British subjects Wills in Hong Kong

[seemex]

Hi,
     I see some posts and from members who seem to have some access that I can't find. I've been attempting to locate any records of family from Hong Kong. My grandfather, Tobias Hunter was born there, as was my mother Iris and her sister Nora. My GF died in Canada and his death certificate lists his father as William Leyland Hunter, who died in the UK in 1894 and his mother as Catherine Coutes.
It's the Coutes name that is a mystery.
I've recently discovered a letter referring to a "legacy" in which my mother and her sister each inherited a one quarter share, distributed in two segments...one in Feb 19, 1937 and the second following the sale of a property at 4 Moreton Terrace, Hong Kong, in 1939. My GF and his brother George also shared in this estate, presumably sharing similar amounts of one quarter each. The letter was from my mother to her sister and used the term "D" for their dad and the estate was "G's" ( possibly the grandmother who could have been Catherine Hunter? Coutes?)
Catherine Coutes is listed on my GFs death certificate as Mother, being "born in Hong Kong"
His father William Leyland Hunter was born in Manchester.
 I really do not know where to look now. I'm in Canada and I've exhausted my Ancestry memberships a few times and now use the one at the LDS library but haven't found much in a long time, other than these references in old letters.
Thanks,
Brian
Vancouver Canada

[barryd]

I must say that your request is rather unique. I have quite often seen people with Colonial ties with English Wills for money they had in England. Ceylon especially. The Will is very good for indicating their  place of death and date of death which are hard to find in Ceylon.  Are there any English Wills for your people?

[seemex]

The only one I know of is William Leyland Hunter who died in England and is buried in Tooting. He had  remarried to Eleanor Johnston in England, fathered two more children in 1887 and 1891 before passing away, with not much left!
It seems his previous spouse may have done better remaining in Hong Kong with the children. My GF began work for Jardine Matheson at about 15 or 16 years of age but left and moved to Shanghai about 1918. He returned to HK after WW2 and a spell of internment at Lincoln Camp. He did stay in S'hai for a few years after 1945 trying to recover but the communist take-over nixed that too. Returning to HK he salvaged what he could of his business and was able to partially recover financially, but never to the degree that the family had in the Shanghai days.
Of course there were many UK people in the orient in those days and many stayed and made their lives there permanent.
I have marriage certificates as well as birth and others for most all, but not the elusive "Catherine Coutes" or "G" if that is indeed who she is. I have to add that I never heard the name "Coutes" mentioned in an family conversations over the years and only became aware of it after getting a copy of the actual death certificate for my GF. I had the one that one gives out for legal purposes but didn't know there was another which gave far more detail. The details as to family and parentage was supplied by his daughter...my mother, who unfortunately is also deceased now. Like many of us, I'm now in that stage of "nobody left to ask!"
B
It's frustrating!

[ShaunJ]

It might be worth taking a daypass for the South China Morning Post archives and checking for references to the sale of the Moreton Terrace property.  http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/scmp/about.html

There was a Shanghai probate in 1937 for George Rogerson Coutts.  http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1951051

He died on February 12th 1937 per the North China Herald http://nch.primarysourcesonline.nl/nch/results.html?quicksearch=true&f.contents=%22rogerson+coutts%22

[aghadowey]

Possibly connected?

George Deacon Coutts (died c1926)
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1950033

A Violet Gertrude Coutts married 1903 (daughter of G.W. Coutts)-
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1927.tb05367.x/pdf

[ShaunJ]

George Rogerson Coutts was a young man, born circa 1911 in China. His father was George Deacon Coutts of Shanghai who died in London in 1926. The UK probate value of GDC's estate was £41,441.

George Deacon Coutts was born around 1873 in Shanghai, the son of George Watson Coutts. He married Florence Evelyn Irvine in Shanghai in 1909. Her father was Jesse Rogerson.

George Watson Coutts was born around 1833, the son of John Coutts, a surgeon. He married Alice Deacon in London in 1871. There is a baptism in Fraserburgh, Aberdeen in June 1833 for George Watson Coutts, son of John Coutts and Barbara Cock.

[seemex]

I wonder if there is any sort of searchable land registry for properties in Hong Kong? Maybe there is a way to search a list of previous owners of a particular address? "Rate books" were mentioned but I have no idea where to find them.
How about property transfers registers? Or real estate companies? I guess the latter would likely not exist now.
The suggestion for a day pass to South China Morning Post might be a good idea. I just wish I had more details as far as names etc.
The 4 Moreton Terace property sold for HK$ 19,000.00 with a division of assets being done on 17 July, 1939.
I see funeral expenses in 1937 were listed at HK$ 1358.00 and legal at HK$ 1295.00. These amounts were taken from the initial division of assets in 1937.
Well, I'm grasping at straws but I really do appreciate all the input. This group is really the best for getting answers, and in a very timely manner. Thanks so much to everyone.
Brian

[seemex]

To ShaunJ: The last reference to a Barbara Cock is of some interest as my GFs sister May Hunter married into the Cock family. Her husband was Tom Cock, who I believe was born in Shanghai. I have relatives in the UK who have traced the Coutts/Cock connection and the spelling could have been the one I'm looking for. My mother could have spelled it wrong on my GFs death certificate.
If that were the case I'd be looking for a Catherine "Coutts". There is also "Cootes" that shows up on Ancestry.
  The Cocks and Coutts both had connections to India. I think Tom Cock's father Alexander was born in India and later came to Shanghai. There is rumor of Tom Cock having some Asian or Indian blood. I learned a lot over the years from family conversations...most when I was young and not interested. How I wish I'd been able to ask more when I had the chance!

[ShaunJ]

Just noting these Shanghai Probate files which are held at Kew:

FO917/502   Coutts, George Watson 1890
FO917/1143 Coutts, Alice 1905
FO917/2647 Coutts, George Deacon 1926
FO917/3665 Coutts, George Rogerson 1937