Alexander Cameron Sim
Alexander Cameron Sim | |
---|---|
Born | Aberlour, Scotland | 28 August 1840
Died | 28 November 1900 Kobe, Japan | (aged 60)
Occupation(s) | Pharmacist, entrepreneur |
Known for | Creating Ramune and founding the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club |
Alexander Cameron Sim (28 August 1840 – 28 November 1900) was a Scottish-born pharmacist and entrepreneur active in Japan during the
Biography
Alexander Cameron Sim was born on 28 August 1840 in Aberlour, Scotland.[1] He was the son of an Aberlour river fisherman.[2] Sim grew up in a small farming community, later taking becoming an apprentice to a pharmacist in the nearby town of Turriff. He relocated to London, and received a post as a pharmacist at the Royal London Hospital in 1862. He also became a promimnent member of the London Scottish Rifles.[3]: 315 In 1866, he volunteered for an overseas assignment, and was sent to the Royal Naval Hospital in Hong Kong, where he spent the next three and a half years.[3]: 322
In late 1869, he moved to
In 1884, Sim introduced a
Sim was a strong supporter of athletic activities, and founded the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club on 23 September 1870. He also organised a volunteer firefighting organisation within the foreign community, and built a fire lookout tower near his residence. He also organized relief and community support efforts in the aftermath of the 1891 Mino–Owari earthquake and the 1896 Sanriku earthquake.[2]
Sim died on 28 November 1900 of typhoid fever; it was suspected that he contracted the disease from eating raw oysters on a trip to Osaka with a friend.[4] His funeral, documented in the Japan Chronicle, was described as unprecedented, with the entire Japanese population of Kobe gathering to line the streets and mourn.[2] Sim is buried in the Kobe Foreign cemetery on Mount Futatabi.[4] A monument was erected to Sim by his friends in Higashi Yūenchi park, Kobe, in 1901.[1]
References
- Murphy, Kevin C. The American Merchant Experience in Nineteenth-century Japan. Routledge (2002) ISBN 0-415-29683-8
- ^ a b "The Chemist and Druggist of January 5 1901". Chemist and Druggist: The Newsweekly for Pharmacy. 60: 7. 1902.
- ^ a b c Abel, Charles Gene; Thomson, Albert Adams (2021). "A History of the Order of the Scottish Samurai" (PDF). pp. 31–33.
- ^ a b c Swanson, Darren Lee (2016-12-31). Treaty Port Society and the Club in Meiji Japan: Clubbism, Athleticism and the Public Sphere (PDF) (Thesis). The University of Sydney.
- ^ a b Lepach, Bernd. "SIM, Alexander Cameron". Meiji Portraits. Retrieved 2023-12-14.