MADAM TAN TECK NEO (2ND LEFT), WIFE OF LEE CHOON GUAN WITH FAMILY MEMBERS AT MANDALAY VILLA IN AMBER ROAD, KATONG (C.1950S)
Madam Tan Teck Neo (back row, centre) posing for picture with family members during her birthday celebration at Mandalay Villa, No. 29 Amber Road. Madam Tan, born 18 December 1877, was the second wife of Straits-born Chinese businessman and philanthropist Lee Choon Guan. She became the owner of this house, the venue of many parties often attended by the rich in Singapore, when her husband passed away in 1924, and lived here with her family until her own death in February 1978. Like Mr Lee, Madam Tan was known for her charitable work which led to her being the first Chinese woman conferred a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Even her birthday was celebrated as an annual parade in her honour by Malay fishermen living free of rent in the nearby Kampong Amber owned by the Lee family.
1950s
19990003441 - 0081
91,131/4A
2005-007141-KFW
Viewing permitted. Use and reproduction only with permission.
Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore
Photograph taken by Wong Ken Foo (K F Wong)
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