UpdateBot at 17:17, 1 February 2022

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{{EngvarB|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2007}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name = Sir Elly Kadoorie
| honorific-suffix = KBE
| birth_date = {{birth year|1867}}
| birth_place = [[Baghdad]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1944|8|2|1867|1|1|df=y}}
| spouse = Laura Kadoorie (b.1866, d.1919)
| relations = [[Ellis Kadoorie]] (brother, 1865–1922)
| children = [[Lawrence Kadoorie]] (1899–1993)<br>Victor Kadoorie (1900–1900)<br>[[Horace Kadoorie]] (1902–1995)
| office = Chairman of the [[Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels]]
}}
'''Sir Eleazer''' "'''Elly'''" '''Silas Kadoorie''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBEh}} (1867 – February 8, 1944) was a Baghdadi-born [[Jews|Jewish]] businessman and philanthropist active in [[Shanghai]] and [[Hong Kong]]. He was a member of the wealthy [[Kadoorie family]] that had large business interests in the Far East.

==Biography==
His family were originally [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraqi Jews]] from [[Baghdad]] who later migrated to [[Bombay]] ([[British Raj]]), in the mid-nineteenth century. His brother was Sir [[Ellis Kadoorie]], and his sons were Sir [[Lawrence Kadoorie, Baron Kadoorie|Lawrence Kadoorie]] and Sir [[Horace Kadoorie]].

Elly Kadoorie arrived in [[Shanghai]] from Bombay in 1880 as an employee of the [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jewish]] firm [[David Sassoon (treasurer)|David Sassoon]] & Sons.<ref name=HaaretzSurvivor>[http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/this-day-in-jewish-history/.premium-1.612235 Haaretz: "This Day in Jewish History: A WWII Survivor Who Built Hong Kong Dies – Lawrence Kadoorie rose from a Japanese prison camp to restore his family’s fortunes and help forge Hong Kong’s future with China" by David B. Green] 25 August 2014</ref> Within a few years he had accumulated large sums of money and had gone into business on his own account, with companies in both Shanghai and [[Hong Kong]]. He became the largest shareholder when [[CLP Group|China Light & Power]] was restructured in early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|first=ByMerrilee BartonForbes|title=Kadoorie family|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/kadoorie/|access-date=2021-03-02|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> Over the next two decades, the Kadoorie brothers made their fortunes, achieving success in banking, rubber plantations, electric power utilities and real estate and gaining a major shareholding in Hong Kong Hotels Limited.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kaufman|first=Jonathan|date=2020-05-28|title=A Jewish Dynasty in a Changing China|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-jewish-dynasty-in-a-changing-china-11590688537|access-date=2021-03-02|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

Kadoorie was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1926 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33179 |supp=y |page=4415 |date= 3 July 1926}}</ref> He was given the Order of the Brilliant Jade by the Chinese government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=1944-03-05|title=Sir Elly Kadoorie, Bagdad-born Jewish Prilanthropist, Dies in Japanese Captivity|url=https://www.jta.org/1944/03/05/archive/sir-elly-kadoorie-bagdad-born-jewish-prilanthropist-dies-in-japanese-captivity|access-date=2021-03-02|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}}</ref> He became a naturalised British citizen the following year. <ref>''Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage''. Kelly's Directories, 1931, p.1091.</ref>

In 1942, Kadoorie was taken from his home in Shanghai and interned in a Japanese prison camp for foreign civilians.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Elly (KBE) Kadoorie {{!}} Science Museum Group Collection|url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/ap30086/kadoorie-elly-kbe|access-date=2021-03-02|website=collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk|language=en}}</ref> He died in prison on February 8, 1944.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Léo-Paul Dana|title=Entrepreneurship and Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-V3nFZ5RkkC&pg=PA68|date=1 January 2010|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-84980-632-9|page=68}}</ref>

Sir Elly Kadoorie's grave and that of his wife Laura, Lady Kadoorie, are located in the Song Qingling Memorial Park near Hongqiao Road, Shanghai, and are accessible to visitors. Theirs are amongst only four Jewish tombstones in Shanghai which remained intact and were not destroyed during the [[Cultural Revolution]].{{cn|date=November 2018}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Judaism in Shanghai}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadoorie, Elly}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:Hong Kong philanthropists]]
[[Category:Hong Kong Jews]]
[[Category:Hong Kong people of Iraqi-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Kadoorie family|Elly]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Shanghai]]
[[Category:Jewish philanthropists]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Mumbai]]
[[Category:British people who died in Japanese internment camps]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Shanghai]]
[[Category:Chinese Zionists]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom]]

Elly Kadoorie - Revision history

UpdateBot at 17:17, 1 February 2022