THE "NORONHA" TWIN SISTERS
by Alberto Guterres
Twins are a rare occurrence in any family, specially in the Noronha family — this occurred thrice according to my knowledge. That was the case of the twins Saturnino António de Noronha and Secundino António de Noronha. They were sons of Delfino Joaquim Noronha (the pioneer of the Hong Kong branch, who established a very successful printing company and whose life history is well documented) (Read a short biography) and his wife Umbelina Maria Basto. Such was also the case of the identical twins Henrietta Maria Pages Noronha and Guilhermina Maria Henriette Pages Noronha, twin daughters of Henrique Delfino Noronha and his French wife Henriette Pagès. The only other set of twins that I am aware are Joshua and Boaz, sons of Jibin Chi and his wife Naomi de Noronha Chi (she is the great-granddaughter of José Leonardo Noronha who was the brother of Henrique Delfino Noronha). Unfortunately, I lost contact with Naomi when the family moved to Sweden.
A little explanation is in order about the Noronha family genealogy in regard to the twins — Henrietta and Guilhermina. The great-grandfather was Delfino Joaquim de Noronha — well-known for his achievements in Hong Kong.
The grandfather of the twins was Henrique Lourenço Noronha (first-born son of Delfino). He was invited to take up an appointment as the Superintendent of the Singapore Government Printing Press by Cecil Clementi SmithCecil Clementi Smith in 1879 was the Colonial Secretary for Singapore and later became the Governor 1885-89.. HL Noronha arrived in Singapore in July 1879 with his family, to take up his appointment. He established residence with his family at Bras Basah Rd near the Good Shepherd Cathedral, the City Centre and St Joseph Mission. The home location, in keeping with the proximity to church and school, was of great importance to the family.
Henrique Lourenço, his wife Esméria Maria, son Henrique Delfino together with his wife and 3 children were to return to Hong KongStraits Telegraph 10-04-1899 after April 1899, on the termination of Henrique Lourenço's 20-year contract with the Singapore Government Printing Press and on his retirement from the Superintendent job.
Henrique Lourenço, as the eldest son, became the patriarch of the Noronha family on his arrival back in Hong Kong (his father's death occurred soon after) ; he took charge of the Noronha & Co. and was able to secure a junior position for his son Henrique DelfinoChronicle of China, etc., 1905 p 984 confirms HD Noronha was assistant at Noronha & Co. in the firm Noronha & Co.; however after his death his son's position became untenable.
Fortunately Henrique had joined with Jorge Fernandes to form a new partnership in the printing firm, Fernandes & Noronha, as a supplementary source of income since he had such a large family. Henrique Delfino decided to leave HK in 1906 and be more directly involved with the Canton branch of the firm whilst he also took up employment for a time in the printing and publishing firm Arnold, Karberg & Co.Directory & Chronicle of China, etc. 1905 p 484 as indicated in the Directory & Chronicle for Asia. He would later start his own successful import and exporter business in Canton.
Henrique Delfino returned to HK at the onset of World War I with his family, which then consisted of six girls and two boys. They lived at 2 East Terrace, Kowloon until his untimely death in 1916.
When Henrique Delfino died, his widow approached all her husband's friends for repayment of the loans they had been provided in their time of need, but she was told "all loans cease at the death of the lender" — cruel to say the least. She had to return to work as a French teacher. Her eldest son, Ricardo Luís Duarte (Dicky to his friends), forfeiting his university plans, took up a position in a land survey firm, Littlewood & Co., to supplement the family income, since there were still 4 girls and a boy in their teens at home. The eldest daughters Aurea and Henrietta (Hetty) Maria Pagès Noronha was the first twin born. Her whole professional career was in Hong Kong, where she joined and worked for the better part of life with the British firm Sun Alliance Life Insurance Co. She was the secretary to the Hong Kong bosses and was extremely well liked and successful. She had been engaged to a Canadian pilot Ted who was shot down over Hong Kong at the early stages of WWII – she never got over that sad event and never considered a partnership or marriage after that.
She liked to dress well, going to parties, dancing and enjoying the live shows and world artists hitting Hong Kong. As with all the Noronhas, she was a very good drinker and was proud of being able to drink any man under the table.
She had many good friends among the Portuguese community (her best friend was Dicky in the construction of many projects.
She was never afraid of a confrontation as proved during a Star Ferry crossing when an English woman hit her with a stick in the leg when passing her into the inner seats. As soon as the woman took her seat, Hetty got to her and slapped her; the woman turned to her male companion for help, but, with Hetty all prepared for anything, the English woman's male companion just sat there, not ready for any problems.
She took up photography as a hobby about the same time as her sister Mimi did in Portugal; from my memory it was around 1963 and she enjoyed taking scenery photos of Hong Kong and Kowloon and of the many parties she attended, particularly of weddings of daughters and sons of old friends.
