His family were originally
Iraqi Jews from
Baghdad who later migrated to
Bombay (
British Raj), in the late 19th-century. His brother was Sir
Ellis Kadoorie, and his sons were Sir
Lawrence Kadoorie and Sir
Horace Kadoorie. Elly Kadoorie arrived in
Shanghai from Bombay in 1880 as an employee of the
Baghdadi Jewish firm
David Sassoon & Sons. Within a few years he had accumulated large sums of money and had gone into business on his own account, with companies in both Shanghai and
Hong Kong. He became the largest shareholder when
China Light & Power was restructured in early 20th century. Over the next two decades, the Kadoorie brothers made their fortunes, achieving success in banking, rubber plantations, electric power utilities and real estate and gaining a major shareholding in Hong Kong Hotels Limited. Kadoorie was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the
Order of the British Empire in the
1926 Birthday Honours. He was given the Order of the Brilliant Jade by the Chinese government. He became a naturalised British citizen the following year. In 1942, Kadoorie was taken from his home in Shanghai and interned in a Japanese prison camp for foreign civilians. He died in prison on February 8, 1944. Sir Elly Kadoorie's grave and that of his wife Laura (née Mocatta), Lady Kadoorie, are located in the Song Qingling Memorial Park near Hongqiao Road, Shanghai, and are accessible to visitors. Theirs are amongst only four Jewish tombstones in Shanghai which remained intact and were not destroyed during the
Cultural Revolution. ==References==