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Wassiamull Assomull
19th-century Sindhi businessman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wassiamull Assomull, also known as Seth Wassiamull Assomull Mahtani, was a Sindhi workie who established overseas trading-firm businesses in Singapore, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Hong Kong, China, and Australia.[1][2][3][note 1] His international company was known as Messrs. Wassiamull Assomull & Co.[4][5] The company had around fifty-two branches worldwide, with specialization in the trade of Chinese, Japanese, and Indian products (especially silk and curios).[5][6] Other companies, such as those associated with D. Chellaram, M. Dialdas, J. T. Chainrai, Wassiamull Assomull, and Chotirmal, operated on a similar model based around a transnational Sindhi-origin family.[7]
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Career
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Wassiamull's family originated from Hyderabad in Sindh but migrated overseas in 1840.[8] In 1864, Wassiamull began a textile business in Singapore and is believed to have been the first Sindhi to visit Singapore.[3] According to Dayal N. Harjani, Wassiamull founded his company in 1866.[1] In 1868, the company established itself in Hong Kong and began selling and exporting Chinese products, such as raw-silk, silk piece-goods, and curios, but also Indian products.[5] The Chinese products were exported worldwide, including in India.[5] They avoided dealing with grains, yarns, opium, and cassia.[5] In the 1890's, Wassiamull's company began trading in Hong Kong.[2] By the 20th century, his company grew to have sixty-four branches around the world, with twenty of them being in China.[2] In Australia, the company had branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and shortly in Adelaide.[4] The company also helped establish educational institutions in Bombay.[9]
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Establishing diasporic Sikh gurdwaras
A civilian gurdwara was established at Queen Street in Singapore in 1912 on property purchased by a committee of Sikhs led by Wassiamull.[10] The Sindwork firm Wassiamall Assomull donated funds toward the construction of a gurdwara in Manila in the Philippines in 1933.[11]
See also
Notes
- His name is also spelt as 'Wassiamull Asoomull' and 'Wassiamall Assomull'.
References
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