English: The gravestone of
Hans Hermann Eschke (10 November 1856 – 19 July 1904), which was relocated from the Bukit Timah Cemetery to the north-east corner of
Fort Canning Green, Singapore. Eschke served in the German Foreign Office for more than 19 years, beginning his career at the German Embassy in London. He came to Singapore in 1889 and was the first consul of the
German Empire here:
Straits Times Weekly Issue, 7 January 1890, p. 4. At the end of 1898, he served as the German Resident Minister in Bangkok for just over a year. In 1901 the status of the German Consulate was raised to that of a Consulate General, and he was consequently promoted to Consul General:
The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 6 February 1901, p. 2. He held the rank of
Hauptmann (captain) in the
Landwehr. From 1902, he was also in charge of the
Austria-Hungary Consulate in Singapore, and served as consul for Borneo, Brunei, Sarawak, Labuan and the Federated Malay States: "Government Gazette",
The Straits Times, 1 July 1902, p. 3; "Government Gazette",
The Straits Times, 7 June 1902, p. 4. He was also on the council of the Straits Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, a member of the Sailors' Home, and President of the German Reading Club. He died of dysentery. In its obituary of Eschke, the
Singapore Free Press called him "the Doyen of the Consular Corps in Singapore" and said: "Amongst his own people he had earned by his devotion to German interests a striking popularity, and those members of the general community who were not brought into familiar relations with him by nationality and mother tongue, had learned to recognise his sterling qualities, and estimate correctly his upright principles": "Death of Mr H. Eschke",
The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 20 July 1904, p. 5. See also "A Singaporean Silver Wedding",
The Straits Times, 27 October 1893, p. 3 (silver wedding anniversary of the parents of Eschke's wife Olga).
The inscription on the gravestone reads: "HIER RUHT / HANS HERMANN / ESCHKE / KAISERLICH DEUTSCHER / GENERAL KONSUL / GEB[OREN] 10 NOV 1856 / GEST[ORBEN] 19 JULI 1904 / Von seinem Freunden gewidmet / RAVENSWAY & CO." ["HERE LIES / HANS HERMANN / ESCHKE / IMPERIAL GERMAN / CONSUL GENERAL / BORN 10 NOVEMBER 1856 / DIED 19 JULY 1904 / Dedicated by his friends"]: see Alan Harfield (1988) Early Cemeteries in Singapore, London: British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, p. 298 ISBN: 978-0-907799-19-1.