Gaston Dutronquoy

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Gaston Dutronquoy was a French hotelier, entrepreneur and photographer. He was active in Singapore from 1839 to the early 1850s. He was the first recorded resident photographer on the island.

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Early life

Dutronquoy was a native of Jersey. [1]

Career

He arrived in Singapore in May 1839 and advertised himself as a painter of houses and palanquins. [1] Six months later, he opened the London Hotel in Commercial Square, which he ran with his wife. [2] He moved the hotel to the Coleman House, the former residence of George Drumgoole Coleman, in late 1841. In the early 1840s, he arrived in Hong Kong and set up a hotel, which was also named the London Hotel, and a theatre. However, he left Hong Kong on 17 December 1842 and returned to Singapore due to "personal violence added to insult and abuse" which he claimed he had received the evening before. [1]

He moved the hotel to a former residence of Edward Boustead at the corner of High Street and The Esplanade. [3] He set up the Theatre Royal in the hotel's dining room with local actors enacting comedies. [2] The theatre operated until 1845. [3] In 1845, he opened the first photographic studio in Singapore in the London Hotel. [2] The studio offered portrait-taking services at ten dollars for one person, and fifteen dollars for a couple. [1] In 1851, he moved the hotel to the former residence of James Guthrie. [2]

Personal life and disappearance

Dutronquoy was married. [3] His son, S. Dutronquoy, also became a hotelier, and opened a hotel, also named London Hotel, in 1858. [1]

In the mid-1850s, he disappeared while searching for gold in the Muar River region. [1] It was rumoured that he was murdered. [4] His estate was dissolved in September 1857. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ong, Alex. "Gaston Dutronquoy". Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board . Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Van Whye, John (2013). Dispelling the Darkness: Voyage in the Malay Archipelago and the Discovery of Evolution by Wallace and Darwin. World Scientific. p. 76. ISBN   9814458791.
  3. 1 2 3 Pilon, Maxime; Weiler, Danièle (2011). The French in Singapore: An Illustrated History (1819-today). Editions Didier Millet. pp. 62–63. ISBN   9814260444.
  4. ↑ Davies, Donald (28 October 1952). "When the 'ladies' were men". The Straits Times . Singapore. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
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