Comparador of the Mercantile Bank, after his father Hood Theam and brother Keng Tye. The third child in his family but the first to survive past infancy, he was "given" to his uncle Chia Hood Cheng. In 1917 he bought and moved in to "Grasslands', a bungalow in St. Thomas Walk. He spent his later years in "Fairwinds", his holiday home in Padang Terbaka, in present-day Bedok. The third child in his family but the first to survive past infancy. He was "given" to Chia Hood Theam's brother Hood Cheng.