Gaston Dutronquoy

Gaston Dutronquoy was a French hotelier, entrepreneur and photographer. He was active in Singapore from 1839 to the early 1850s. He was the first recorded resident photographer on the island.

Early life Dutronquoy was a native of Jersey.

Career He arrived in Singapore in May 1839 and advertised himself as a painter of houses and palanquins. He moved the hotel to the Coleman House, the former residence of George Drumgoole Coleman, in late 1841. In the early 1840s, he arrived in Hong Kong and set up a hotel, which was also named the London Hotel, and a theatre. However, he left Hong Kong on 17 December 1842 and returned to Singapore due to "personal violence added to insult and abuse" which he claimed he had received the evening before. His son, S. Dutronquoy, also became a hotelier, and opened a hotel, also named London Hotel, in 1858. His estate was dissolved in September 1857.