Gresson Street

Gresson Street (Chinese: 機利臣街) is a street in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It connects Queen's Road East (south) to Johnston Road (north).

Southern end of Gresson Street, viewed from Queen's Road East.
Stalls of Gresson Street open market.

Market

The open market of Gresson Street is part of the Wan Chai Heritage Trail. The market began in the 1950s. Stalls sell wet and dry goods.[1]

History

Gresson Street was opened around 1909 on Marine Lots 29 and 30, when the lots were redeveloped by Hongkong Land. The street was named after William Jardine Gresson (1869-1934),[2] a partner of Jardine, Matheson & Co. from 1901 to 1910.[3]

A noted shootout, the "Siege of Gresson Street", took place here on 22 January 1918,[4] as a gang of armed-robbers were trapped while raiding a tenement[5] at No.6 Gresson Street. Four or five policemen and two robbers were shot dead and an additional robber and six policemen were wounded. The Governor, Francis May, a former Captain Superintendent of Police, personally negotiated with the last remaining gang member, but to no avail. When the young man refused to surrender, the Royal Garrison Artillery was used to "bomb" him out.[6][7][8]

gollark: well, vanilla is boring, thus bees.
gollark: I'm actually angry at it too right now because my spruce tree *will not grow*.
gollark: Yes, the combination of cover and blurb is *basically* how I choose books.
gollark: I think it's mostly just costly signalling, really.
gollark: Also broadly speaking that said more fancy clothes are better somehow than the T-shirt/"sweatpant" trouser things I actually like wearing.

See also
  • Queen's Road East, for a list of lanes connecting Johnston Road and Queen's Road East

References
  1. Wan Chai Heritage Trail flyer. p.2 Archived 2011-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Janus Project: William Jardine Gresson entry
  3. Sinn, Elizabeth (1990). Between east and west: aspects of social and political development in Hong Kong. Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. p. 57.
  4. Notes by Patricia Lim on Gwulo.com website
  5. Cameron, Nigel (1991). An illustrated history of Hong Kong. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-19-584997-4.
  6. Lim, Patricia (2011). Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 430–431. ISBN 978-962-209-990-6.
  7. Historical and statistical abstract of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1841-1930. Noronha & Co., Govt. Printers. 1932. p. 70.
  8. Grandsons of siege victim visit Force, HK Police 'Offbeat', Issue 795 23 March 2005


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