SINGAPORE: The late philanthropist Tan Tock Seng - a pioneer of modern Singapore - was born 210 years ago.

To mark the occasion, over 150 of his descendants gathered in Singapore for a journey into the past. They come from all over the world - the US, England, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Mr Tan Tock Seng, a Peranakan businessman from Malacca, founded and gave his name to the hospital that bears his name today - one of Singapore's oldest hospitals.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital was founded in the 1840s, some 20 years after the first foundation stone was laid for the Singapore General Hospital.

To celebrate the anniversary of Tan Tock Seng's birth, the descendants on Thursday presented a copy of their latest family tree to the Peranakan Museum.

Lawrence Tan, a 7th-generation descendant of Tan Tock Seng, who compiled the Tan family tree, said: "I was given a family tree, an old photocopied version, by my auntie Juliet. It had about 30 names on it.

"It had been compiled by a Rosie Lim. All those names seemed very strange to me - being a Westerner. Lots of Chinese names on (it) that I didn't really understand. So I took it upon myself - that I wanted to find out more."

Six years and many emails later, the result is a compilation that covers nine generations and 1,368 names.

The legacy trail also took the Tan clan to Malacca in Malaysia, where Tan Tock Seng was born and buried.

- CNA/ir