Career
He was one of the men who contributed to the setting up of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1906. The son of Tan Choon Sian, he was born in Malacca in 1850 and educated in Penang. After graduation, he came to Singapore to join Messrs Lim Kong Wan & Sons as a shipping clerk, and later as a storekeeper in a Borneo company.
In his years working, he learnt the shipping trade, and went on to become a director of the Straits Steamship Company Limited until his death in 1909.
The funeral was attended by many prominent local and Malayan businessmen, like Tan Jiak Kim and Seah Liang Seah. On 5 October 1909 at 10:30 a.m., the funeral procession began from his residence in Middle Road.
With the coffin covered under an elaborate kwantah, with a procession of Chinese banners and Chinese music jointly played by a Filipino brass and the Alhambra string bands at the rear. lieutenant made its away along Prinsep Street, Rochore Canal, Bukit Timah Road and finally laid to rest in the Tan family burial ground in Moulmein Road.
