129. 130
4.14 ‘Felix – cook. Doesn’t he hold his hands gracefully. Veranda
upstairs. Aniceto Sico – Houseboy. He says he looks like a
chinaman’, Philippines, c. 1910–15. Philippines, Japan and China
Travel Album, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan,
PHLH126. 131
4.15 ‘Chef’, Northern Territory of Australia, c. 1908. Phyllis Moyle
Collection, Northern Territory Library, PH0112/0092. 134
4.16 Kitchen staff of the Bamfield Cable Station, British Columbia, 1903.
Royal BC Museum and Archives, G-06951. 135
5.1 Route map, from Eastern and Australian Steamship Company’s
Illustrated Handbook to the East, E&A, Sydney, 1904. National
Library of Australia. 145
5.2 The Advocate, 23 May 1904, 72. Enclosed with Indian and Chinese
discrimination 1897–1963, Herbert Otto Roth Papers, Alexander
Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, 94-106-14/24. 158
5.3 ‘Ejima, Tsunenosuke – Nationality: Japanese – Alien Registration
Certificate No 13077, issued 30 October 1921 at Thursday Island.’
National Archives of Australia, Brisbane, BP4/32, 6300171. 160
5.4 ‘Kurokawa, Kamezo – Nationality: Japanese – Alien Registration
Certificate No 2049, issued 4 March 1918 at Thursday Island.’
National Archives of Australia, Brisbane, BP4/32, 6323500. 161
5.5 ‘Matsushima, Kumazo – Nationality: Japanese – Alien Registration
Certificate No 4186, issued 14 February 1919 at Thursday Island.’
National Archives of Australia, Brisbane, BP4/32, 6317233. 161
5.6 Promotional images of dining-room stewards, c. 1951. P&O
Archive, Caird Library, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,
reproduced by kind permission of P&O Heritage Collection. www.
poheritage.com/ 162
Illustrations ix
5.7 Promotional images of dining-room stewards on board the Chusan,
c. 1950–54. P&O Archive, Caird Library, National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, reproduced by kind permission of P&O
Heritage Collection. 163
5.8 Members of the Canberra’s Goanese crew lighting candles at their
specially created altar in the Goanese mess, 1965. P&O Heritage
Collection, PH-07392-00. 166
6.1 ‘Catering for island tourists: The Grand Pacific Hotel at Suva, Fiji,
recently opened for business’, Auckland Weekly News, 11 June 1914.
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-
19140611-48-6. 173
6.2 ‘A Verandah, Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva, Fiji.’ Archives NZ Galleries,
USSCo Pocketbook (1927), R22848498, folio 39. 180
6.3 ‘Guests taking tea, 6 June 1950’, Whites Aviation Ltd. Alexander
Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, WA-24784-F. 190
7.1 ‘301 – Chinese boy on duty’, Lambert and Co, Singapore, c. 1900.
University of Leiden, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast
Asian and Caribbean Studies, 50196. 200
7.2 ‘House-coolie, boy, cook and no. 2’, Hong Kong, from Oliver G.
Ready, Life and Sport in China, London: Chapman Hall, 1904. 201
7.3 ‘Batman, cook and boy’, Tonkin, Indochina, c. 1895–9. Archives
nationales d’outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence, France, FR ANOM 8
Fi435/90. 201
Map
0.1 Asia Pacific. Map created by Ian Faulkner. 8
Table
4.1 Numbers of servants and proportion of male servants for British
Columbia, the Philippines, the Northern Territory of Australia,
Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands East Indies. 107