Hetty left Hong Kong with an older sister Cecilia (Cissy) Maria Pagès Noronha Bethell and Cissy's daughter Christine for Manchester in early 1966. Together they bought a house at 19 Barnfield Crescent, Sale, in Cheshire where they lived modestly compared with their lives in Hong Kong.
Hetty used to smoke and liked her drinks, but all that was lost when she got to England — she complained bitterly of the cost of living in GB as compared to Hong Kong articularly without the luxuries and joys of having servants and the best of club's life, the many parties, the get-togethers so famous for the FMs, all the others events and the many other facets of life unique to Hong Kong. Hetty continued to have a very close contact with her old firm Sun Alliance and would take the trip to London every year to attend their Christmas parties as one of the most welcome guests, that was how much she was appreciated.
Guilhermina (Mimi) Maria Henriette Pagès Noronha was second born, but identical and extremely difficult to be properly differentiated from her twin.
She met her husband Dr. António Telmo Augusto Corrêa when he was on Rest and Recuperation in Hong Kong in early 1929 from the Portuguese Navy battleship "Pátria - NRP". They felt in love and were married by the ship's captain, and then officially at Rosary Church, Kowloon, Hong Kong on 22-03-1929. She was to leave her family and join her husband in Lisbon, where their only son Telmo Guilherme Hermínio Cardoso de Noronha Corrêa was born on 21-11-1930.
They rented an apartment at Av. Ressano Garcia no. 16 in the Parish of S. Sebastião. Dr. António Telmo Corrêa studied Medicine at the University of Porto and later when to Berlin, Germany prior to WWII, specialising in radiology. During his time in Berlin, he helped a number of his Jewish colleagues to escape from the Nazi threat and before he was expelled from that country. He was one of the earliest, if not the first, radiologists in Portugal with his own practice/consultation. He was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Portuguese Navy and was the doctor attending to the then Presidents of the Republic of Portugal, Marechal António Fragoso Carmona, and Américo Tomás; he was also doctor to the famous Calouste Gulbenkian. He became the organiser and director of Hospital da Marinha (Navy) as well as director of Hospital da CUF (Companhia União Fabril); Rear-Admiral Dr. António Telmo Corrêa was appointed Comendador da Ordem de Avis on 18-12-1948 among many other awards.
Mimi's son Telmo Guilherme also became a doctor and was to take over the practice from his father and replaced him as director in the CUF hospital. He was also a radiologist director of the Hospital Central de Lisboa - S. José.
Mimi was extremely fond of operas and used to attend the gala openings of all operas taking place at the D. Maria II National Theatre in downtown Rossio in the company of friends and enjoyed her home and used to have a very large collection of opera records. She was never too fond of Joan Sutherland yet adored the singing of Maria Callas.
Mimi adapted herself (only to a degree) to the reality of the conservative way of the Portuguese society. However, like her sister, she was still quite a trend setter by wearing slacks and smoking. These were somewhat accepted, as she was very much taken as a "foreigner" in her attitude and style of living. She enjoyed photography and took many slides and 8mm films of events, including folklore festivals and processions of religious events; she also loved her outings (she used to swim long distances at Estoril Beach), taking her grandson to rock concerts and even going to the bullfights in Lisbon's Arena. Email received from Telmo Augusto to the writer on 31-05-2020 regarding his grandmother Mimi. made sure of practising her English by assisting the Dominican Fathers in their English mass services and by Mimientertaining her English-speaking friends at home. She also enjoyed her mahjong with friends in her home. She was extremely dedicated and attached to her family and in particular her grandson Telmo Augusto.
The twins were so much alike and in tune that they each used to study half of a book, and were able to complete the exams in complete unison. They were both very good-looking, with green eyes and above average height for girls.
There are two events that clearly confirm their unique likeness. Once a Chinese carpenter was engaged to demolish a rotten old staircase leading from the ground to the mezzanine floor and rebuilt it anew. The carpenter told the girl on the ground floor to go away for a few hours until he was able to complete the stair replacement. When this was completed he found the same girl (so he thought) at the mezzanine. He swore black and blue in Chinese f. it, how did you get up here?Story conveyed to me by my father-in-law Ricardo Luís Duarte Pagès Noronha.
The other time was during Hetty's visit to Portugal, Story conveyed to me by Telmo Augusto's mother Dr. Maria Guilhermina Santos Paiva Faria Almeida Lopes Gomes. when her nephew Telmo G. decided to show her his town and to take out to restaurants and nightclubs to give her a good time. The society was appalled that a mother and son could go out dancing and enjoying themselves and rumours had it that Mimi's marriage was on the rocks, until one day the twins appeared together. The society was ashamed of their assumptions and shut up at once, I was told.
To conclude, although the twins were both immensely jovial and outgoing, they were both affected by the time and place where they lived. However they still had, probably a sixth sense of each other's likes and dislikes and somehow had the same hobbies and health problems nearly at the same time, believe it or not.